Startup

In Sadri, Rajasthan, the Raika community, known for herding camels, has shifted from trading to sustainable camel milk production through Camel Charisma. This social enterprise, led by Dr Ilse Köhler-Rollefson and Hanwant Singh Rathore, is helping preserve the Raikas’ way of life and livelihood.

In a bid to save farmers from the vicious cycle of debt, Vaibhav Tidke runs Moomba along with his friends. They use patented Solar Conduction Dryer (SCD) technology to turn damaged and lower-grade crops into shelf-stable food ingredients.

Usha Shrotiya launched 'Mama Nourish', a food startup that is striving to save legacy laddoo recipes by giving them a modern twist. She has buyers in over 150 corporate establishments like Google, Netflix, and IKEA, among others.

College dropout Ashish Ranjan started OCB (Online Cake Bhejo) in 2017 with his friend Buddhisen Bittu. The chain of bakeries employs and empowers over 50 women farmers in Bihar who make millet cookies, muffins, brownies and more.

From Purvina’s virgin coconut oil to Cancrie’s nanocarbon batteries, Indian entrepreneurs are blending tradition with innovation — transforming the versatile coconut into impactful products.

Iris Strill and Bishwadeep Moitra founded SilaiWali, a social enterprise in India that empowers Afghan refugee women by helping them turn waste fabric into handcrafted rag dolls. Through this, they have also diverted around 15,000 kg of fabric from landfills so far.

‘Lakshmi's by GSB’: After losing her mother, Kerala-based Lakshmi Muralidhara was left with a heavy heart, a struggling business, and a handwritten recipe book. Through tears and laughter, she revamped the business into a multi-lakh venture that sells authentic homemade snacks and syrups.

After losing her husband and facing financial hardship, Jodhpur’s Nirmala Shekhawat transformed her struggle into ‘Marwadi Manwar’, a thriving business bringing the traditional flavours of Rajasthan to the world.

A college trek to the high climes of Himachal Pradesh inspired Sonal and Vaibhav to get into the plastic waste recycling business and establish their Delhi-based startup econscious®.

Hariom Nautiyal quit his corporate career and went back to his village in Dehradun. Starting from scratch, he set up ‘Dhanya Dhenu’ to sell dairy products, pickles, candies, and ice cream. Here's how he established a multi-crore empire in a village.