BW Businessworld Unveils The Finest Young Entrepreneurs Of India

Indian startup ecosystem witnessed countless ups and downs in the past year, in regard to cost cutting, restricting and mass layoffs. However, numerous young entrepreneurs stood strong, breaking the barriers by generating revenues and creating an impact on a larger scale in the industry.

In the latest edition of BW Businessworld, the issue exhibits the 8th Annual BW Disrupt YEA (Young Entrepreneur & Enterprise Awards) special. A multi-layered process of screening was followed for culminating the final outcome. In this segment, entrepreneurs and enterprises from numerous industries such as beauty & personal care, apparel, logistics, food, health tech, fintech, e-commerce and social enterprises filed their nominations. The elite list was unveiled in a gala ceremony, honouring the 15 leaders of tomorrow, for their commendable analytical methods and management. 

The Jury Panel 2023

The 8th Annual BW Disrupt YEA jury comprised of industry leaders. The jurors panel list included of Ankit Agrawal, Director – Venture Debt, Lighthouse Canton; Sambit Dash, Partner, RPSG Capital Ventures; Bala C. Deshpande, Founder & Partner, MegaDelta Capital; Arpit Agarwal, Director, Blume Ventures; Ninad Kapre, Partner, 100X.VC; Ankit Kedia, Founder, Capital A; Uma Shankar Bhardwaj, Founder & CEO, iAvatarZ Digital and Aditya Prakash Gupta, Partner, GEMs. 

Rising Stars of the Future

The cover of the page of BW Businessworld unveils the 15 most talented entrepreneurs such as Aakriti Rawal, Co-founder & CEO, House of Chikankari; Ajay Lakhotia, Founder & CEO, StockGro; Ankit Fatehpuria, Founder, Zetwerk Manufacturing; Bharat Bansal, Co-founder & CEO, Nirmalaya Wellness; Divij Bajaj, Founder & CEO, Power Gummies; Preet Pal Thakur, Co-founder, Glamyo Health; Kartik Hajela, Co-founder & COO, Log9 Materials; Kishan Karunakaran, CEO, Buyofuel; Pallavi Shrivastava, Co-founder & Director, Pragcap; Parul Sharma, Founder & CEO, Gladful Foods; Pranav Bajaj, Co-founder, Medulance; Sandeep Devgan, Chief Executive Officer, Stonefield Flavours; Saurabh Kumar Agarwal, Founder & CTO, Reshamandi; Shobhit Rai, Director & Co-founder, Prozeal Infra Engineering and Vivek Singh, Co-founder & CEO, Anveya Living. 

Scrutinisation of the Barometer

A multidisciplinary process had been adapted for determining the closing results. The first phase included of a screening with over 150 entries across various sectors and constituted of diverse business models. In the second phase, 50 nominees were shortlisted and elicited to present before the esteemed jury. 

The nominations were critically evaluated on parameters like founder’s vision, market size, financial growth, the scope of social impact and the long-term goal potential it holds. One of the crucial aspects for the nominations was determining the young entrepreneurs being under the age of 35 and the enterprises being seven years or younger to their respective industries. Moreover, a larger emphasis was on the startup sector, scrutinizing the best of the industry leaders.

Journey To Victory

In conversation with BW Businessworld, Aakriti Agrawal, Co-founder & CEO, House of Chikankari stated, “Looking ahead, we remain committed to our growth and expansion plans. We are focused on enhancing customer digitizing our operations and leveraging social media for customer engagement. Finally, we built resilience by diversifying into menswear and exploring new markets”. On the other hand, the tough times faced for growing businesses, Vivek Singh, Co-founder & CEO, Anveya Living voiced, “While things could have been easier at another time, I believe that companies born and built in tougher times are more resilient and built to win in the long run”. 

Talking about future plans and goals, Divij Bajaj, Founder & CEO, Power Gummies, tells BW Businessworld, “In 2023, we plan to launch kids’ gummies and new variants in generic wellness, expand our product line to reach a new audience and tap into a growing market segment” whereas Bharat Bansal, Co-founder & CEO, Nirmalaya Wellness states, “We are projecting a three-four times growth in 2023. Now, our focus is on growing our operation across India and on exports. We are launching in US and after that we will expand to five or more countries.

On the note of emergency healthcare sector, Preet Pal Thakur, Co-founder, Glamyo Health said, “We focus on solving the real pain points for the patients, added new verticals like dental, which is a blue ocean market and tightened its grip on costs with a focus on profitable growth”. On the other hand, Pranav Bajaj, Co-founder, Medulance states, “We believe that assistance should be provided when it matters the most. We are committed to building sustainable and high-impact businesses”. 

The F&B industry is a competitive market. Talking about different aspects in the pre and post pandemic times, Sandeep Devgan, CEO, Stonefield Flavours explains, “We have been successful because we embraced change quickly, especially during the pandemic. We had one of the best years in 2022-23. We stayed true to our vision of inspiring change and delighting others”. However, Parul Sharma, Founder & CEO, Gladful Foods states, “Gladful’s vision was to solve India’s protein and other nutritional deficiencies. We are quick to change based solely on consumer feedback. We touch base with over 20,000 consumers monthly through WhatsApp, emails and phonecalls”. 

Moving on to the fintech industryAjay Lakhotia, Founder & CEO, StockGro mentions, “Our brand campaigns have been super sharp in their messaging and reaching the target audience through social media. We have doubled down on our offline initiatives and on-ground engagement”. Pallavi Shrivastava, Co-founder & Director, Progcap states, “Despite facing turbulence, our continued focus remains on growing our people and customers”.

Sharing the company’s goal, Kartik Hajela, Co-founder & COO, Log9 Materials, states, “The vision of making India self-reliant in energy demands higher capital to set up bigger cell factories, for which we are soon starting our next round, which will be much bigger than the last one and will primarily be used to set up higher cell manufacturing lines in India” whereas Kishan Karunakaran, CEO, Buyofuel shares his goal stating, “In 2023, it will continue to make sizable investments in integrating artificial intelligence, blockchain & other technologies”.

On the growing business, Shobhit Rai, Director & Co-founder, Prozeal Infra Engg., discloses, “In terms of business growth trajectory, the company has been doubling its scale year-on-year and FY 2022-23 is no different. We have not only achieved our revenue targets but also our EBITDA numbers, which are more critical to keep the company bankable”. On the other hand, Saurabh Kumar Agarwal, Founder & CTO, “Reshamandi is inclined towards building relations. He said, “Trust is intrinsic to every relationship and Reshamandi stands true to its tagline, ‘relationships matter’. We strengthened it by putting more trust in our growth is a clear indicator of that”. On the concluding note, Ankit Fatehpuria, Co-founder, Zetwerk Manufacturing expresses his goal for 2023 stating, “Zetwerk will bring significant demand for manufacturing to India, and in the process, make real editions to the country’s gross domestic product and growth”. 

This issue of BW Businessworld proudly presents one of the finest minds of India, Harvard Professor Tarun Khanna writing on ‘entrepreneurship as a state of mind’. This issue also features an interview with ‘The Art of Living Founder’, Sri Sri Ravi Sharkar.

Click here to view the complete list of BW Businessworld India’s Hottest Young Entrepreneurs 2023.