Niharika Joshi & Udit Lekhi Co founders at Cumin Co

Some of India's most enduring consumer brands begin with a problem at home. Cumin Co., founded in 2024 by Udit Lekhi and Niharika Joshi, began after they noticed tiny flecks from a non-stick pan in their daughter's meal. What followed was an 18-month exploration of materials science and design, culminating in one of India's fastest-growing premium kitchenware ecosystem brands.

Both ISB Hyderabad alumni, the founders bring more than two decades of combined experience across industries, including consulting, consumer goods and technology. Niharika, was the former VP-Enterprise at Noise, currently leads brand, marketing and consumer experience, while Udit, who was the Director of Growth, Strategy and Transformation at Mastercard, leads strategy, product, manufacturing & supply chain at Cumin Co.

The uniqueness of the brand lies in Cumin Co.'s proprietary Enviromax enamel coating, a triple-patented, four-layer glass-based technology fused onto cast iron. The cookware is PFOA-, PTFE- and PFAS-free and certified to FDA, LFGB and EC 1935/2004 standards.

At its core, Cumin Co. is building a health-first premium kitchen ecosystem designed for the modern Indian household. Moving beyond cookware, the brand is creating a complete ecosystem that spans cooking, preparation, storage & tableware, bringing together safer materials, thoughtful design and everyday functionality to make healthier, more conscious choices an integral part of the contemporary Indian kitchen.

Darshan Dashani, Founder & Director, TeaPost

TeaPost was built on a simple yet powerful belief, to create a neighbourhood café that feels familiar, welcoming, and truly belongs to the community around it.

Founded by Darshan Dashani, TeaPost redefined the everyday Indian chai experience by transforming it into a professionally managed café format, while retaining the warmth, culture, and soul of the Indian neighbourhood. Over the years, the brand has evolved into far more than a tea café. It stands today as a familiar space to meet a friend, take a break, share a conversation, celebrate a moment, or simply pause during a busy day.

Under Darshan Dashani's leadership, TeaPost has expanded to 300+ outlets across 5 states and 60+ cities in India, with its 300th outlet launched at Ahmedabad Airport. The brand's presence in the UAE and its recent entry into Bengaluru further reinforce its growing footprint and emerging global positioning.

Beyond numbers, Darshan Dashani's vision remains rooted in creating spaces where people connect, pause, and feel they belong. Accessible, trusted, and affordable, that is the neighbourhood TeaPost continues to build across every city it enters.

Anupam Jain, Founder, Indian Heritage

Anupam Jain's entrepreneurial journey is rooted in a simple yet powerful idea, that India's rich textile traditions, craftsmanship, and design heritage can find relevance far beyond its borders. Through Indian Heritage, he has built a business that bridges India's cultural legacy with the evolving tastes and expectations of consumers across the GCC.

Jain believes heritage should not merely be preserved, but reimagined for contemporary audiences. Over the years, Indian Heritage has evolved by combining the depth and diversity of Indian craftsmanship with a strong understanding of the Gulf consumer, shaping its products, retail experience, and design language for markets that value quality, individuality, and cultural expression.

Today, the brand primarily serves consumers across Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, demonstrating how Indian design and heritage can be successfully interpreted for an international audience, well beyond the Indian diaspora.

For Jain, entrepreneurship has always been about building enduring value over passing trends. Indian Heritage stands as a proof that India's craftsmanship, backed by contemporary design and market understanding, holds a strong global competitive advantage.

Major Richik Sinha Roy | Co-Founder and CEO of Nxtjob ai

The CEO and co-founder of NxtJob.ai, Richik, wears two uniforms. Actually, no one calls him Richik. Everyone calls him Major, because one of the uniforms is a literal military uniform. Every year, for two months, he serves in the Territorial Army. The other ten, he spends teaching India's workforce how to win a dream job.

NxtJob.ai solves the painful challenge of switching jobs for senior professionals. At 12+ years of experience, jobs are fewer and hidden, and the competition is fiercer than early career. 

It's like closing a business deal, and the work required is basically another full time job.

Major Richik and his career coaches come in as consultants to the job seekers. They build each client a strategy, then outsource its execution to their suite of nine AI agents, saving seekers 90% of the job-search time.

Before this, Major Richik studied at the National University of Singapore and built a ₹100-crore recruitment firm that serves 150+ companies. He sat on the hiring side of the wall and knows exactly why strong candidates get rejected. Now he teaches them the way through it.

Kinal Mandliya, Founder of Soi & Doro

For Kinal Mandliya, fashion has never been about design alone, it has been about the questions design allows us to ask. What began as curiosity around why perfectly good materials were being overlooked slowly evolved into a deeper inquiry: how we consume, how we create, and how we assign value to what already exists.

Founding Soi & Doro gave her the space to translate these ideas into products, transforming overlooked materials into meaningful creations. Yet she sees the brand as only one part of a larger mission. Drawing from her experiences across India and the UK, Kinal is currently writing a book on sustainability and conscious fashion, one that aims to make sustainability practical, accessible, and inspiring for everyday life, rather than a passing industry trend.

Her vision extends far beyond entrepreneurship, into education, creativity, and thoughtful living. Through her brand, her writing, and future initiatives, her mission remains constant: to encourage people to rethink what already exists before creating something new.

Discover more at https://soindoro.com 

Manisha Pandey, Founder, Rustic Turquoise

“Every Sofa Begins With a Story” is the philosophy behind Rustic Turquoise, a furniture brand founded by fashion designer Manisha Pandey. With a creative background rooted in fashion, Pandey brings a distinct perspective to furniture design, one where sofas are not merely functional pieces, but expressions of personality, art and individual style.

Founded on the belief that a home should reflect the people who live in it, Rustic Turquoise combines contemporary furniture silhouettes with distinctive fabrics, colours and patterns. Pandey’s fashion sensibility has played an important role in shaping this design language, encouraging a move beyond conventional neutral sofas towards pieces that bring character and individuality into a space.

This vision is reflected in the brand’s Indian Art Collection, where traditional art forms such as Madhubani, Warli and Gond are reinterpreted through contemporary upholstery and modern furniture forms. Rustic Turquoise also draws inspiration from global design traditions, including English checks, European-inspired stripes and botanical motifs. Rather than simply reproducing patterns, Pandey focuses on translating their visual character and stories into contemporary furniture. Through this approach, Rustic Turquoise brings together fashion, craftsmanship, art and culture, creating sofas designed to feel personal and distinctive.

 

For Pandey, the idea is simple: a sofa should not just occupy a space, it should become part of its story.