Startup Growth Stories from Kolkata

Building <div>A well known face today, in the beauty and fashion products’ industry, Aishwarya wears a humble feather on her cap as the winner of Lakme Sananda Tilottama in 2001. She then went on to complete her graduation from United States of America, with no less than a double major.&nbsp;<br><br>She capped off her academic achievements with a post-grad MBA from one of the most premier globally-ranked business schools alongside a short stint at the London School of Economics. Aishwarya is also a trained image consultant from the iconic ‘Fashion Institute of Technology’, New York and has left a significant global footprint, having lived in 5 countries and having worked at senior management levels for over a decade for top corporate houses.&nbsp;<br><br>She brings her formidable corporate and world experience to her unique line of branded, organic products. Infused with her unadulterated sense of joie-de-vivre, ‘Auli Lifestyle’ products are a lush and tempting testament of her passion and knowledge. She has also been a part of the first ever All Women Entrepreneurs Delegation to the United States of America with the Indo American Chamber of Commerce and attended the Select USA Summit meetings with Senators, Ambassadors, CEOs and the likes.&nbsp;<br><br>She has received many awards and accolades for achieving such tremendous momentum for Auli Lifestyle in a short span of a year taking Auli to 20 countries and setting distribution units in 4 Indian cities so far. Aishwarya has her roots firmly planted in Kolkata but has recently set up big operations in Western India, apart from exporting internationally. She has spoken at Summits organised by various mentoring and entrepreneurship platforms like Entrepreneur India, Indian Chamber or Commerce (ICC) and CII being a few. She has also been written about alongside many industry stalwarts in the likes of India Today, The Telegraph, Millenium Post, Entrepreneur India and many local dailies.&nbsp;</div>

Building <div>Experienced Co-Founder with a demonstrated history of working in the retail industry. Skilled in Entrepreneurship and Management. Strong business development professional with a Bachelor of Technology - BTech focused in Computer Science from Indian Institute of Information Technology, Calcutta.&nbsp;</div>

Building <div>Ravi was the curator and business advisor for Shark Tank India Launch. He is an Entrepreneurship Evangelist, Startup Expert, and Govt. Advisor (Entrepreneurship), Expert in Open Innovation, Policy Advocacy as well as a 2x TEDx Speaker and a sought-after professional Public Speaker.<br><br>Ravi is an alumnus of The International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), a premier professional exchange program by the U.S. Govt. Department of States.&nbsp;<br><br>Ravi has represented Indian entrepreneurship stories at various global startup events and is a regular speaker at top Startup and business events in the country. Ravi has also delivered various sessions at Top Academic institutions across the country including but not limited to IITs, IIMs, NITs and many more.&nbsp;<br><br>Ravi has had the opportunity and privilege to train more than 2,00,000+ aspiring entrepreneurs, 20,000+ Academicians and 2000+ govt. officials. Ravi has also been part of more than 2000 Startup events as a Speaker/Jury/Invited Guest.<br><br>Ravi's work has been featured in several domestic and global publications over time.<br><br>His expertise lies across sectors such as Entrepreneurship, Angel Investment, Venture Capital, early-stage ventures, Government Relations, Global Startup Ecosystem, Business Incubators, Operations, Events, and Media<br><br>Coming from a small village in Jharkhand, his humble background helped him witness multiple geopolitical challenges first hand which inspired him to study Journalism and Communication. Ravi started his career as a Journalist &amp; went on to join the Indian Entrepreneurship Ecosystem to help Startups solve problems.&nbsp;<br><br>Ravi brings with him over a decade of expertise in helping startups, Entrepreneurs and Govt. across India and the globe to solve problems using Entrepreneurship, Technology, and Innovation. Ravi thrived in new challenges, committing to continuous learning and thought leadership while demonstrating originality in thinking and leadership through action.<br><br>A connector, mentor and keen observer of the ever-shifting and metamorphosing Startup Ecosystem, Society, Business and Government space, Ravi has spotted social disruptions and changes while evaluating risks and economic rewards for enterprises.</div>

Building <div>Sujay worked in IBM &amp; Oracle for over 12 years, before founding iKure in 2010. The social venture was incepted with the vision to provide affordable and accessible, quality primary healthcare up to the last mile using technology intervention.&nbsp;<br><br>Realizing that there will never be sufficient doctors to treat patients in India individually, iKure led by Sujay is changing the public healthcare system from an individualized curative model to a community based preventive healthcare system to ensure holistic well-being of communities. Within 9 years of its journey, iKure is catering to 8 million underserved people across seven states in India. Today, iKure is recognized as a prominent sustainable primary healthcare model in the world.<br><br>Sujay’s strong technology &amp; business skills backed by his never-say-die spirit has led iKure to many milestones. In recognition of his outstanding efforts in the field of social innovation, he has been awarded the Ashoka Fellowship &amp; received appreciation by the Hon’ble President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee in 2016 and conferred with the ‘100 Most Impactful Healthcare Leader Award’ by World Health &amp; Wellness Congress in 2018.&nbsp;<br><br>An eminent speaker across the global platform, Sujay did MCA from IETE and EPGM from MIT Sloan School of Management, USA.</div>

Building <div>Sukriti is a graduate in Mass communication from St.Xavier’s College, Kolkata.&nbsp; A creative entrepreneur, she is involved in the ideation and coming up with concepts of out of the box surprises. Having an eye for finer details she turned her hobby into a full-time profession of planning wedding proposals, premium private dinners and bespoke gifts.&nbsp;<br><br>She learnt hard negotiation skills being the business development executive at Groupon prior to Outbox. Skilled in Marketing, Business Development and Sales, she put many hats on and run a team of 22 creative professionals in Kolkata and just launched Bangalore too.</div>