Chef Gyanendra Gupta | Raas | Global Indian

Global IndianstoryChef Gyanendra Gupta: Creating desi food with a twist at Raas, Delaware

Chef Gyanendra Gupta: Creating desi food with a twist at Raas, Delaware

Written by: Minal Nirmala Khona

Restaurant: Raas
Founder: Chef Gyanendra Gupta
Cuisine: Blend of Indian, vegan, Pan Asian and original creations
Service options: Reservations required · Serves vegan dishes
Address: 210 Savannah Rd, Lewes, DE 19958, USA

(May 12, 2024) Chef Gyanendra Gupta’s restaurant Raas in Delaware is a happy blend of Indian, vegan, Pan Asian and original creations. His purpose is to introduce real Indian flavours to Americans, who think Indian food is mainly curry, and dismiss it as too spicy. Chef GG serves up creatively thought out delicacies like Tandoori stuff potato, Asian spiced salmon cake, biryani and Rigatoni Aglio Olio with Chicken Tikka Masala.

Chef Gyanendra Gupta, the fourth sibling among five brothers, grew up helping his mother prepare food for family dinners. He starts the interview with Global Indian by saying, “I was a mama’s boy. She would dictate a paragraph for me to write while cooking; and when she’d check my spelling, I’d check on what was being cooked. None of my brothers had any interest in cooking but since I did, she took me to the markets, and I spent most of my time at home with her in the kitchen. I remember getting excited seeing the roti puff up on the gas burner as a child.”

Chef Gyanendra Gupta, founder, Raas

Indian Roots, Overseas Experience

Chef GG as he is known, grew up in Lucknow, and would even cook for his mother so she could eat with them instead of eating last. All this time spent with her led to him dropping out of medicine at the last minute and joining the Indian Institute of Hotel Management in Lucknow, which was just five minutes away from his home. This was in 1993 and during his third year, he got a job at the Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai as a hotel management trainee. He recalls, “I worked there till 1998, after which I got a chance to work in the Caribbean islands with a London-based hotel group. They had hotels in Granada, St Lucia and many other islands. I used to train people there and on other islands also.”

In 2007, he moved back to India and joined the Landmark Group, a Dubai-based company that was trying to set up hospitality operations in India. He joined as Brand Chef and developed several brands and kiosks for the group in different parts of India including Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune, to name a few. One of the restaurants in our franchise was Yellow Chilli by Chef Sanjeev Kapoor and Chef Harpal Singh.”

This assignment gave Chef GG the background he needed in the backend logistics of running a business, which would later help him with Raas, the fine-dining Indian and Pan-Asian restaurant he now owns and runs in Lewes, Delaware. He says, “We had a 5500 sqft kitchen for R & D and we set up the first franchise for Gloria Jeans, an Australian coffee shop chain in Bandra, Mumbai. Though I quit after a year, it had been a great learning journey, where I understood the economics behind the business.”

Dream jobs galore

Other assignments at the Royal Orchid in Bengaluru followed and he was back with the Taj group for their launch of the brand Vivanta for the Taj in Goa. He says, “Though they had earlier launched Vivanta in Bengaluru, the Goa branch was the real launch and it was quite successful.” From there, in 2011, he moved to the Jai Mahal Palace in Jaipur, where he infused new energy into that property. Chef GG created an international menu, launched Frangipani, a Mediterranean restaurant along with Giardino, an Italian restaurant by the poolside, and elevated the culinary level by training his team at Jai Mahal Palace.”

“I believe every trainee has to be as good as you; and on every second Saturday of the month, anyone and everyone in the team had the liberty to prepare any dish they wanted. It was a wonderful exercise because even those who were not in the kitchen, would participate and make so many different items.” This property and the nearby Jaigarh Fort were the locations for several high-profile destination weddings, where the food was overseen by Chef GG.

Raas, Chef Gyanendra Gupta, Global Indian

Raas is located in a 100-year-old heritage home in Lewes, Delaware

Then, in 2015, he represented India at the Mid-Atlantic Wine and Food Festival where 24 chefs and 70 winemakers from all over the world participated. He says, “I got a lot of exposure and met with a friend who was a medical student when I was a chef in the Caribbean at Dupont Hotel, Wilmington, USA. He showed me around the place, and I loved Lewes, which is a historic city with beautiful beaches in Delaware, the first State. He suggested I should open a restaurant here as no restaurants were serving Indian cuisine in that area, so the seed was planted in my brain at that time.”

In April 2015, Chef GG moved back to Taj Holiday Village in Goa but during a vacation in 2017, he went back to Delaware. He says, “That is when we decided to open a restaurant there and bought this historic building. It is a Queen Anne-style Victorian structure built in 1899 and we launched our first restaurant called Raas here.”

Dance of destiny

The website for Raas describes the name as a traditional folk dance from Gujarat in India – the garba and dandiya raas of the Gujaratis performed during weddings and Navratri. He has also added a medical acronym for Raas which is the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, the hormonal system responsible for blood pressure, fluid, and electrolyte balance in our bodies. Chef GG and his team renovated the building and launched in August 2019.

The restaurant, which was listed among the 100 best restaurants by Yelp and published in Forbes magazine, was also featured in the Wall Street Journal and has won many awards.

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A post shared by Gyanendra Gupta (@chef.gyanu)

He says he wanted to introduce Americans to Indian flavours as many of them consider Indian food as spicy and that it comprises of curry only. “We plated our food interestingly to intrigue their palates.”

Unlike other Indian restaurants of its kind, Raas has at least 17-18 starters and 28 main course dishes each on the menu. Most places list half that number of options. Chef GG runs a tight ship where he is on the floor meeting guests, explaining the food philosophy of his creations, and reiterating that all the calls to the restaurant are always forwarded to him. He says, “Within a few months of opening, Covid had us shut down, but we started takeout options, which kept us going.” Lewes in Delaware has a lot of folks who own second homes here as the city is barely three hours away from Washington DC and New York. Several of the city folk had never had Indian food before so it was a challenge to get them to try something new. “But I believe in Atithi Devo Bhava – the guest is god – so I interact with each guest and help them decide what they’d like to eat,” he adds.

Raas has some interesting options on offer in the fairly extensive vegetarian and non-vegetarian menu. They also have a full vegan and gluten-free menu which is in demand with locals. The Dal Lalla Mussa, Chef GG’s version of Dal Makhni is a popular favourite. As are the Saag Paneer Kofta, Lamb Shank Rogan Josh, Malai Chicken tikka Arancini, and Duck Breast Korma. He has dishes which are not on the menu but could be prepared on the guest’s request and the spice levels, even in the Pan Asian dishes are mild. He adds that 90 percent of his menu is gluten-free with the Chilli Olive Naan and Missi Roti as fast-moving items.

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A post shared by Gyanendra Gupta (@chef.gyanu)

Now that Raas is an established brand in Delaware, Chef GG is currently thinking of opening a branch in other parts of the US and in the Caribbean islands where he has spent a fair amount of time in the past.

As for global food trends, Chef GG believes that with current lifestyles being such that people eat out a lot, and the US being the multicultural hotpot that it is, people are open to trying food from different cuisines.

While travelling, Chef GG likes to eat at:

Cultured Pearls, a Japanese restaurant in Rehoboth, Delaware: Sushi Boat
Mediterranean Aroma, Rehoboth: Kebab Platter and Falafel
Touch of Italy, Rehoboth: Antipasti platter
Rasika, Washington DC: I love their lamb chops
The Capital Grille, Philadelphia: They do lovely steaks
Roadside Caribbean Jerk Barbeque on St. Lucian Island is his favourite among all of them

Follow Chef Gyanendra Gupta and Raas on LinkedIn and Instagram

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Published on 12, May 2024

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Indian filmmaker Alka Raghuram shines the spotlight on social issues with a unique perspective

(January 13, 2022) As a young girl growing up in the Indore of the 1980s, Indian filmmaker Alka Raghuram watched films on rare occasions. Back then with no home television sets or access to world cinema, her exposure to the world of films was limited. Yet, when the artistically-inclined Alka came across a filmmaking course at a San Francisco community college, the whole idea fascinated her enough to want to study the nuances of filmmaking. Today, the award-winning Indian filmmaker brings to life hitherto overlooked subjects with a fresh perspective. From exploring the lives of Muslim women boxers in Kolkata with her award-winning film Burqa Boxers to highlighting the abuse women face on an everyday basis, and creating video vignettes for dance performances, this Indian-American filmmaker has a finger in every pie. Burqa Boxers premiered at the MAMI Film Festival in 2016 and earned rave reviews. The documentary also screened at the Locarno Film Festival where it received the Best Project Award. [caption id="attachment_18758" align="aligncenter" width="1147"] A still from Burqa Boxers[/caption] From UP to the US Born in Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich, Indian filmmaker Alka spent the first eight years of her life in Himachal Pradesh where her mother Saroj Mehrotra worked as a teacher. At age eight, the family moved to Indore where

40" /> A still from Burqa Boxers[/caption]

From UP to the US

Born in Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich, Indian filmmaker Alka spent the first eight years of her life in Himachal Pradesh where her mother Saroj Mehrotra worked as a teacher. At age eight, the family moved to Indore where her father Balraj Mehrotra worked with a company that manufactured welding electrodes. Back in the 80s, Alka says, Indore has its own constraints. “I was always artistically-inclined and wanted to pursue a course in applied arts, for which scope was limited in Indore,” says the eldest of three siblings, who then moved to Mumbai to do her fashion designing from SNDT College.

“Back then, matters like whether one should be allowed to go to a co-educational college or opt for something close to home were major factors,” Alka tells Global Indian. “However, my maternal grandfather was quite liberal and my mother moved out of home as a young woman to study, and at 21 got a job and lived alone in Himachal Pradesh. Which is why we could think of going beyond the norm and expand our horizons,” the Indian filmmaker recalls.

Following her graduation, Alka worked with a garment export firm for a years. It was around this time that she met her husband V Raghuram, an engineer. After they got married, Raghuram got an opportunity to move to the US, and the couple set up home in California’s Bay Area in the early 1990s.

Indian Filmmaker | Alka Raghuram | Burqa Boxers

A bend in the road

“The first couple of years were spent in getting oriented to the new way of life. Everything was so different,” recalls this 53-year-old Indian filmmaker. “I’d watched the film Edward Scissorhands and the whole place was like in the movie. I’d read Vikram Seth’s The Golden Gate and when we drove down the Golden Gate Bridge and had coffee at Caffe Trieste, I couldn’t believe that the books I’d read or the movies I’d watched were coming to life,” she says.

A shift like this, though disorienting, also afforded her the opportunity to re-evaluate her future choices. “I wanted to go back to school. Given my childhood passion for painting and illustration, I thought I’d become a children’s book illustrator. That’s when I came across a filmmaking course at a local college. It seemed so esoteric; growing up filmmaking wasn’t something that I’d even considered. When I took the course, I fell in love with the art,” she says.

Alka went on to undertake several filmmaking related classes before she decided to pursue her masters in filmmaking from San Francisco State University. By that time, she had two young children, but the love for filmmaking spurred her to juggle both worlds. “It was a very hands-on course. I particularly enjoyed Professor Bill Nickels’ classes. They grounded my work in ethics, how to approach people and represent them. It taught me the power dynamics and made me aware of the moral component of filmmaking,” avers Alka, who made her first film after her graduation.

[caption id="attachment_18759" align="aligncenter" width="1138"] Indian Filmmaker | Alka Raghuram | Burqa Boxers A still from Burqa Boxers[/caption]

Entry into cinema

Panchali, a five-minute short, stemmed from a newspaper article she’d read about a girl being sexually assaulted on a Mumbai local train and how no one stepped forward to help her. The incident left an indelible mark and Panchali was a juxtaposition of this girl and Draupadi’s disrobement from the Mahabharata. “It was an experimental film with a lot of back and forth between the two women,” she says of the film that went on to become a quarter finalist at the Student Oscars.

In 2014, Alka collaborated with dancers Pandit Chitresh Das (Kathak) and Antonio Hidalgo Paz (Flamenco) to create video vignettes for their performance Yatra. Ever since, she has been collaborating with the Chitresh Das Dance Academy and in 2022, she is set to work on their new production Invoking the River that will throw the spotlight on the River Yamuna and its degradation.

Claim to fame

In the mid-2000s Alka also came across several reports in the media about Muslim women boxers in Kolkata. The story fascinated her and led her to reach out to Asit Banerjee, who was at that time associated with the West Bengal Boxing Federation. “When I read about these women, I was fascinated and I also identified with them in a way, given my upbringing in Indore of the 80s. I wondered if these women had a support system and what led them to think of and see a world beyond their social structure,” she says, adding that Asit introduced her to Razia Shabnam, who coaches these women boxers in Kolkata.

“I visited Razia and she ran this coaching centre out of a raggedy gym. She also took me to New Light, an NGO that rehabilitates children of sex workers, whom she taught as well. As Razia worked, I followed her and met several young girls. As I did, many stories and characters emerged,” says the Indian filmmaker, who spent the first year establishing a rapport with her subjects.

In the meanwhile, she received a development grant from ITVS that helped her begin filming with a minimal crew. Four years later when the film was ready, she was invited to the Locarno Film Festival, where she won top honours. She also met a French co-producer 24 Images, which helped her complete the film.

Indian Filmmaker | Alka Raghuram | Burqa Boxers

When the film premiered at MAMI in 2016, it was very well-received. “That a woman like Razia lives and thrives in her community came as a surprise to many. That feminism came from within her made a lot of us, including me, step out of our bubbles,” explains the filmmaker, who also loves dabbling in ceramics and sculpting.

Currently, she is preparing to begin filming her feature film - Ayna. “It is a psychological thriller and I hope to begin filming later this year. I’m also working on a documentary called Blueprint of Love, which explores the kinds of facilities that people with serious mental illnesses require, and how to design them,” says Alka, who loves long walks in her neighbourhood, and reading and painting too.

As she shuttles between India and the US, she says she misses India tremendously. “It is home. Every time I step into the airport here, and the visceral smell of India hits me, I know I am home,” she says.

For budding filmmakers, she advices, “Don’t try to find different stories. It’s quite likely that someone else has the same idea. What will set you apart is your perspective and your vision. It is what I have to keep reminding myself when I’m picking a subject.”

Follow Alka Raghuram on LinkedIn

Reading Time: 10 mins

Illinois University alum Shashi Kumar is revolutionising the dairy industry in India

(August 21, 2022) What is the most innovative marketing tactic that you have heard? I came across one a few days ago during my interaction with dairy pioneer Akshayakalpa Farms and Food's CEO, Shashi Kumar. An avid chess player, Shashi would go to chess tournaments in Bengaluru during the company's initial days and give free milk samples to all the participants to market his products. Later, the entrepreneur even started organising chess tournaments, to give a boost to both the game and his product. Interestingly, their brand ambassador is Grandmaster Nihal Sarin. [caption id="attachment_28249" align="aligncenter" width="641"] Shashi Kumar, entrepreneur[/caption] Although many were not sure if Shashi was doing the right thing by leaving his well-paying job in the US and starting over in India, his dedication and hard work have made Akshayakalpa India’s first and the biggest certified organic milk company. "We do sales of about Rs 14 crore every month and most of our customers contact us via our app. When I and my partners started the company, we made a promise to never bribe any official and create an ethical and sustainable business model. I am very proud that we have been able to do that," shares Shashi

iggest certified organic milk company. "We do sales of about Rs 14 crore every month and most of our customers contact us via our app. When I and my partners started the company, we made a promise to never bribe any official and create an ethical and sustainable business model. I am very proud that we have been able to do that," shares Shashi as he connects with Global Indian over a video call.

A farmer-turned-engineer

Born in a farming family, Shashi has always loved being in nature. However, while he enjoyed working on the farm, his father was determined to send Shashi to a city. "Farmers do not earn well, and my father also had to stop farming after a while because the income was not so good. So, he encouraged me to do engineering and leave our village," shares Shashi.

Motivated by his father, Shashi pursued a bachelor's in software engineering from Bangalore University and later went to the United State of America to pursue a master's from Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago. A specialised telecommunication engineer, Shashi soon joined Wipro Technologies. "It was a whole new world for me - so much to do, and so much to learn. Since I was a dedicated employee, my company rewarded me generously as well," shares the entrepreneur. However, despite having a great job and loving family there was something amiss, which always bothered Shashi.

[caption id="attachment_28250" align="aligncenter" width="666"] Entrepreneur | Shashi Kumar | Global Indian Akshayakalpa farm[/caption]

"It is difficult to cut off from one's roots completely. I loved farming and wanted to return to it, however, didn't know what to do about it. Incidentally, I had other friends in the US who also wanted to return to the country, but found it difficult to come back," informs Shashi. However, as they - where there is a will, there is a way. While his friends couldn't return to India, they decided to support Shashi in his endeavours. The entrepreneur left his 17-year job at Wipro in 2010 to return to India to explore opportunities in the dairy industry. "My father was not too pleased with my decision. When I told him about my plans to start Akshayakalpa, he told me, 'Are you going to feed me, or will I have to feed you," laughs Shashi.

Taking the less travelled road

That the dairy industry can be a profitable avenue to invest in is no secret. However, Shashi did not want to do this the easy way by bribing officials and compromising the quality of his product - a principle he still swears by. "I started surveying around 200 villages around Bengaluru and found that most farmers have left villages and work menial jobs in bigger cities. So, I decided to approach one farmer from one village and help him run his business successfully. Incidentally, I didn't have to look far. I found 20 auto-drivers in Bengaluru who were once farmers, and convinced them to give our sustainable dairy model a try," he shares.

[caption id="attachment_28253" align="aligncenter" width="626"] Entrepreneur | Shashi Kumar | Global Indian Shashi Kumar with Grandmaster Nihal Sarin[/caption]

But what is a sustainable dairy model? "It’s one where the farmer doesn't have to rely on any chemicals or pesticides. We ask farmers to start with dairy, as that can help them with daily cash flows. Cow-dung also works as a natural fertiliser for the soil, so it’s a win-win situation,” he quips. Once the farmer has a daily cash flow, the Akshayakalpa team introduced fodder into the existing operation so that farmer is not reliant to buy that from outside. "This also helps in producing organic and good quality milk that can be later sold in the market. We have very strict quality control on what farmers feed their cattle and how they are kept. We do timely inspections to ensure that those parameters are met. Meanwhile, the farmer can start cultivating any other crop on their land."

What started with 20 people is a happy family of 700 today. Shashi and his team have been able to not only help the farmers build a successful business model, but also restore the soil health in the villages they worked in. The company collects milk at various centres across Karanataka and after carefully processing and packaging it, distributes the product to about 10,000 houses in southern states every morning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kS86CM17I_c

However, Shashi is not just the CEO of India's fastest-growing agricultural company. This FIDE-rated chess player loves to take part in tournaments from time to time. A vocal environmentalist, Shashi has also been dedicating time towards tree plantation drives. "I am also actively involved with several initiatives like recycling plastics generated from milk packets, and a tree plantation drive that includes adopting a two km stretch every year to plant as many saplings there as possible. I continue to tend to these saplings for at least four years," shares Shashi as he logs off.

Follow Akshayakalpa on LinkedIn and Twitter

Reading Time: 6 mins

Entrepreneur Meera Singh: Revolutionising the travel industry with innovative logistics solutions

(March 09, 2024) A few years back, when Meera Singh was travelling from Kolkata to Hyderabad after attending a wedding, she was aware that a few of her bags would be checked in as excess baggage at the airport. But what she wasn't prepared for was the exorbitant prices that the airline was charging her for the excess baggage. "My ticket for the airplane was about ₹2500, whereas they were asking me to pay ₹8000 towards excess baggage as I had a lot of luggage. It was extremely frustrating to think that in future I will always have to pay this kind of money for excess baggage," shares the entrepreneur as she connects with Global Indian in an exclusive interview. While most people would have paid the charges and moved on, this incident proved to be a turning point for Meera. The entrepreneur established Avaan India – a group of companies solving the new-age problems of logistics through innovative and sustainable models. "Having worked in the transport industry for about two decades, I understood the costs and woes of the logistics industry. So, I started the company with a focus on customer service and sustainable business models. Our primary focus

he new-age problems of logistics through innovative and sustainable models. "Having worked in the transport industry for about two decades, I understood the costs and woes of the logistics industry. So, I started the company with a focus on customer service and sustainable business models. Our primary focus is to offer a cost-effective resolution to excess baggage challenges, delivering throughout India through two transportation options: Air and Road. Air shipments are guaranteed to be delivered within 72 working hours from pickup, with a cost of less than ₹200/kg. On the other hand, road shipments take five to seven working days for delivery from pickup, with a minimal cost of just ₹100/kg," shares the entrepreneur, who is the recipient of the Startup Business Award at the Economic Times Business Innovation Leaders Awards, 2020. Having a kiosk at major Indian airports already, Avaan India recently started their services at the Jaipur International Airport.

Gangtok chronicles

Meera grew up in the beautiful mountain Kingdom of Sikkim. As her father was good friends with the then King of Sikkim, Meera got a chance to experience Sikkim's capital Gangtok as well. "My family shifted to the mountain country before it became a part of the nation in 1975. My father was the Director of Education there. At that time the Tibetans were coming to Sikkim, and I remember making friends with those refugee kids and learning the Tibetan language from them. I also met the Dalai Lama, when he visited the kingdom a few times. It was a very interesting childhood," shares the entrepreneur.

Entrepreneur | Meera Singh | Global Indian

Unfortunately, the entrepreneur lost her father at a very tender age. "I was about 18 years old." Though the family didn't face any financial issues, the biggest challenge was the sheer suddenness of it. "He was just 48 years old, and it was quite difficult for us to cope with this loss. But, what I learned from this was that nothing is permanent in our lives, and that change is the only constant," she says.

Climbing up the ladder

After finishing her school, Meera went on to pursue a graduate degree in management and hotel administration from the Pusa Institute (IIHM), Delhi, and a post-graduation in management from the Oberoi School of Learning & Development, Delhi. Eventually, she landed a job at The Oberoi, in Mumbai. Although quite ambitious, Meera quit her job quite soon. "I was very well placed in the hotel industry as the F&B manager. But I found that life was very boring after some time, and quit my job," shares the entrepreneur, adding, "I moved to Hyderabad and joined the transport industry. Many people wondered why would a woman leave the luxury of the hotel industry and move to transport, but I enjoyed it. I got to travel so much during my time at Gati Ltd, and was in fact the first person in the country to set up a customer care service for a transport company, something that I learned in the hotel."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fonV1SBP-vc

Thanks to her work, Meera also got a chance to travel the country extensively. "I have been to the biggest cities and the smallest villages in India. I believe there is no greater school than meeting people; there is so much one can learn about management through travelling and talking to people. Also, having travelled the lengths and breadths of this country, I discovered how vibrant and beautiful this nation is. I have lived in Singapore, and yet missed India," laughs the entrepreneur.

ALSO READ | Meet Dr Masooma Rizvi, the art curator for the Maharishi Valmiki International Ayodhya Airport

Meera is also one of the only females to have successfully spearheaded the commissioning of the first hydel power project of 110 MW in the State of Sikkim in North East India. "The then CM of Sikkim was my father's close friend and he called me up to take up this project. It was quite a challenging project. In fact, I remember thinking that I wouldn't be able to do this job. But the CM was very sure of my abilities and encouraged me to not only work on the hydel project but also successfully complete it," she says.

A new beginning

After developing and working on the idea of Avaan India, the entrepreneur still wasn't 100 percent sure if the start-up would be received well. "I was at a senior management programme organised by the Isha Foundation. There I spoke about my business idea for the first time in front of so many people who were from the big companies, including Tata and Mahindra. When I was done with my presentation, people were so shocked to know that someone could come up with an idea like this. They were so excited about this idea, and that was very motivating," she shares.

Entrepreneur | Meera Singh | Global Indian

Ask her about the initial capital for the business, and she quips, "Well, all thanks to my mother for teaching me that one should always have a source of income above the regular salary they earn. I have been a serious stock market investor for the last three decades, and that's how I had a good sum to invest in the business. So, finance was never a problem for me."

The road ahead

Now that Avaan is launched in almost all the major international airports of India, Meera wishes to expand the business. "We have already tied up with players like GMR, ADANI, AAI, Gati, Make My Trip, and MarutiCourier and are delivering worldwide through various partners such as DHL, Aramex, and UPS. Now, promoting our services digitally is the next course of action for the growth of the business. The next ventures in the pipeline for Avaan Excess are Pet Express and Art Express. Through Pet Express we shall transport pets like cats and dogs across India at affordable prices. We are also working on having a white glove service called Avaan Art Express through which we will be transporting exclusive art pieces and artefacts with packaging from a professional German packaging company," shares the entrepreneur.

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Meera has established Gati Academy, a venture under the Avaan India brand, aimed at fostering the skill development of students, with a particular focus on Tier 3 rural areas. Additionally, she has founded Gati Intellect, a startup dedicated to eLearning, and Avaan Avishkaar, a marketplace showcasing a diverse range of ethnic Indian products such as handicrafts, Ayurvedic items, and traditional Indian weaves. This initiative not only enhances the skills of students but also creates employment opportunities for them.

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"Being a female entrepreneur is both a challenging and exhilarating journey. It presents daily obstacles that contribute to personal strength and the ability to lead assertively," says the entrepreneur advising other businesswomen, "Women should not feel daunted; there is no concept of a glass ceiling. Success is not limited by gender but is determined by one's conduct and leadership within a team. Throughout history, women have excelled as intuitive and empathetic leaders. To all emerging female entrepreneurs of the modern era, my advice is to believe in yourself, work hard with humility, and success will inevitably follow."

Follow Meera Singh on LinkedIn
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Reading Time: 6 mins

Aisha Nazia: The only Indian woman to be selected for FIFA Master course

(September 22, 2021) One of Aisha Nazia's fondest memories is of her standing in a crowd and watching a football match with bated breath. As her favorite team scored the perfect goal, the Kozhikode-born football fan was euphoric. Her hometown is a mecca for football and it wasn't long before love for the game rubbed off on Nazia, who has now been selected for the prestigious FIFA Master program. She is the only Indian woman out of the 32 people that were selected from across the world for the program. Chosen out of 700 applicants, Nazia has become an inspiration for dreamers as well as go-getters. A postgraduate sports executive program, organized in partnership with De Montfort University (United Kingdom), SDA Bocconi School of Management (Italy) and the University of Neuchatel (Switzerland), the FIFA Master course is nothing short of an Ivy league program. The 26-year-old Indian has made the cut this year, but not without her share of struggles and challenges. As she quit a lucrative job to pursue her dreams, Nazia didn't find many supporters, but she was determined to follow through on her plan. How a childhood dream found wings Born in Kozhikode to Malayalam Muslim parents,

determined to follow through on her plan.

How a childhood dream found wings

Born in Kozhikode to Malayalam Muslim parents, Nazia found herself attracted to the game even as a child. After her parents' divorce when she was five, Nazia moved to Chennai with her mother who was then a teacher. But summer vacations took her back to her hometown each year where she fell in love with football. "I loved the way football brought the entire town together and it was the best show of secularism. It was at this tender age that my affinity towards football began to grow," she tells Global Indian in an exclusive interview from London where she has kick started the first leg of her course.

[caption id="attachment_10971" align="aligncenter" width="392"] Aisha Nazia at Old Trafford Stadium, Manchester[/caption]

While the soccer field made Nazia quite happy, she was equally ecstatic nestled between her pile of books. After securing the eighth rank in mechanical engineering at University of Kerala, she found herself working with the Indian Oil-Adani Group Pvt Ltd in Kochi in 2017. Two years before she entered the corporate world though, Nazia had volunteered as a football facilitator for the 2015 National Games that were held in Kerala. Then a third year student at TKM College of Engineering, she heard about the games being held in her city and couldn't let the opportunity slip by. "It gave me the perfect exposure to the sporting industry and the workings of it," she adds.

The turning point

Though her job at Indian Oil kept her happy, she would often find herself drawn to the varied sporting events taking place in the country. So when the FIFA Under 17 World Cup was set to make its debut on Indian soil, Nazia found herself looking for volunteer opportunities on their website. Despite the fact that she didn't have a sports management degree, Nazia rolled the dice of fate and applied for the role of a workforce manager. Luck was on her side, and the 26-year-old found herself at one of the biggest sporting spectacles. Those months with FIFA turned out to be a game changer for this young woman as she learnt the tricks of the trade and found her true calling in sports management. In 2018, she quit her job to chase her dream and moved to Bengaluru.

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Since sporting events in India happen only once every few months, Nazia took up jobs as a consultant with startups to keep her stable financially. In between, she worked on two seasons of the Indian Super League.

When NBA found itself playing in India for the first time ever in 2019, the organizers got in touch with Nazia after reading a feature on her on FIFA. The conversation soon translated into an operations role in logistics.

A chance meeting

After working with the best for a few years and gaining valuable insights into the world of sports management, Nazia knew she was ready to take it a notch higher with the FIFA Master course, something she had heard about six years ago. "While volunteering at the National Games in 2015, a referee from Tamil Nadu who had trained under the Premiere League saw potential in me and encouraged me to take up the FIFA Master course," adds Nazia. But she wanted to give herself four years after her graduation before taking a plunge into any Masters program.

[caption id="attachment_10974" align="aligncenter" width="395"] Aisha Nazia at NBA matches in India.[/caption]

So when the entire world came to a standstill in 2020 and sporting events became a rarity, Nazia knew it was the right time to pursue her FIFA Master dream. "The selection process for this course is like it would be for an Ivy league school. This year 32 students were selected from a pool of 700 applicants across 29+ countries," adds the Kozhikode native. The one year course will have Nazia travel to three countries (England, Italy and Switzerland) to complete her Masters in Management, Law and Humanities of Sport.

Crowdfunding, not charity

If securing a seat among 700 students wasn't a rigorous process, Nazia found herself raising 22,000 CHF (approximately ₹28 lakh) for the course. She is one among the three students to have secured a merit scholarship which has halved her course fee, but the amount is still heavy on her pocket. "In a country like India, you can apply for an education loan against mortgage of property or gold, and I had nothing as security. Crowdfunding seemed like a wise decision to raise money for my education," says Nazia.

It was her mentor Gautham Chattopadhaya, who works with NASA, who advised her to opt for crowdfund. "Abroad, it's a very common concept to raise money for education, but in India, it's still at its nascent stage. I weighed my options for a long time and even posted on LinkedIn to get some feedback. Many encouraged me to go for it as they couldn't pursue their dreams owing to financial constraints. The stories of people on the post made me take it up as a social cause to empower people to follow their dreams. Education is a basic necessity and I decided to go forward with it to raise money and also inspire others to follow their dreams," adds Nazia.

[caption id="attachment_10977" align="aligncenter" width="423"] Aisha Nazia at Indian Super League 2019-2020[/caption]

With GoFundMe inaccessible to Indians, Nazia opted for Ketto to raise money for her education. "In India, crowdfunding is mostly restricted to medical emergencies, so my plea to raise money for education falls a little short in comparison to their issues."

However, this reality check has inspired Nazia to launch an education crowdfunding platform for Indian students soon. "I want to start a platform for people who dream of studying in India or abroad but are unable to do so due to financial constraints. My priority would be to get meritorious students their due through this crowdfunding platform," she explains.

[caption id="attachment_10979" align="aligncenter" width="575"] Aisha Nazia at a sporting event.[/caption]

The future

Nazia, who is currently at De Montfort University in Leicester, is excited for the program. "It will be an enriching experience with lots of learning and field trips. After completing three months in the UK, we will move to Italy for the next quarter. And the last six months will be in Switzerland, which is also the headquarters of FIFA. Getting to work with their management will be exciting. Also, at the end of course, FIFA selects three people for employment," reveals Nazia.

Being an advocate of sustainability, Nazia plans to work for the development of the Indian sports ecosystem after the completion of her course. "I want to focus on inclusion, youth development and come up with solutions to reduce carbon footprint during a sports event," signs off Nazia.

Reading Time: 7 min

Meet Vivek Narain, the man behind the exclusive members-only club, The Quorum

Meet Vivek Narain, Founder and CEO of The Quorum, a members-only lifestyle club in India, which promotes culture while building a community of people with shared interests. The workspace as we know it, is rapidly changing globally. From shared co-working spaces to working from home to sitting in a coffee shop with free wi-fi, the office has been reinvented. Capitalising on this paradigm are private clubs, bridging the gap between five-star luxury and the amenities of an office. Along with a forum to network, and have conversations about art, music, life and other topics of interest. The suave Vivek Narain, who holds a finance and economics degree from the American University, Kogod School of Business, Washington D.C, combined his past experience in hospitality and an extensive understanding of real estate, to design and create The Quorum, a members-only club that doubles up as a space where business and leisure complement each other effortlessly. [caption id="attachment_51095" align="aligncenter" width="453"] Vivek Narain, founder, The Quorum[/caption] Breaking the 9 to 5 office mould In an exclusive with Global Indian, on a day’s visit to the just-launched 110,000 square feet of space that is The Quorum in Hyderabad, he shares details about his idea. He

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Breaking the 9 to 5 office mould

In an exclusive with Global Indian, on a day’s visit to the just-launched 110,000 square feet of space that is The Quorum in Hyderabad, he shares details about his idea. He reveals how the club is more than just a place to work or relax after a guided tour. “We had set up The Quorum in Mumbai and Gurgaon and it took us two years to get the Hyderabad venue up and running. The place has everything you could need — to work, entertain, relax, hold an event, or even have a meeting, without the pretentiousness of a five-star property.”

The Quorum’s facilities geared towards wellness include two internationally certified padel courts, a pilates studio, a room for yoga, a pool, and a gym. There is also a restaurant, a members’ lounge and bar, and smaller, private rooms to hold a book club reading and conduct meetings or events. Kids are allowed only on Sundays.

Vivek is passionate about inviting speakers on a range of subjects, and the club’s activities across cities include hosting fashion pop-ups, and using the space on the walls as a gallery to promote art. The newly-launched Hyderabad club had its first show in collaboration with Srishti Art Gallery and their in-house curator ensures art gets its due importance across all three properties. He adds, “Every month we will be collaborating with different galleries and artists because I believe art is and should be an important conversation to have.”

According to an article in Forbes magazine, ‘The fastest-growing workplace isn’t home or the office, but some third place — a coffee shop, hotel lobby or, increasingly, private clubs.’ And, focussing on this trend, within five years, The Quorum has helped bridge the gap for people who are frequent travellers and are aware of trends and luxury experiences they might wish to replicate in India.

More than a club membership

The membership profile for The Quorum, according to Vivek is, “Men and women who are global Indians — upwardly mobile, have a larger goal of wanting to make an impact, and are curious about other ideas and have multiple interests. People who want to push boundaries on conversations on varied topics from geopolitics to AI; who have an interest in listening to opera or watching a Bharatnatyam performance.”

Vivek and his team showcase talents across fields; and with the club’s credibility now firmly in place, people approach them to host events — whether it is to talk about ideas or deliver high-quality content. Just the April calendar for the Gurgaon venue included events like an art soiree, a live jazz performance by Tanya Nambiar, a meditation session every Friday morning, a talk on women in business hosted by a woman member, and a conversation on sustainable fashion with designers like Nikhil Mehra, Gaurav Gupta with Anju Bhandari. Another talk with the lawyer Indira Jaising, and a whisky-tasting session along with readings from a classic by Naseeruddin Shah were on the agenda too. The Hyderabad one for its part hosted an opera night, a live sitar recital, a qawwali and a ghazal night, a conversation with the previous Governor of the RBI, D Subbarao, and a live performance by Mama Tips and The Goa Crew to name a few.

Vivek admits that some events are crowd pullers and some conversations have barely a handful in the audience, but it doesn’t deter him from pursuing this paradigm of offering something more than a club.

Keeping in mind the high-profile members, many of whom are HNIs, the club is tastefully done up. From the comfortable seating to the wall-papered library which even has a secret door that leads to a private room; an installation hanging from the ceiling, echoing the movement of birds during a murmuration, by Delhi-based origami artist Ankon Mitra to the spacious dining area, the pool etc., everything spells luxury sans the snob element. The staff is friendly and the entire space is meant to make you relax. When asked how The Quorum is different from the regular clubs, Vivek reiterates, “Those clubs are not always focussed on giving you the best quality. Even as we push the boundaries on various subjects, our kitchens promise you an excellent culinary experience too with global cuisine on the menu.”

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All these facilities come at a price. The standard joining fee is a one-time, non-refundable deposit of Rs five lakhs, and an annual fee of Rs one-and-a-half lakhs. What you spend on food and drinks is extra. The fee gives you access to this space and its facilities, two of The Quorum’s other clubs in Gurgaon and Mumbai, and 75+ clubs across 28 countries it has associated with. Though there are other membership tiers — for entrepreneurs, women, and those who fit the profile and are under 30 — the one-time fee has been waived off.

Offices of tomorrow

Vivek, who has in the past worked with leading hospitality brands, has also set up his second flagship brand called district150. Elaborating on the brand’s name and idea, he says, “According to Robin Dunbar, an anthropologist from Oxford University, 150 is the total number of stable, meaningful relationships a person can have in their life. That is why cavalries have only 150 members, and a human being can remember a maximum of 1500 faces and 500 names. With this narrative in mind, I set up district150 which is a meetings and events venue driven by hospitality and is a space built with the future of work and lifestyle in mind. It’s an amenity for the office building of tomorrow which can add significant value as a venue for corporate meetings and events during business hours and as a social venue after working hours.” It is a cross between an office and a hotel and you can host meetings and events here; there is also a progressive Indian casual dining restaurant called Zila. The brand has partnered with Subko, for their artisanal coffee and chocolate experience.

In the past, Vivek has headed development for Fairmont Raffles Hotels International and was responsible for the group’s growth and expansion efforts across South Asia. He has been a board member of SUJAN Rajmahal Palace and was instrumental in repositioning this marquee boutique heritage-palace hotel, part of the prestigious Relais & Chateaux collection, as one of the top luxury hotels in the world. He is a founding member and events and programming Chair of ULI (Urban Land Institute), India. He is currently also involved with Changemakers of Gurgaon at Scale, an organisation working towards making Gurgaon a more vibrant and sustainable city that figures among the top 50 cities of the world.

With his larger goal of making an impact while remaining a profitable business, Vivek plans to expand to other cities like Delhi, Bengaluru and Goa. This, despite fighting the constant challenge he faces as a first-time entrepreneur – that of attracting and retaining the right talent. Still, he stays committed to his goal of establishing a brand with high credibility that slowly brings change into the way we conduct business or hold conversations.

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