Indian Sportsperson | Saweety Boora | Global Indian

Global IndianstoryFrom lows to highs: Saweety Boora wins gold in World Boxing Championship

From lows to highs: Saweety Boora wins gold in World Boxing Championship

Compiled by: Amrita Priya

(April 12, 2023) Saweety Boora is riding high with her recent win. She defeated China’s Lina Wang to clinch a gold medal in the recently held Women’s World Boxing Championship. With this victory, she became the seventh Indian boxer (male or female) to become a world champion, and the first Indian to win the world boxing title in the women’s 81 kg category.

For Saweety, who is being celebrated for bringing glory to India, the triumph has come after a lot of tears and tribulations. In fact, there was a time when the dispirited Saweety turned to Kabaddi, spending twelve hours a day on it, all to forget her ‘first love’, boxing.

Winning gold at the World Boxing Championship has resurrected the boxer’s belief in her abilities, motivating her to make her country proud in the 2024 Olympics.

Saweety Boora

The tale of heartbreaks in boxing

Saweety rose to instant fame when she won a silver in her debut Women’s World Championship at South Korea in 2014. One year later, she clinched another silver at the Asian Women’s Amateur Boxing Championships in China.

However, after such great feats so early in her career, the boxer went through several lows. One major blow was her failure to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, despite her hard work and efforts. “It was the darkest phase of my life,” the boxer said. “What is the use if there is no Olympics? I had played at various international and Asian tournaments and won medals. The only medal that was missing in my career was of the Olympics,” she said.

The boxer was so shattered by having been left behind, that watching the Indian contingent head to Tokyo sent her into an acute depression. It was so severe she nearly quit boxing.

Finding solace in Kabbadi

Talking about the lowest phase of her life, Saweety said in an interview, “I was depressed. I wanted to stay away from everything – social media and TV during the time Olympics were going on because I was not there. It was the worst feeling for me,”

Indian Athlete | Saweety Boora |Global Indian

To vent out the frustration the boxer turned to Kabbadi, a game she had played in her early years. “Boxing is my first love, my life and my passion. The thought of leaving that was very difficult for me but I needed something to hold on to,” she said.

When Indian athletes were earning accolades in the Tokyo Olympics, Saweety used to leave for practice at five in the morning, train for six hours, take a break and come back to practice again until midnight. “I just wanted to shut myself away from the world to keep boxing out of my mind,” she said.

Support in family and friends

It was her brother, and her Kabbadi player husband Deepak Hooda, who stood by Saweety during this time. Deepak’s Pro Kabaddi League team was also very supportive. “I earlier played Kabbadi for physical fitness and then I started training for the game,” she said adding “I used to be so good at it that many thought I could make it as a professional player.”

Motivated by the encouraging words of the Pro Kabaddi League team, Saweety gave trials and was selected for nationals because nobody could match her speed in the women’s game.

Back to her first love

No matter how much solace Kabbadi provided, nothing could keep Saweety away from boxing. When the trials for the Asian Boxing Championships in 2021 began, she decided to give the sport another chance.

The boxer clinched a bronze medal in the championship which was held in Dubai. Things started looking up from there and subsequently Saweety was selected for the Women’s World Championship proving her mettle by winning gold. Her joy ever since has been boundless.

Indian Athlete | Saweety Boora | Global Indian

Family of players

Sport runs in the family – Saweety’s farmer father, Mahender Singh, had once been a national-level basketball player. Her husband, Deepak, served as the captain of the Indian National Kabaddi team from 2019-2022 and her younger sister Siwi Boora, is also a boxer. Siwi won a gold in the Khelo India Youth Games followed by Khelo University Games. Saweety’s brother Mandeep is a boxer too.

Wiser with the grind

All her struggles, along with the tough upbringing she had in rural Hissar, under the watchful eye of a sportsman dad, have made her wiser. Today, Saweety is strong on the inside too, able to rise above great odds. The boxer is super excited after winning gold in the 2023 World Boxing Championship but knows the job is far from over. “Just to be on top in one championship is nothing. There’s a lot to do. I have been working diligently to ensure that I can give my best at the elite level,” said the thirty-year-old athlete who is looking forward to bringing laurels to the country in Olympics 2024 to be held in Russia.

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Akshay Makar: Forbes 30 Under 30 entrepreneur helping industries reach net-zero goal

(March 22, 2023) '39 of the world's 50 most polluted cities are in India' made headlines the day Climatenza Solar founder Akshay Makar sat for an interview with Global Indian. It was exactly such headlines that prompted Akshay to work in the climate and clean energy space. "Whenever you see the newspaper, India always makes it to the top 10 most polluted cities. It is unfortunate but a harsh reality. This triggered me to work in this space and do something for the country," says the entrepreneur, who in 2018, started Climatenza Solar, a solar thermal startup that helps industries achieve their net-zero energy targets through the use of renewable energy technology, especially solar thermal solutions. With some roots in Chile, the startup is working with major industrial houses that are looking to scale renewable generation, including Coca-Cola, Unilever, and Rallis. "We are already building a plant for Coca-Cola and Rallis, which will save around 10,000 tonnes of carbon emission from the pilot projects, which is equivalent to around 6000-7000 cars on road," says Delhi-based climate entrepreneur, whose startup is at the forefront of the fight against climate change. [caption id="attachment_36425" align="aligncenter" width="353"] Akshay Makar is the founder of Climatenza

r, whose startup is at the forefront of the fight against climate change.

[caption id="attachment_36425" align="aligncenter" width="353"] Akshay Makar | Global Indian Akshay Makar is the founder of Climatenza Solar.[/caption]

The 29-year-old's efforts have placed him in Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia. "We are happy that our work is getting recognised. It will open many doors of opportunities and scale our reach," he adds.

Clean energy calling!

Born in Delhi, Akshay had always been keen to work in the climate space or robotics during his college days. While studying mechanical engineering at IP University, talk about Solar Photovoltaic (converting sunlight into electrical energy using PV materials and devices) had already begun in India. For someone keen to launch "something of his own" in near future, he learnt the tricks of the trade by working with a startup for a brief period. Things started to shift in 2016 when he attended a social entrepreneurship conference on Sustainable Development Goals and was invited to SDG 7 (clean and affordable energy).

"Seeing my vision and passion, my colleagues encouraged me to go to North Morocco to visit a plant that uses concentrated solar thermal power technology. They have been working on this technology since 1985, primarily to generate power. Even before Solar PV came into existence in India, in the 90s and early 2000s, CSP (concentrated solar power) had already substantially grown - and there were always talks between efficiency, economics, and technology."

While Solar PV was expensive and CSP was what most people preferred, Akshay argues that it's not a viable option in a country like India, "where we do not have infinite space to set up solar power concentrators." Moreover, with the beginning of mass manufacturing by China, Japan, and Germany in 2005, "the cost of Solar PV came down to 1000 percent. Earlier, the cost per watt was ₹10-15 lakh which has now come down to ₹50,000. Soon people started forgetting CSP."

[caption id="attachment_36426" align="aligncenter" width="450"] Akshay Makar | Global Indian | Entrepreneur Akshay Makar made it to Forbes 30 Under 30 list (Photo: Forbes)[/caption]

Akshay, too, was leaning towards CSP in the beginning but understanding its shortcomings, he switched from power to the industrial sector. "That gave birth to Climatenza Solar, where we started working with the industries and learning about their problems. Today, we are working with MNCs like Coca-Cola, Tata, and Unilever, and our goal is how we can accelerate this industrial decarbonisation to achieve the net zero goals of the industries."

Helping achieve net zero goal

It was at COP26 that PM Narendra Modi promised to cut down India's carbon emission to net zero by 2070, and Akshay is happy to play a part in achieving the goal. With the implications of climate crisis becoming real with each passing day, individual investors and businesses are now looking at the environment as a key parameter. "When environment becomes critical for businesses, it helps them focus on reducing the carbon emission. For every industry, be it in India or abroad, the focus is now on expansion, and this will lead to the generation of more operational energy," says Akshay, adding, "You can either focus on the existing non-renewable energy like fossil fuel which is bound to lead to carbon emissions or you use renewable energy using new technologies which shall provide you the same quality of energy - be it steam or hot water or electricity - but in a clean manner." Climatenza Solar's goal is to become sustainability partner of such companies to help them achieve the net zero target by providing solutions that are helping to decarbonize the industrial sector and reduce the global carbon footprint.

Ups and downs

Today, the startup is working with five key industries - food and beverage, dairy, textiles, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals, but it was a journey uphill for Akshay. For the first one-and-a-half years, he worked solely on the project before getting a team in place. "Being a hard-tech sector, people trust you only after you have proven yourself. But I am grateful that some early investors and accelerator programs invested in Climatenza at the early stage," adds the entrepreneur who calls strong commitment towards goals, team, and customers paramount.

Akshay Makar | Global Indian

Like most businesses, Climatenza Solar too felt the heat during the lockdown as its operations were affected. "We are not a software or a SaaS business that can be run online. It was hard but we take every challenge as an opportunity. We rebuilt in 2021 and started working with Rallis, Coca-Cola, and Unilever in 2022. It's been a lot of ups and downs, but that's what entrepreneurship is all about," he smiles.

Reducing carbon emission, one project at a time

So, what sets Climatenza Solar apart from its competitors? It is the low-cost, efficient technology and design innovation that takes into account the optimisation of space. "The size of our competition is large in terms of area and weight. So, we have developed the technology in a way that our collector is 10 times smaller in size than our closest competition in terms of weight and dimension. So, we can install it on the terrace or ground, especially car parking lots."

[caption id="attachment_36428" align="aligncenter" width="496"] Akshay Makar | Global Indian Akshay Makar at Stanford University to meet MBA students.[/caption]

In just five years, Akshay has been able to create an impact with his startup, and his sole focus is on decarbonising the industrial sector and reducing the global carbon footprint. "As we speak, we are already building a plant for Coca-Cola and Rallis. These are the pilot projects we are developing to witness how these technologies work and an opportunity for us to scale shortly," says the entrepreneur, who has plans to expand further in Chile soon.

A traveller, who loves to play sports and work out often, Akshay plans to meet 50-70 percent energy demand of industries in the next three-five years. "Because this will help reduce carbon emissions and create jobs in local communities as most of these industries are in remote areas so we aim to provide some good jobs to unskilled labour for a better living. Our goal is to see how this local manufacturing in India creates indirect jobs and impacts the subsequent industries," he signs off.

Follow Akshay Makar on LinkedIn

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Fire ants and curd-rice jelly: Chef Johnson’s organic, molecular gastronomy experience at Farmlore

(October 01, 2023) His food philosophy is a dramatic showcase of locally sourced organic produce and molecular gastronomy. Meet Chef Johnson Ebenezer of Farmlore in Bengaluru where fire ants are a signature dish. The restaurant (though it is more of a gourmet experience centre) only serves 18 guests per meal – lunch and dinner. It is closed two days in a week so everyone has time to recharge. And the man behind this avant garde gourmand dining experience is Chef Johnson Ebenezer. He loves molecular gastronomy and all its accompanying drama like firing up a dish at the table and liquid nitrogen. But he follows the principle of locavore -- cooking what grows within a 100-mile radius of where he is based; and can even make curd rice a piece of art in the five and ten-course meals he serves. [caption id="attachment_45602" align="aligncenter" width="583"] Chef Johnson Ebenezer of Farmlore in Bengaluru.[/caption] Johnson, who started his career with The Taj Group of Hotels, worked on a cruise liner and set up the Michelin guide listed restaurant Nadodi in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He recalls in an exclusive with Global Indian, “Nadodi, which means nomad or gypsy, served three cuisines, that of Sri

on Ebenezer | Global Indian" width="583" height="816" /> Chef Johnson Ebenezer of Farmlore in Bengaluru.[/caption]

Johnson, who started his career with The Taj Group of Hotels, worked on a cruise liner and set up the Michelin guide listed restaurant Nadodi in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He recalls in an exclusive with Global Indian, “Nadodi, which means nomad or gypsy, served three cuisines, that of Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. They are interlinked to some extent and I was instrumental in establishing the brand. I created the menu and added the biryani to it. Even now, years after I have left, the biryani remains a constant.”

Gastronomic Delights

On his return to India he met with Kaushik Raju, the investor on whose land the restaurant now operates. The idea was to create an organic, yet exclusive dining venue, and it grew, over time, into Farmlore. Located in Yelahanka, it’s a 30-minute drive from the Bengaluru airport.

At Farmlore, the sky is the limit when it comes to experimentation. The food is certainly not for those who like it traditional. He says, “I cook for those who want to know about the creative process that has gone into preparing the food. I enjoy molecular gastronomy as it helps me improvise. I can experiment with my ingredients and harness my creativity. I like to work with sensory perceptions around food and its purpose. It is an eclectic approach to locavore ingredients, using modern techniques.”

[caption id="attachment_45595" align="aligncenter" width="633"] Farmlore's fire ants are a signature dish.[/caption]

Speaking of local ingredients, one unusual item served is the fire ant. These ants, which are part of the Kodagu or Coorgi cuisine, are pounded into a chutney by the local tribals or Badagas. They are high in protein and Johnson serves these ants, which are the signature dish at Farmlore, in various forms. A meringue or sorbet, on a canape or in a salad, he even has his vegetarian guests willing to try them. Depending on the trees they are collected from – lemon or mango – they echo the citrusy or mangoey flavour respectively. He reveals, “I tell stories through my food. I use all the senses – of sight, smell and taste. In fact, we have even developed a process to capture petrichor – the smell of the first rain when it hits the earth. We spray it to add to the ambience.”

Another signature dish always on the menu is the alcohol-based Trippy Gummy Bears; a favourite with guests.

Modern Avatars, Traditional Ingredients

Also relying on the principle of umami, the fifth taste, he experiments with much-loved, universally popular dishes. He says, “For example, most people like to eat rasam when it is raining; we have given it a spin to make variants of rasam in different flavours; it won’t look like rasam but the taste is reminiscent of it. Similarly, we make a sorbet out of popcorn.”

Johnson is a firm believer of transforming an ingredient or dish into hitherto unimagined avatars. When served in their exquisitely plated version as one of the five courses – they are reminiscent of what their traditional form is when you taste them; like the Tair Sadam is served as a chilli jelly but the taste is of curd rice. Under their creative experiments, traditional ingredients are metamorphosed into modern gastronomical wonders by the creativity of Johnson and his head chef Maitreye Iyer.

The dining experience at Farmlore is unlike that of other exclusive food venues. Each course is different, the menu is not announced in advance and the five-course meal costs Rs 3500 on weekdays and the ten-course one on weekends costs Rs 5500, including taxes. Well-heeled guests have been known to book the entire 18 seats for a private meal or a romantic proposal after which they fly off to distant foreign lands. Others fly in from Mumbai and Hyderabad just for dinner. Some of his regular clients are the VIPs of the country and for reasons of privacy, Johnson cannot reveal their identities.

Locavore to Farmlore

The website states that they serve what they grow and follow traditional and ethical principles including cooking on fire with wood procured from the mango trees growing on their 35-acre farm. Their produce, poultry and meat are organically cultivated at the farm itself, and includes moringa, pumpkins, lemons, mango, duck, quail, prawns, horse gram, jackfruit, ice apples, etc. They use organic compost, where the urine of the cows released at four in the morning is collected, mixed with mulch and fermented with jaggery and neem to make fertiliser. They also have 22 of the local breed of cows and the ghee, butter, cheese, dahi and ice cream is all made from the milk of these cows. Solar panels for lights and wood fire to cook make it an organic, back to roots, self-sustaining enterprise through and through.

Johnson can experiment with any food item and transform it to a contemporary bite sized portion. Jamun with salt and chillies shows up as a jamun popsicle on his menu. Ridge gourd, breadfruit, raw jackfruit, parsnips, asparagus and rainbow carrots, nasturtiums, purple cabbage – he plays around with them all. His favourite ingredient to work with though is salt. And not just any salt, he procures the mineral-rich Sannikatta salt from Gokarna in coastal Karnataka and has been using it ever since he got to know about it. He says, “It is like black salt, but more earthy and potent and one has to intuitively gauge how much to use. I also use liquid jaggery called joni bella, which I source from Northern Karnataka. It doesn’t solidify and I don’t use processed sugar or iodised salt at all.” He also likes to cook different kinds of rice – ambemohr, gobindbhog, jeerakshala, arborio, kesar kollam etc. He says, “Each strain cooks differently and they all have different flavours so it becomes very challenging.”

With the country’s top celebrities as his clients, and his own global exposure to food trends, what does he see as the next gastronomic practice everyone might follow? He says, “Mock meat is a trend right now, it is a mainstay for vegans. Open fire cooking is also becoming a trend in the West. Barbecued and grilled food and oats are making a big comeback.” Someday, he plans to write a cookbook, though his will be remarkably different, with illustrations drawn by his children. Till then, experimentation is the order of the day for Johnson.

On his travels, Chef Johnson likes to eat at:

Singapore: Tian Tian; Hainanese Chicken Rice; my all-time favourite
Cheek By Jowl by Sri Lankan Chef Rishi Nalendra. I loved his flavours
Chennai: Buhari, Mount Road. Patti Samosa. Sheer nostalgia for me
Chicago: Alenia, by Chef Achatz. This one is always on my list; someday I would want to visit this place because to me that was the first cookbook which I got for myself and ever since then it has grown on me
Follow Chef Johnson on Instagram

It’s all in your DNA: How Mapmygenome CEO Anu Acharya used genomics to revolutionise healthcare in India

(September 21, 2022) As a child, Anuradha Acharya would spend hours in a physics laboratory watching her father, a physics professor, work. In between conducting experiments, he used to encourage his daughter to be inquisitive and constantly seek answers. As a result, Anu's world revolved mostly around science and technology. Along the journey, and after a little bit of soul-searching, a young Anu realised that entrepreneurship was her true calling. Her decision to give wings to her entrepreneurial journey coincided with the human genome sequencing, that was underway in the year 2000. The entrepreneur was quick to see the potential in the genomics space in the future. This became the foundation of her first start-up Ocimum Bio Solutions. [caption id="attachment_29604" align="aligncenter" width="659"] Entrepreneur Anu Acharya[/caption] "What started as a pure bioinformatics company soon became an enterprise with top pharma labs using our 'RaaS' ( Research as a service), solutions, genomics database, and diagnostics kits. Ocimum became one of the largest service providers in the genomics space for discovery, development, and diagnostics with three international acquisitions and two fundraisers," informs Anuradha Acharya, settling down for an exclusive interview with Global Indian. Seeing the growth of personalized medicine, she launched Mapmygenome --

genomics space for discovery, development, and diagnostics with three international acquisitions and two fundraisers," informs Anuradha Acharya, settling down for an exclusive interview with Global Indian.

Seeing the growth of personalized medicine, she launched Mapmygenome -- a leading personal genomics company in India -- in 2013. The company's operations are spread across Hyderabad, Delhi, and Bengaluru.

Chasing her dreams

Born in Bikaner, Rajasthan, Acharya spent most of her life in a small campus town in Kharagpur, West Bengal. She first went to St. Agnes until the V grade and thereafter to Kendriya Vidhyalaya in IIT Kharagpur. Following her bachelor's and masters in IIT, she went on to do two more masters at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1995.

[caption id="attachment_29605" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Entrepreneur | Anu Acharya | Global Indian Anu with her father[/caption]

The one thing she loved about understanding human genomics is that everybody is 99.9 percent alike. "All the human-created barriers of caste, gender, religion, and all of that are a little outdated when you start looking at it from a DNA lens, and yet we are unique. That’s hopefully the message we can spread across the world," smiles the entrepreneur, who was named in the 2018 W-power trailblazers by Forbes.

Acharya worked with Mantis Information, a start-up in Chicago in 1997. It was a telephony product company and worked with a team of engineers to build software that allowed telecom companies to port consumers from one telecom operator to another. Thereafter, she joined SEI Information, a tech consulting firm. "Those were exciting times, pulling all-nighters, brainstorming with the team, creating codes, and building products," recalls the entrepreneur, who subsequently moved back to India to start Ocimum.

The genesis

Genomics has always been a fascinating subject for Acharya. Soon after The Human Genome Project was completed, she realised the potential of genomics in personalised, preventive health care. But the majority of genomic data was based mainly on Caucasian people. "At that time, India didn’t have the same access as the West to genetic data, and we have only limited data available on the Indian genome," says the serial entrepreneur, who was awarded Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2011.

India was well equipped in understanding the technology. "But if we don’t look at Indian Genome and use it to build futuristic healthcare, then who will? That made me think about the direct-to-consumer genomics model based on prevention, accessibility, and affordability, specifically focusing on the Indian population," she informs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpFr52SNV2Q

Led by Acharya, the idea was presented to the board at Ocimum Biosolutions, but they were hesitant to go about it due to the change in the business model. With expertise spanning 12 years in genomics, she saw this as an opportunity to start a novel initiative that impacted people. In addition to knowledge of genomics, the determined CEO had all it took to launch a new company --- a well equipped with a state-of-the-art laboratory, a team of bioinformatics experts, and access to gold standard databases. 'We had the right elements to start a genomics company with preventive health as its focus. Thus, in 2013, we started Mapmygenome,' informs the super busy CEO, whose typical day starts with a black coffee, catching up on emails, and a bunch of internal and external meetings.

[caption id="attachment_29608" align="aligncenter" width="675"] Entrepreneur | Anu Acharya | Global Indian Anu with her husband and daughters[/caption]

Being pioneers in the space of preventive genomics, introducing a new product in the healthcare space was not a cakewalk, especially when Acharya and her team had to make individuals and the medical community aware of the niche product and services they were about to launch. "Fortunately, many leaders in healthcare and technology and consumers showed an active interest in this new technology and helped us build additional products."

Another challenge was getting enough information, the right genetic markers, and research material on the Indian population. "We had to deal with the insufficiency of Indian genomics data. Our bioinformatics team did a great job in creating the right algorithm and reports and we continue to evolve," says the entrepreneur, who remained optimistic that the field of genomics has the potential to revolutionise aspects related to health, disease, nutrition, and fitness. Genomepatri, one of their most popular health solutions, primarily focuses on these aspects of human genomics. "It works on four factors such as knowing your basic traits, understanding relative risks in health, detecting if you are a carrier of particular genetic disorders, and then creating a plan of action from the prevention point of view with the help of genetic counseling," explains Acharya, who turned every challenge into an opportunity to learn and grow.

Entrepreneur | Anu Acharya | Global Indian

Specialised learning and continuous improvement have been key metrics at Mapmygenome to this day. "Some positions do require specialization, especially in a lab or when it comes to genetic counselling. But there are opportunities to learn at work," informs the entrepreneur, who believes in encouraging learning and evolving through experimenting, learning from it, and improving the workflow in each stage.

The people-centric approach in preventive genomics has revolutionised many aspects of healthcare. "Preventive genomics is slowly integrating with wellness as people of all age groups want to make informed choices about their health. They are understanding the value of genetic tests, especially in knowing their risk for cancers, carrier status, etc. and maintaining healthy habits," Acharya points out, indicating just how healthcare is seeing a major transition from treatment to prevention in India.

Scaling new heights

She says with the Indian Government launching its first human genome mapping project to develop effective cancer treatments, one can also look forward to technological advancements that enable experts to correct disease-causing sequence anomalies rather than just identifying potential threats and offering alternative solutions

"Mapmygenome is focusing on combining genomics with biochemistry using machine learning. Besides, we plan to scale up our operations across India by setting up genomics centers and through meaningful collaborations with major healthcare institutions and service providers," informs the recipient of the Astia Life Science Innovators award, 2008, of her plans. Recently, her company started a novel initiative to understand the genetic make-up of people who are above 90 to find what constitutes a healthy, long life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RqeL8C7OVk

Besides genomics, what other things interest her? "I read a lot of books ranging from science fiction to fiction to science and management books. I enjoy writing poetry and also simplifying science for the layperson," informs Acharya, who has written a book called Atomic Pohe. The entrepreneur is working on another book as well. Investigative crime shows, science shows, and catching up with movies on Netflix are all part of her 'me time.'

Follow Anu Acharya on Twitter and LinkedIn
Follow Mapmygenome on Twitter and LinkedIn

Reading Time: 8 mins

Greenhouse-in-a-box: How Kheyti brings smart tech to small farmers

(October 26, 2023) Of the world’s 570 million farms, over 80 percent cover less than two hectares, the size of three football pitches. Together, these small-holding farms produce a third of our food, but those who farm them are among the poorest people on the planet and the most affected by climate change. It was to address this inequality that the start-up, Kheyti, was founded in 2015 by Ayush Sharma, 37, Saumya Sahay, 33, and Kaushik Kappagantulu, 36. It's a “greenhouse-in-a-box” concept—an affordable, modular greenhouse that uses 90% less water than standard greenhouses, grows seven times more food, and gives farmers a steady, dependable income. The founders knew each other, as they had worked with each other in different capacities earlier, and all of them were keenly interested in helping fight issues facing smallholder farmers. The start-up won the coveted Earthshot Prize in 2022 and took home the eye-watering prize money of one million pounds. Founded by Prince William (of the British Royal family), the awards are dubbed Eco-Oscars, and Kheyti won the award in the ‘Protect and Restore Nature’ category because of its novel low-technology solution. Greenhouse in a box Kheyti’s innovation is that they have created a durable greenhouse

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Greenhouse in a box

Kheyti’s innovation is that they have created a durable greenhouse that cuts off heat, prevents bugs, and saves water. The combination of three is helping small farmers earn an extra profit of Rs 60000 to Rs 1 lakh per year.

The start-up’s vision is to see a world where every farmer is climate-resilient through easy access to climate-smart farm technologies. Kaushik explains, “Since our inception, the biggest challenge in democratizing technologies democratising small farmers for cost. Greenhouses are not new, they have been around for decades. However, conventional greenhouses are expensive and are normally only available in commercial sizes new; acre to 1 (½A small farmer who owns 1-2 acres of land can never afford to spend acre). lakh 30–40 acre to buy a greenhouse, even with government subsidy.”

Also, the existing greenhouses were also primarily made for export crops and not really for conventional fruits and vegetables that the smallest farmers in India grow. Kheyti overcame this challenge by putting the small farmer first and designing for them.

“We started with talking to 1000+ small and marginal farmers and tried to understand what a greenhouse designed for them and by them would look like,” Ayush tells Global Indian and adds, “We tried to understand what the protection requirements were for the horticulture crops that they grow, consume, and. This is what led us to design our first version of our greenhouse.”

[caption id="attachment_46251" align="aligncenter" width="702"] Team Kheyti[/caption]

Innovation for a change

The team continued to experiment over nine iterations for six years and included hundreds of farmers in the design process.

Kheyti not only managed product evolution but also succeeded in bringing down cost from Rs 3 lakhs to Rs 65,000. Apart from experimenting with material, a game changer was that while the standard size of a greenhouse available was an acre, they got it down to one tenth of an acre, thereby bringing the cost down. It is the first greenhouse that works for Indian small and marginal farmers.

While greenhouses were usually earmarked for exotic veggies like broccoli and lettuce, the start-up adapted them for wider use (almost all Indian vegetables, from cabbages to cauliflowers, leafy vegetables, and other common ones like tomatoes and potatoes, among others), created protocols for use, and started enabling them for wider use. This meant that the farmer’s produce too had a wider base, as the exotic vegetables were only consumed by niche households and had a limited clientele.

The entrepreneurs installed their first greenhouse in 2017 in Siddipet (Telangana) before expanding to seven states across India, including parts of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Orrisa, among others. Along the way, they have also raised five million dollars in seed funding.

Customer-driven

The most important lesson the founders have realised along the way is to be 100% customer and problem obsessed, not solution obsessed. Saumya says. “Too often, and I am guilty of this too, we are solution obsessed—we start with an interesting idea and try to find a market, customer, or problem to apply that idea to. This is important because entrepreneurs have to be excited about the idea.”

However, the team at Kheyti has learned the importance of being customer- and problem-focused. A good way to do this is by “apprenticing with the problem,” as Kaushik has done. Before starting Kheyti, he spent five years working at another startup and living and working in rural India.

He recalls. “Just before starting Kheyti, my cofounders and I spent six months travelling across India talking to around 1,000 farmers. All of that apprenticing helped us clearly see the challenges that climate change posed to agriculture. Only after all of that did we start looking at solutions and then come up with the idea of the greenhouse-in-a-box.”

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Global fame

Winning the Earthshot prize has landed the start-up in the global limelight. Kaushik explains. “The problems we are trying to solve—rural poverty, climate change—are big problems that cannot be solved by Kheyti alone. When I started working in rural India 15 years ago after studying at IIT, nobody wanted to get into this sector. Today, a whole host of young people, investors, and experienced professionals want to work in AgriTech.”

Forums like the Earthshot Prize helped the business spread awareness and optimism. Through their exposure, they now partner with funders, government officials, and potential employees—all needed if they are to achieve their vision.

Kheyti’s most important value is farmer-centricity. Kaushik agrees: “Farmers are our reason for existing and are at the centre of what we do. If we hold that value, every crop becomes as important to us as it is to the farmer, and therefore the ‘difficulty’, in my opinion, becomes a moot point.”

Kheyti is currently at the beginning of an ambitious 5-year plan to scale their work to 100,000 farmers and create a foundation to reach a million farmers. They currently work with 3000 farmers, 90% of whom they added in the last 18 months. Focused currently on executing on the ground and building the organisation to scale, these young entrepreneurs are a catalyst for turning around the fortunes of small farmers.

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Reading Time: 6 mins

From WINDS to TIDES, 2-time Grammy winner Ricky Kej’s brilliance is truly DIVINE

Smiling with his Grammy double, musician and UN ambassador, Ricky Kej shares what it means to win, and how hardwork played a part. (April 9, 2022) It’s a double whammy for two-time Grammy award-winning musician Ricky Kej. After winning a Grammy in 2015 for Winds of Samsara in the best new age album category, his second Grammy for Divine Tides with the Police founder and drummer Stewart Copeland, has created a furore in the music world. Not just because of its soulful notes, but also because it was an album born out of a pandemic, from the confines of both their studios. Infact, Ricky met Steve for the first time just recently! [caption id="attachment_23083" align="aligncenter" width="670"] Ricky Kej[/caption] Glowing with the win Calling his win “an unattainable feat,” Kej, the North Carolina born, Bengaluru-based musician is overwhelmed with the love flowing in. Clasping that precious glinting gramophone statue in his hand was a moment that lifetimes are enriched by. Especially, since the Covid 19 pandemic upended life, for musicians in particular. Mindful, Ricky Kej tells Global Indian, “Attending the Grammy ceremony held in Las Vegas, and considering everything that has happened over the past two years, it was an absolutely

ed with the love flowing in. Clasping that precious glinting gramophone statue in his hand was a moment that lifetimes are enriched by. Especially, since the Covid 19 pandemic upended life, for musicians in particular. Mindful, Ricky Kej tells Global Indian, “Attending the Grammy ceremony held in Las Vegas, and considering everything that has happened over the past two years, it was an absolutely magical experience to hear our names announced as winners. It feels good to be acknowledged and validated for the choices that I have made in my life. It is an absolute honour to win a second Grammy award and I am extremely proud that Indian music has been recognised globally. Luckily, before the ceremony, I was completely occupied for a month with a nine-city tour of the USA,” thus his constant performances smoothened away any butterflies he might have had on stage!

[embed]https://twitter.com/rickykej/status/1511184160517353472?s=20&t=epMJk36fGR6PV6VXMYB7gw[/embed]

Divine collaboration...

Collaborating with Steward Copeland has been a meeting of ragas and unique riffs. The pandemic gave the dentist-turned musician the perfect opportunity to kickstart Divine Tides with Copeland.

Technology brought these two greats together, and they did individual portions that came together in an album that celebrates life, creates a wave of much-needed positivity.

[embed]https://twitter.com/copelandmusic/status/1511051544996814855?s=20&t=epMJk36fGR6PV6VXMYB7gw[/embed]

Not many know that Kej has idolised Copeland, and the collaboration was “the best masterclass imaginable!” The founder and drummer of one of the biggest selling bands in history, Divine Tides has songs with deep Indian roots and a fusion of the west. Most importantly, it celebrates the resilience of our species. Apt today.

Winning with Copeland was special, “Stewart was extremely happy to win another Grammy after all of these years. I am honoured to win alongside my childhood idol and musical hero. We had never met in person throughout the process of creating the album due to the pandemic. Meeting Stewart in person after working on an entire album together was a surreal experience,” reveals Kej, who has had thousands of congratulatory messages pouring in from across the world.

Brimming with ideas

As is the case with creative minds, the independent musician is already onto what he will compose next! “I immediately think about what I want to do next. When that happens, I automatically stop promoting the previous album, and jump into the next one. This time, I am going to concentrate wholly on continuing to promote Divine Tides before I put my creative energies into something new,” says the musician already brimming with ideas.

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Making world a better place

Holding the Grammy award, the biggest and most coveted prize in the music industry handed out by peers in the Recording Academy, the ceremony is undoubtedly music’s biggest night. Telecast live to millions of people with over 15,000 people attending in person this year, over 80 awards were given, and Kej had a front row seat to all of it. The conservationist and activist in him is always looking to address global issues as a UN ambassador. As ambassador for the United Nations' UNICEF, UNCCD, UNESCO-MGIEP, Kej works closely with WHO, Earth Day Network and other initiatives. “To make a tangible difference through my music and address global issues like climate change, I cannot rest on my laurels. I consider every award to be a recognition and a platform. Grateful, I never take awards for granted. If awards are used just for vanity, it’s pointless. Using awards for the greater good is what matters to me. My aim is and has always been to do all I can, in every way I can, to make this world a better place, for everyone and everything, and the both Grammy awards has definitely enabled me to take this further,” says Ricky whose music for Wild Karnataka already resonates with the conservation fraternity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R8qO2Z2Zi8

Budding musicians can learn the importance of hard work from Ricky. The smiling encyclopedia of notes shares, “Treat music with respect, and always be hard working. Talent may not always be under your control, but be the most hardworking person… like I am!” He also believes that talent cannot take the place of effort, “Never use creativity as an excuse for laziness. Never make awards the end goal, but be grateful when you earn them, and use them as a platform for doing improved things,” says the two-time Grammy nominee, already onto spreading a “divine” word into the tide of people.

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Reading Time: 7 mins