Futurepreneurs

Based on some of the learnings from the study, ‘Unlocking Entrepreneurship Opportunities
for Women’, GAME and Facebook India launched the Futurpreneur Grand Challenge 2019-
2020 in an effort to mobilize existing women entrepreneurs in the food and beverage space
and to increase their capabilities.

The challenge was open to women entrepreneurs running cafes, bakeries, those making
home-cooked or pre-packaged meals, and selling jams, pickles and other homemade
products. While these businesses could be run single-handedly, the only criteria was that
the entrepreneur had to be a mass entrepreneur (team size should not be bigger than 20 )

Overall Winner

For Radhika Timbadia, a formerly trained ecologist who worked as a conservationist for 10 years, Champaca, her cafe, has been an effort to bring to the fore a unique experience around books. This, she brings through food, curation, a strong community and a collection of books, that speak of diverse experiences, places and perspectives from around India and the world. “The larger struggle for me has been not being taken seriously by vendors and also retaining employees. I am overcoming these challenges by helping them feel connected to Champaca and the vision we are working towards,” she says. To know more, please reach out to [email protected]

First Runner Up

Returning to India after living in the US for 12 years, Durga Menon, a former software engineer, opened a whole-wheat bakery, borne out of a desire to bake healthy. Today, more than a decade later, Lluvia Bakery has become popular for its healthy breads, cookies, granola bars, and gluten-free snacks. “Lluvia Bakery has been an effort to find the perfect balance between keeping the business viable and providing a quality product at an affordable price to the consumer,” says Durga.

First Runner Up

Pockets and Bowls is a gourmet brand and a subsidiary of Food for Thought – Bespoke Global Cuisines and Catering. The person behind this is Anshu Archit Jhunjhunwala, a former designer and styling consultant. Anshu started her journey as a home caterer almost a decade ago and worked on building several experiences and special dishes around it. Realising that these specialities deserved a brand of its own, Anshu started Pockets and Bowls in 2016, becoming a gourmet retail brand, by building a network of central kitchens, satellite kitchens and pick-up points to serve corporate and retail clients.

First Runner Up

Quitting a well-paying job, Sandhya decided to pursue her dream of starting her own cafe specialising in desserts. With no prior experience in this field, Sandhya  studied and experienced the tricks of the trade.  Putting in all her personal savings, she started Desert Rose instagram.com/dessertrose.in in 2019. The bakery specialises in customised cakes, cupcakes, cookies, macarons, brownies, tarts, dessert jars, ice creams in addition to keto and sugar-free cakes. Sandhya now wants to scale-up and start more outlets and kiosks. 

First Runner Up

Sihi is a single origin couverture manufacturer that offers cocoa beans, chocolate paste, cocoa powder etc. with the single origin cocoa beans directly sourced from the farmers.  Akshaya started Sihi as a B2B business in October 2018 and has grown it exponentially since. One of the big challenges was to partner with farmers and the other, gain customers. Akshaya is addressing these by continuously working with farmers and innovating constantly so that the customers stay engaged and loyal to the business.