Greenikk Sustainable Ventures

#greenikkstory

Trivandrum based Entrepreneurs Fariq Naushad (Ex-Loyolite) & Previn Jacob ( Ex-Santhomite) who ran multiple startups since college days had a startup in the food tech sector back in 2015 which failed, after which they moved their base to East Africa . After setting up & running an IT Solutions company for 2 years in Rwanda , came back to India an year ago with a dream to build a company in their homeland. They had a dream to impact many lives for the better . The founder’s have a personal relationship of 15 years and a business co-founding relationship of 7 years.

With a market gap from India for 2 years they had less idea on what is the right market fit. But considering the global ban of single use plastics they had a clear vision that sustainability is an area that can boom in the next 5-10 years.

It all started when one of the co-founders Mr. Previn Jacob had a random idea of making straws by using the leaf stalks of a papaya plant which is naturally hollow while visiting a papaya farm at his native place. This random idea was treated as childish by many people whom they shared the idea , says the founders. They also had great difficulty in finding the right mentors or people who can support them in making this idea into product in the Kerala ecosystem. Having dealt with failure before they had a never give up attitude and believed in the idea and somehow with combined efforts for 10 months the random idea that was discussed over a cup of tea became a product . Having done a research and data driven approach by taking different POC markets like Tamil Nadu which banned single use plastics an year ago the amount of knowledge they could acquire was so vast. They had received great advise from a research scientist based in Trivandrum and an incubation center which is part of Niti Ayog. The past one year was the most difficult days says the founders. Having put all their savings and money in this idea they had faced days were filling petrol was a difficult task. But they had few close friends and family which believed in them.

Their 3rd startup Greenikk Sustainable Ventures PVT LTD headquartered in Kochuveli Industrial area , Trivandrum is a Multi Award Winning company now. They had recently won the ' Best Startup Award ' in the TATA Social Enterprise Challenge held on 4th January 2020 at IIM Calcutta . With almost 500+ applications across India it's in the history of TATA Social Challenge that a "company from Kerala" is reaching the finals and winning an award . Having a judging panel of TATA leaders and industry experts the experience was so great . This award is an answer to all those who believed in them says the founders. They are welcoming investors interested to invest in the Sustainable space to be part of their brand. They are also collaborating with many sustainable entrepreneurs to build a sustainable cluster in India.

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