Alumni success stories

• Manoj Sinde

Our alumnus, Manoj Sinde, created a short film dedicated to farmers. Gladly, it won the 7th Dada Saheb Phalke Film Festival award. Click here to watch.

• Devika Srimal Bapna

You will be inspired by her story of how she moved from Deloitte to become an entrepreneur with her start-up named the Kanabis.

1. What motivated you to move from Deloitte to start with the business that you’re in?

I started my career at Ernst & Young, London, and simultaneously qualified as a CA in the UK. I always had an entrepreneurial itch since I was young and found my calling when I moved to Delhi and identified a gap in the footwear industry. After my stint at Deloitte Gurgaon, I started KANABIS a first of its kind brand for fashionable, high quality, and PETA approved Vegan footwear for women.

As an animal lover and PETA volunteer, I stopped using leather a few years ago and had a tough time finding non-leather shoes that were stylish, good quality, and affordable. I noticed the unstructured footwear industry in India we either have non-Indian players that are expensive and mostly make leather shoes or the unorganized/ unbranded segment where quality, price, make, etc. is questionable. It was almost a light-bulb moment when I thought ‘what the heck, I should start my own brand!’ and KANABIS was born.

KANABIS is a play on the word Cannabis (aka marijuana!) since we use canvas as a core component instead of leather in our shoes and canvas was historically made from hemp that came from cannabis. All our products are made of high quality canvas, fabric, and other leather substitutes keeping compassion for animals as a core value of the business. The designs are exclusive and tastefully crafted with a careful mix of fabrics for the right look and comfort.

We are available offline at exhibitions/trunk shows and multi brand stores across the country and online at www.kanabis.in and all leading marketplaces.

2. Where are you based out of currently?

We are based in Delhi but since we sell online (www.kanabis.in) the reach is pan-India.

3. In what capacity are you associated with the given company?

I am the Founder & CEO of KANABIS.

4. Any further remarks.

When you buy a pair of Kanabis, you not only have a stylish and comfortable shoe but a shoe that tells a story and saves an animal’s life!

• Kaustubh Konkar

Kaustubh Konkar has 13 years of experience in IT industry. He has worked in Automotive and Manufacturing domain with several multinationals companies and has now moved on to be the Co-founder of demyto.com.

• Neeraj Gupta

Neeraj Gupta has over 23 years of experience in oil & gas industry. He spent nearly 10 years working with major oilfield services providers and over 10 years with large consulting companies around the globe. He founded a start-up called iEnergy Digital around 3 years ago.

About his venture:

iEnergy Digital is developing a first of a kind open cloud platform for oil & gas sector. This platform will provide an opportunity to oil & gas service providers to cloudify their applications in a cost-effective manner. It will also provide on demand compute power and storage fully integrated with industry specific requirements and services. It will also enable large oil companies in implementing a public, private or hybrid cloud environment.

For more read at: ienergydigital