The Jazba Collective Elevates Desi Entrepreneurs In North America

The Jazba Jam

The Jazba Collective – a nonprofit elevating South Asian consumer brands in North America – organized the Jazba Jam at the Plug & Play Tech Center in Sunnyvale on July 25th. The nonprofit is the brainchild of Asha Chandra and Ruchira Pungaliya and as part of their development program, they invited entrepreneurs to Jazba Jam, where they could pitch their products in just a minute.

Chandra is a social impact leader with deep experience in developing strategy and community engagement programs.  Pungaliya is a leader in operations and finance in Silicon Valley.  Together they envisioned developing a non-profit to give back to their community.  They had begun to notice wonderful consumer brands and the stories of the passionate founders behind them.

Chandra and Pungaliya did their research and started interviewing founders of South Asian consumer brands in the U.S. and found a need and a gap.  “While they’ve made strides in overcoming barriers and defying stereotypes,” the founders wanted an organization that brought the entrepreneurs together and also helped them reach their goals as  South Asian consumer founders. “They wanted a unified platform for support and connection.”

This was the start of The Jazba Collective. It provides resources, mentorship, and networking to inspire, educate, and unite these budding entrepreneurs. “By amplifying their collective voice, we aim to shift brands from ethnic niches to broader appeal, ensuring they gain the recognition and success they deserve.”

The Jazba Collective

The founders are building brands that infuse a contemporary South Asian twist into food, beauty, fashion, home decor, education, and health. Chandra and Pungaliya’s vision is for these South Asian brands to flourish, become household names, and positively impact mainstream culture.

The Jazba Collective kicked off with meetups for founders to connect, learn, and grow.  They have also developed a fellowship program for additional mentoring to help the founders scale their businesses.

The 2024 Jazba Fellows include Kinjal Nayar of Chiffon & Spice and Perinaz (Peri) Avari of Simply Bhonu .  Nayar is a self-taught fashion designer whose designs fuse traditional Indian designs with an American aesthetic.  Avari is harnessing her Parsi Zoroastrian Mumbai roots to make Small-Batch Handcrafted Chai and Spice Blends.

“The intention was to uplift each other, share our insights, unite our community and challenge ourselves to take our businesses to the next level”, said Neha Jain, the moderator for the evening.

Brand leaders share advice

Sukhi’s Gourmet Food is a household name in the U.S. – their products are even on sale at Costco.  From her humble beginnings in her grandmother’s kitchen at the age of seven, Sukhi Singh has never looked back and built a food empire and brand that serves as an inspiration for all the founders in the room.

Bay Area blogger and influencer Sonia Begonia engaged Sukhi in the keynote conversation about her entrepreneurial journey.  Sukhi came to the United States in 1985 with a dream to start a business. She began cooking in a rented kitchen and selling products at local farmers’ markets in a classic immigrant journey where the entire family pitched in as the demand grew and a business was born. Her passion, perspective and resilience shone throughout the conversation.

“It’s just a learning game all the time –  you keep learning,” said Sukhi, “till you find your next small solution to every problem.” She reminisced about the first time she went to the bank for a loan and they asked her for a business plan. She had no idea how she could develop one because there were no numbers for the Indian food market.  “I have to just generate that from my head” she figured.

“You have to keep innovating,” said Sukhi. “Listen to your customers and be ready to pivot according to their needs is her mantra and “consistency is very, very important.” She believes now that the market for Indian food is everyone. But start small,  advised Sukhi. She urged the founders in the room not to feel scared, always ask questions, and never be afraid to take the first step.

“Look at the market and decide – are you just doing it as a hobby? How far do you want to go with this product? Or do you want to grow into a big company?”

The one-minute elevator pitch

For any founder, readying their elevator pitch is nerve-racking but owning their pitch is an essential part of their business. It can open doors, and connect them to new investors, customers, distributors, or buyers. They have to be ready because one never knows who they might meet.

Twenty-five founders practiced their pitch in a room full of fellow entrepreneurs, friends, and family.  Each founder stepped up onstage and made their case for their brand and product in less than a minute.  They told us why they were uniquely positioned to build their company, the problem they were solving, and what help they needed to grow.

All but two of the founders were women.  They included Anusha Murthy of Nymble who is developing a private robot chef that can cook over 100 recipes, and Pooja Bhatia of Varah Gourmet Luxuries who has created a range of gourmet treats made with minimal ingredients and packaged beautifully. Reena Badyal’s Panj River Provisions offers flavorful Indian food for camping while Diksha Gautham of J osh Foods has developed high-protein Indian rotis that doesn’t compromise on flavor.

Consumer experts offer feedback

A panel of four consumer experts (Kathryn Flouton, Sharmila Sudhakar, Suruchi Shukla, and Merril Gilbert) provided feedback to the founders.

• The value proposition needs to be wrapped up in your pitch in a clear, succinct way that really communicates who you are and makes it authentic.
• Present the impact and clarity on why you exist. What’s your reason to be? Why are you the right person to be doing this?
• Identify your consumer. You cannot be everything to everyone. Pick either a cohort of customers or a geography of customers.
• Focus on what your hero product is and what is the problem that it’s solving for the consumer that you want to reach. What is the point of differentiation that your brand is able to lend?
• “ You are the brain at this time, at this stage of your company. How you show up is equally important. Know your pitch by heart.” Brand identity is many things. It’s not just your product –  it’s your story, and it’s you as well.

Empowering Collaborations

Ritu Mathur, a food industry expert moderated a very informative session titled “How to elevate your brand through collaboration” with food entrepreneurs Hetal Vasavada of Milk & Cardamom & Sajani Amarasiri of Kola Goodies (who are collaborating on a chai project.)

Vasavada started her career as a biochemist but hated her job.  She quit her job in 2015, competed on MasterChef, and started a blog, “Milk & Cardamom,” from her home in the Bay Area. A profile in the NYT catapulted her into the limelight and “blew up her life in the best possible way.” Her viral gulab jamoon cake recipe cemented her brand.

Amarasiri described loving her tech job but wanting more.  As an immigrant from Sri Lanka, “ it’s always been about how do I bring something from home here and how do I take something from here back home.”   She realized “It’s your superpower because you get to see the world (through) such a different lens.”

Her company Kola Goodies was born when Amarasiri figured out a way to make the mix for a green, delicious Sri Lankan breakfast drink called Kola Kanda.

This engaging conversation delved into the intricacies of their fennel chai collaboration –  Vasavada and Amarasiri described their strategies for creating product awareness including sharing their network resources and their social media followers. Hetal was also able to get the fennel chai into the hands of “some of my friends who are entrepreneurs, but also food writers that I know.”

They also filmed their collaboration journey which led to the production of engaging content for their followers.

“Be upfront with how you want to collaborate” they suggested and be ready to talk money.  They encouraged founders to always insist on a signed contract because so many small businesses get bitten by the lack of one.

To learn more about The Jazba Collective, check out their website and instagram .

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