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About the Founder

Monica Kalvani, an accomplished sales and marketing professional, her last stint being the Asst. Vice President – Sales and Marketing at DLF Ltd. for 7.5 years, had been accustomed to the regular corporate life.

A hectic corporate career, with its busy schedule, resulted in erratic meals and snacks which were gulped down in a hurry, unmindful of the fact that it was not fulfilling the nutritional requirement of the body. Health was never a priority when tough targets were to be met. The result was an untoned body, weight gain, physical and mental stress due to imbalanced nutrition.

 

A recurring thought nagging her mind was to strike a balance between her home and work life, allowing her to have a successful career, while ensuring that there is enough time to devote to family as well as her personal grooming and health. She now aspired to start a business venture which would empower one to have better health through advanced nutrition solutions. Thus, started her entrepreneurial journey of championing health based on a business model which promotes a lucrative plan for struggling farmers and un-empowered women who aspire to become self-reliant.

“Being in the corporate world, we often compromise and neglect our nutrition, succumbing to a quick and easy meal that serves as momentary gratification. It is only a matter of time until this corporate lifestyle starts affecting a person’s health and physical appearance. As I looked around at my colleagues and peers, I noticed that most working professionals (women and men alike) barely pay attention to their dietary intake amidst the hustle and bustle of corporate life. With time constraints all day, the option of cooking a nutritious and tasty meal thrice a day seems unlikely. After pondering over this fundamental issue, I sought out an easy and quick solution; Superfoods. They provide all the advanced nutrition elements that the body requires, obtained from a vegetarian and vegan (plant based) source. Superfoods help in keeping the mind and body healthy, active and alert to take on day to day challenges.” Extensive research and detailed discussions pertaining to the benefits of superfoods have taken place with a friend who is an expert in the field of nutrition and holds a PhD. in food technology. These Superfoods, being cultivated in other parts of the globe like South America and Mexico were imported to India and procuring them was now on the agenda.

 

About the Co-Founder

Dr. Deepa Prakash
Chief Scientist
Dr. Deepa who initially motivated Monica to help farmers by starting  SaiYum Foods, later joined in the Summer of 2018 as Chief Scientist and Advisor.
Responsible for Food Technology, Research & Development, Nutrition Education, Food Safety & QA.
Food and Nutrition Scientist with over 15 years of research experience.
Principal areas of expertise are (a) Child Nutrition (b) Product Development (c) Assessing impact of product and
process interventions on cognitive performance and physical endurance (d) Nutrition communication (e) Public
policy analysis.
With academic training from Defence Food & Research Laboratory(DFRL)), Mysore and Central Food Technological Research Institute(CFTRI), Mysore.
B.Sc. in Nutrition from Mount Carmel College, Bangalore University
M.Sc. in Food Science & Nutrition from University of Mysore
Post-Graduate Diploma in Quality Assurance & Food Analysis from DFRL, Mysore.
Ph.D. in Food Science & Nutrition from University of Mysore

History of SaiYum (Mission):

The journey of SaiYum Foods thus started with my reading about the wonderful work done by CFTRI on Superfoods. CFTRI (Central Food Technological Research Institute, abbreviated to CSIR-CFTRI), which is one of the 40 national research laboratories in India, set up under the aegis of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, has developed the agrotechnology to grow Superfoods such as premium white Chia seeds, Quinoa and Teff seeds under Indian climatic conditions. SaiYum Foods has associated with farmer producer companies that produce these Superfoods using the seeds and processes defined CFTRI. SaiYum Foods is one of the pioneering Superfood Stores in our nation which procures  world class produce directly from farmers, thus bringing to our customers quality products.

Vision

The aim is to spread awareness of the multi-beneficial aspects of Superfoods through a chain of ‘Superfood Health Bars’ with recipes developed by SaiYum using the highest quality produce.