Stipendium Hungaricum students and alumni won Gold Title

The team were founded by two alumni from the University of Debrecen, Mr. Ayaz Mukarram Shaikh and Ms. Roshni Ashok Kadam, recent master graduates from the Department of Food Technology. Other members were two undergraduate students named Anirudh Bodhke from Budapest University of Technology and Economics and Monica EK from Óbuda university. All students are Stipendium Hungericum scholarship holders.

Ayaz Mukkaram Shaikh is also an active Alumni Hungary member and volunteer and Anirudh Bodhke supports the promotion of the Stipendium Hungaricum Programme as a Campus Buddy through different activities, under the coordination of the Tempus Public Foundation.

The team’s business plan was to develop sustainable, healthy millets-based (cereal-based) cookies containing high amount of proteins, dietary fibres and minerals, with health promoting effects. The main idea was to prepare gluten free, lactose free and sugar free product ranges using different millets.

The goal of this weekend - arranged by EIT Hungary and Health Venture Labs in cooperation with General Electricals (GE) - was to develop entrepreneurial youngsters and to train them for startup and encourage them for entrepreneurship. The 3 days training cum workshop had the specific aim to provide training in order to form teams established by people with diverse background and who come from different parts of east and north Europe. The event also had a professional mentor, Mr. Neil Sheridan from United States, who was the main trainer for all the participants beside several coaches providing guidance for the teams. After 3 days of intensive training and workshop, 7 teams had the opportunity to present their ideas and pitches in the final competition to the jury.

The training and workshop helped a lot in learning skills required for preparing canvas and business plans for a startup. The project was so successful, that the Indian company named Mrida indicated a keen interest regarding this project and they are really supportive for going forward. Mr. Ashish Wele who is working as a consultant with the university and for Mrida is also a great collaborative support related to future development and expansion of this business idea in Hungary and in Europe. Recently Mr. Arun Nagpal and Mr.Manoj Khanna , the co-founders from Mrida has already visited the university for future tie-ups and collaborations.

The young winning team also got an invitation from Health Venture Budapest for a 52 hours weekend programme with the aim to strengthen entrepreneurial skills and to compete globally with different start-up teams. They also got nominated for Best New Commers start-up and best biotech start-ups in the frame of the Global start-up awards. Beside these amazing opportunities they were approached with other numerous interests from for future development of their projects.
During their study period, the founding members of the team, also won 2 international awards at different places (Ecotrophelia 2017, 2. Prize; and KNOWinFood at ULBS, Romania,  1. Prize and Best Product Award.)
It all happened with support and guidance from their supervisor Dr.Endre Mathe, Head of the Genetics and Nutritional Genomics Group. The strongest support was from the dean of the faculty Prof. Dr. Istvan Kamlosi, who always encouraged them for this wonderful opportunities.

Co-sponsors of the event were University of Pecs, University of Groningen, Semmelweis University, E-Group, Uppsala Innovation Centre, University of Debrecen and University of Uppsala. The GE, Venture lab were the main sponsors of the event.

The summary was written by Mr. Ayaz Mukarram Shaikh.