Ghazal Alagh launched a one-of-its-kind mentorship programme, Gyaan Day

Ghazal Alagh, one of India’s most loved Sharks and Co-Founder, MamaEarth and The Derma Co., hosted Gyaan Day- a one-of-its-kind mentorship programme exclusively for her Shark Tank portfolio on the 25th of April. It saw participation from 6 startups from Ghazal’s Shark Tank portfolio namely The Sass Bar, Sunfox Technologies, Gold Safe Solutions Ind., Nomad Food Project, Beyond Water, and Humpy A2. Aimed at empowering budding entrepreneurs, Gyaan Day offered access to the right tools and skills to grow and scale their businesses.

The program started with Ghazal and her team of senior leaders sharing tips on brand building, selling on marketplaces & growth marketing using Facebook and Google. In the second phase leading ecosystem partners like Shiprocket, IPLIX Media, Emyza, STartup Buddy, Techsevin, etc shared tips around logistics, warehousing, influencer management, Shopify, and finance. The program also got the teams connected with accelerators like Amazon Launchpad, Blinkit, and Bigbasket Accelerator and gave a glimpse of communities like D2C Insider led by the community founder Abhishek Shah. Gyaan Day helped these founders decode various aspects of building a brand such as Growth marketing, Marketplace basics, Brand basics, Basics of finance, Influencer basics,  Logistics & warehousing basics, etc. 

Talking about the initiative, Ghazal Alagh, Co-Founder of Mamaearth and The Derma Co. said, “I truly believe that to be an entrepreneur you don’t need a fancy degree or huge amount of capital, rather, your passion is enough to help you survive and thrive. That’s exactly what I spotted in the startups that I invested in passionate individuals. I am truly invested in all of them and their startups and I would like nothing more than to see them succeed. Therefore,  I launched Gyaan Day, a one-of-its-kind mentorship programme that could help these founders scale their businesses. We are deep-diving into all aspects of brand building that early-stage startups founders should know about. I am confident that together we’ll make these ventures a huge success.”

Sharing his experience of attending the event, Rajat, Founder and CEO, Spandan, said, “In the early stages of building a brand, there are innumerable things that a start-up founder has to take care of which gets really overwhelming, as often they don’t have access to experts who could guide them. I would say Gyaan Day truly filled that need gap for us by providing us access to experts from all fields under one umbrella. The day was structured in such a way that we could take actionable points back home and scale our business from the next day itself.  We are truly grateful to have Ghazal onboard with us, not just as an investor but a mentor who is helping us in every step of our startup journey.” 

Rishika Nayak Shetty, Founder of The Sass Bar, added, “Shark Tank was a game-changer for us, not only it helped us raise funds but gave us access to mentors. Being on Shark Tank and getting the opportunity to be mentored by Ghazal Alagh, the woman who built MamaEarth along with Varun, is nothing short of a dream come true.”

“For last few months people have been asking us if the sharks are helping us, or is it just the money, today’s event has given us so much to take back and talk about how Shark’s are truly mentoring us scale our businesses.” mentioned by Jay from Humpy A2 Foods

With Shark Tank, Ghazal’s mission was to change the perception of how an entrepreneur is considered to be and in turn, pave a path of entrepreneurship for passionate individuals from every nook and corner of the country. Outside of Shark Tank, Ghazal has invested in many women-led startups like Uvi, Vaari, BlissClub, Protouch, etc. Her vision is to see many more women-founded unicorns over the next 5 years. 

Several aspiring entrepreneurs were given the push they needed to launch their dream owing to Shark Tank India. The experienced entrepreneurs cum judges on the show, with their investments, insights, and suggestions were the wind beneath their wings. Ghazal was one of the sharks who offered significant insights based on her own experiences of building a unicorn early in her entrepreneurship journey.