A Bollywood song lyric made Mr. Anish Mathew quit his corporate job. But that was only the second time he had done it.

The first resignation came in 2009, on the very day he was promoted to head a branch. Years earlier, he had set a personal deadline for himself, a point beyond which he refused to keep postponing his entrepreneurial aspirations. “I always wanted to be the king of my own kingdom,” he recalls. So when the promotion letter arrived, he submitted his resignation instead.

What followed was the challenging reality of first-generation entrepreneurship: no family business to inherit, no financial safety net, and no established roadmap to follow. It was a journey shaped by experimentation, setbacks, resilience, and continuous learning. Through persistence and an exceptional ability to build relationships, Mr. Anish established himself in food distribution and eventually became the exclusive supplier to Spencer’s across Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

However, the limitations of working capital eventually became a significant hurdle. Scaling the business without sufficient financial backing proved difficult, prompting him to return to the corporate world. This time, he took on national-level roles that took him from Chennai to Mumbai. The compensation was attractive and the career trajectory promising, yet something continued to feel incomplete.

A Song Lyric Changed Everything

One evening in 2017, a line from the classic Hindi song “Tum Aa Gaye Ho, Noor Aa Gaya Hai” resonated with him in an entirely new way: “Badi bewajah zindagi ja rahi thi…” Life, he felt, was passing without a deeper sense of purpose.

The words stayed with him. They compelled him to confront a truth he had long been avoiding professional success had gradually distanced him from the work that truly gave him meaning.

He resigned once again, packed up his life, and returned to Lucknow.

This time, the vision was far clearer.

Betting on Millets Before They Were Mainstream

Long before the International Year of Millets, before government campaigns and wellness influencers brought ancient grains into mainstream conversations, Anish had already identified their immense potential. He recognized a growing problem hidden in plain sight: Indian diets were increasingly dominated by refined carbohydrates and ultra-processed foods, contributing to a silent but serious health crisis, particularly among diabetic patients.

He began experimenting with millet flours and grits, focusing on creating products that were genuinely healthier while remaining practical for everyday consumption.

The products found their earliest advocates in an unexpected space: doctors’ clinics. Endocrinologists and diabetologists began recommending them directly to patients. Soon, pharmacies across Lucknow started stocking his food products, an unconventional distribution channel for a local food brand at the time.

The COVID Test

When the pandemic arrived, Anish listed his multigrain flour and grits on e-commerce platforms. What interested him was not merely the sales figures, but the repeat purchases. Were customers buying the products once out of curiosity, or returning because the products genuinely worked in their daily lives?

They kept coming back.

That validation gave him the confidence to think bigger. He subsequently developed millet-based baby cereals without refined sugar, products that received appreciation from both pediatricians and parents.

Building the Kingdom

In 2023, supported by his wife, a former boss, a Jaipuria Institute of Management classmate, and a childhood friend, individuals who invested in his vision as much as the business itself, IARA Food Products Pvt. Ltd. was formally established in Lucknow.

Today, the company manufactures a growing portfolio of millet-based and functional food products. Among its most ambitious innovations is the 5-Minute Millet Meal Mix, a ready-to-cook millet meal pre-mixed with vegetables and spices.

The objective is to challenge a long-standing perception that millets are bland, difficult to prepare, and meant only for those with health concerns. Team IARA believes healthy food should also be convenient, flavourful, and appealing to younger consumers, navigating fast-paced lifestyles. Following successful pilot runs and encouraging feedback, the product is now preparing for a formal launch, bringing the tagline “Jaldi Bhi, Healthy Bhi” to life.

From Lucknow to India’s Top 100

Recognition arrived sooner than expected- APEDA, the Government of India body responsible for promoting Indian food products globally, selected IARA among India’s Top 100 Startups. For a young, bootstrapped company from a Tier-2 city, the recognition carried significant weight. APEDA typically collaborates with some of the country’s largest food brands, and being included on that list positioned IARA as an emerging company with both national and international potential.

For Anish, the achievement represented something even more meaningful. It reaffirmed that a first-generation entrepreneur from Lucknow, operating with limited resources but strong conviction, could compete within the same ecosystem as established industry leaders.

The Bigger Mission

Building a successful company was never the final objective. The mission has always been larger: bringing millets back to Indian households.

These grains were once an integral part of the traditional Indian diet. Over time, however, they were gradually replaced by ultra-processed alternatives that have contributed to rising lifestyle-related health concerns. Through IARA, Mr. Anish aims to make eating healthier practical, affordable, and accessible for everyday families, while also demonstrating that meaningful food innovation does not need to originate from metropolitan cities alone.

His journey serves as a reminder that entrepreneurship is rarely linear. It is shaped by conviction, reinvention, resilience, and sometimes the courage to walk away from comfort in pursuit of something truly meaningful.

Twice, Anish walked away from certainty. Both times, he walked toward purpose.