Rise of the senior preneurs

By 2050, India is expected to account for 16% of the world’s population aged 60 years and above—nearly 346 million seniors. India’s population size makes this demographic shift economically, socially, and culturally transformative. Healthcare systems, social services, and economic policies will inevitably be reshaped, positioning senior living as a critical pillar of national development.

Incidentally, some of the world’s most iconic ventures were born well past conventional retirement age. For instance, Colonel Harland Sanders founded KFC at 65, after his roadside restaurant was rendered obsolete by a new highway. Momofuku Ando, the mind behind instant ramen, didn’t stop innovating either. At 61, he introduced cup noodles, turning a clever invention into a global food phenomenon and cementing Nissin Foods’ worldwide success.

At 61, Charles Ranlett Flint brought together several companies to form the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company, a venture that was later known as IBM, reshaping the future of technology. Closer home, Krishnadas Paul founded Bisk Farm at 60. Despite heavy initial losses, he adapted to regional tastes, refined his strategy, and went on to build a multi-crore biscuit empire.

These stories share one lesson—age does not cap ambition, mindset does. Featuring four founders who refused to fade into the background after 60…

Hair’s to a second innings!
Radha Krishna Choudhary, 90, Co-founder, Avimee Herbal

In June 2021, Radha Krishna Choudhary—affectionately called Nanaji—was not chasing a market opportunity. At 85, the Surat-based Ayurveda practitioner was responding to a far more personal crisis unfolding inside his home. Post-Covid, Choudhary’s daughter began experiencing severe hair loss. What started as a physical issue quickly became emotional, eroding her confidence despite trying every well-known brand and remedy available. Watching his daughter break down was the turning point. “When your child cries like that, you cannot sit quietly,” says Choudhary, now 90.

For over two decades, Choudhary had been deeply immersed in Ayurveda, treating everyday ailments for his family using traditional knowledge. His home doubled as a modest medical room, stocked with herbs and homeopathy books. Following his daughter’s ailment, he turned that lifelong learning toward understanding hair health—studying scalp biology, nutrition, lifestyle factors, and sourcing herbs from across India. The result was a carefully extracted herbal hair oil.

Sceptical and afraid of losing what little hair she had left, his daughter hesitated. So Choudhary became the first test subject. Already genetically bald, he combined the oil with disciplined dietary and lifestyle changes. By January 2021, new hair growth appeared—an outcome that stunned his family and, soon, their wider community.

That gave birth to Avimee – derived from the names of his three daughters—Anita, Vinita, and Meenakshi—a constant reminder of family and responsibility. “Not with a business plan, but with a ‘jan kalyan’ motive,” says Choudhary, now the co-founder of Avimee Herbal. “Avimee was not created in a boardroom. It was made at home, with my own hands. As I say, ‘Baal to uga ke hi chhodenge’,” he says.

Today, Avimee positions itself as more than a personal care company. Its products, including kits with oil, serum and cleansers, reach customers across tier 1, 2, and 3 cities in India, as well as global markets such as Dubai. Most sales come directly through its website, allowing the company to guide consumers rather than push products blindly.

Operational leadership now rests with Choudhary’s grandson, Siddhant Agarwal, a chartered accountant by profession, co-founder & MD, who oversees growth and scale while preserving the company’s values.

Looking ahead, Avimee is preparing to introduce doctor consultations and an AI-based scalp test—already piloted successfully—to help users understand the root causes of hair loss. Solutions for complex conditions such as PCOS, postpartum hair loss, and hormonal imbalances are under development and will be launched only after rigorous testing.
Offline expansion and global outreach are planned, and the company aims to cross Rs 200 crore in revenue by 2026, but Choudhary is clear that numbers are secondary.

“Any growth without honesty means failure,” he says. The experience is fulfilling and the true measure of success is simple. As Choudhary puts it, “Even at this age, I am not satisfied. People ask me, ‘Why are you still working so hard at this age?’ My answer is: I will not rest until I am sure that when someone trusts Avimee, they are not disappointed. Getting 100% results may sound like a dream, but for me it is a responsibility, not a claim.”

Innovation has no expiry date
Radha Daga, 84, Founder & MD, Triguni Eze Eats

At a stage of life when most people contemplate retirement, Radha Daga was preparing for a bold new beginning. At 69, the Chennai-based textile exporter stepped into the food industry—an arena entirely unfamiliar to her. She had no formal training in food science, no marketing machinery, and no external funding. What she did possess was unwavering conviction, an uncompromising focus on quality, and decades of experience running businesses rooted in integrity.

At 84, Daga is now the force behind Triguni Eze Eats, a ready-to-eat Indian food brand served on airplanes, trains and e-commerce platforms—making her journey one of India’s most inspiring late-stage entrepreneurial stories. Her professional career began in the late 1970s in garment exports, where she built a successful business supplying international buyers, particularly in the US. Marketing never interested her as she firmly believed, “A good product would speak for itself.”
Decades later, a simple but powerful question sparked her second act— why couldn’t traditional Indian food be made convenient without losing its soul?

“Indian travellers, especially those flying or commuting long distances, had few options that tasted like home. Imported ready meals existed, but Indian staples such as idli, upma or lemon rice were either absent or poorly executed,” explains Daga, who at that time wondered whether these dishes could be dehydrated and brought back to life with just hot water.

“A small room in my factory became my lab, where I worked closely with a chef who had worked with a flight kitchen to refine recipes,” says Daga.

In 2012, chance intervened. A printed food tub sample reached IndiGo Airlines through a packaging vendor. The idea of Indian food ready in eight minutes with hot water caught the airline’s attention. After trials, IndiGo placed its first order, buying almost 80% of her total production. Upma became a favourite among passengers and crew, and as IndiGo expanded, so did Triguni Eze Eats.

New channels opened through Amazon and Indian Railways for Daga’s enterprise, with products now available on Vande Bharat Express trains. 

However, Daga isn’t chasing aggressive expansion. Instead, she hopes the brand will eventually find a “long-term partner” to carry it forward. “Today, I don’t like to call myself an entrepreneur, I’m not chasing money but a passion which will turn into a legacy,” she adds.

Reclaiming farms & freedom
Kasthuri Sivaraman, 75, Co-founder, Vaksana Farms

For most of their lives, financial independence was not something Laxmi Ammal, fondly known as Laxmi Paati, and her daughter, Kasthuri Sivaraman, believed was meant for them. Raised in conservative households in rural Tamil Nadu, the two women grew up following instructions, not questioning authority, and rarely being encouraged to voice their opinions. “As women, we were not taught to be independent thinkers. In fact, expressing our views was often discouraged,” says Sivaraman, now 75.

Formal education was limited. Ammal, the co-founder of Vaksana Farms, who passed away at 92 last year, had studied only until Class 3, while Sivaraman completed her schooling up to Class 7 in a Tamil-medium institution. Yet beneath these constraints lay a quiet ambition to someday stand on their own feet.

That opportunity emerged in 2021, when Sivaraman’s son, Kiruba Shankar, a digital marketing expert, saw the family’s 13-acre ancestral farm land located in Rettanai village, Tindivanam, lying unused for years, and he proposed transforming it into an organic farmstay, animal shelter and permaculture ground. The result was Vaksana Farms. 

Sivaraman has built the farm around its natural strengths like a farm-to-table experience, featuring traditional Tamil cuisine. “We use organic ingredients harvested from the farm, and using traditional, slow-cooking methods in clay pots, for dishes like millet pongal, moringa leaf soup, and poondu kulambu, a traditional south Indian spicy, tangy, aromatic garlic gravy, with rice, idli, or dosa,” says Sivaraman.

Today, the farm employs 11 women from three nearby villages. “Our long-term plan includes setting up a small production unit for local products such as pickles and health powders, with the aim of supporting at least 20 rural women by the end of this year,” informs Sivaraman.

Since its opening, the farm has hosted over 11,700 guests. It also conducts summer camps, permaculture workshops, and immersive farmstay experiences, besides growing timber, sandalwood, mangoes, and a wide range of vegetables, supported by five rainwater-harvesting ponds that ensure year-round sustainability.

Vaksana also runs an animal sanctuary, sheltering over 50 animals including cows, horses, sheep, goats, camels, turkeys, ducks, and geese. Sivaraman also plans to adopt donkeys and pigs—animals often overlooked due to their perceived lack of economic value. Operated as a social-profit enterprise, most of the earnings are reinvested into strengthening farm infrastructure, women’s employment, and caring for abandoned animals.

As senior citizens, they face numerous challenges. “There are days that involve physical tasks such as digging, sowing seeds, maintaining the garden and nursery, watering the plants, feeding the animals and maintaining the animal shelters, which leave us quite exhausted,” Sivaraman admits.

Still, she says, the rewards outweigh the strain. “It is never too late to reclaim independence and build something meaningful,” she adds.

Giving voice to life after 60 
Sanjay Mehta, 62, Founder & CEO, Ananta Quest

Sanjay Mehta often says that Ananta Quest did not start as a business idea, but “as a question that came looking for me when I turned 60”. A serial entrepreneur who has spent over three decades building, scaling, and exiting successful ventures, Mehta was the founder of Homeindia.com, one of India’s earliest e-commerce platforms, and later built Social Wavelength—now Mirum—into a leading digital agency that became part of the global WPP Group. His latest venture, however, is deeply personal.

In recent years, Mehta began noticing a recurring unease among people in his peer group, high-achieving professionals in their 50s and 60s who had done everything society asked of them. Yet many felt uncertain about how to approach the next 20 or 30 years of life. That restlessness stayed with him and eventually crystallised into Ananta Quest in 2025.

Today, as the founder and CEO of a platform for India’s affluent and HNIs to redesign life’s next chapter, Mehta is focused on what he calls ‘primers’, individuals between 50 and 65 entering life’s “second innings” while support this cohort across three core pillars: health, wealth, and community, helping them navigate longevity with clarity, agency, and purpose.

First is Mehta’s podcast and content series, What If You Live to Be 100?, which explores longevity-related themes such as healthspan, financial planning, identity shifts, and emotional transitions. Second is the Ananta Quest event—a curated, in-person forum bringing together thought leaders, brands to engage with the idea of a “second curve” in life. Third, the company plans to roll out workshops and curated experiences for deeper engagement.

Last year, the first event in Mumbai saw 300 participants—HNIs with an estimated net worth of `10-50 crore—a cohort attracting 12 premium brand sponsors such as Thomas Cook, HSBC Mutual Fund, DBS Bank, Jaico Publishing, among a few, providing early commercial validation for Mehta.

“Some of the sessions addressed often-avoided topics such as legacy, succession planning, and inheritance, alongside discussions reframing longevity from lifespan to ‘health span’, with an emphasis on mobility, independence, and quality of life,” says the Mumbai-based founder, who currently operates on a hybrid revenue model comprising delegate fees, sponsorships, and exhibitor booths.

While not profit-maximising now, Mehta describes it as a “slow capital” business—focused on long-term credibility, impact, and ecosystem-building. He has raised about `3 crore from angel investors, friends, and family. “The startup idea was welcoming for my friends and family since we are not selling solutions but offering direction, positioning as a purpose-driven venture to create a new ‘stage of life’ category in India’s evolving economy,” adds Mehta.