HIMALAYAN VEGAN FESTIVAL SPEAKER SERIES PROFILE
LIFESTYLE
ABHISHEK
SINHA CEO of GoodDot
BY KARIN OLSEN / PLANT POWER PRODUCTIONS
The entrepreneur talks about making the world a more humane place for animals by creating ethical, healthier, and environmentally sustainable alternative to animal meat
I
n 2003 Abhishek Sinha was in his final year of engineering when he unknowingly planted the seed for GoodDot, India’s leading homegrown mock meat brand. It all started when he came across a tissue culture study that fascinated him personally and from a business perspective. Sinha thought if he could get something similar product-wise into the market, it would appeal to millions of people who, like him, enjoy the taste of meat but don’t want to exploit animals. He partnered with Deepak Parihar to grow the idea, and by 2013 they assembled their team; in 2016, they
founded the company and, in 2017, launched their first product – a plant-based version of mutton, laying the groundwork to add vegan chicken, beef and fish. Inspired by some of the leading companies like the Beyond meats of the world, the partners had early confidence that mock meats were the real deal. Sinha said, “We realized from the start that if you have the right product and the right strategy, you can really disrupt the meat sector, so that was our initial inspiration point.” However, instead of copying business models,
