Full Name:
Nikhil Arora
Birthdate:
February 21
Place of Birth::
California
Ethnicity:
Indian
Occupation:
Entrepreneur
Current Residence:
California, USA

Contribution

Of Indian heritage, Nikhil Arora is a rising star in the world of entrepreneurs under 30. With his co-founder, Nikhil started his gourmet mushroom company in his last year at UC Berkeley. Unlike other food companies though, Back to the Roots focuses on sustainable efforts, incorporating used-up coffee grounds from San Francisco bay area coffee company Peet’s as the soil for their mushroom kits.

In addition to recycling coffee grounds that would have otherwise been garbage, Nikhil and his team are promoting home gardening and healthy eating to a wide range of people, including children. In an era of extreme obesity, overflowing landfills and food shortages, Nikhil’s team efforts are attacking all three issues with an affordable and adorable solution. Nikhil Arora continues a legacy of great entrepreneurship and creativity.

Bio

Nikhil Arora is the co-founder of Back to the Roots, an urban mushroom farm in Oakland, California. He and co-founder Alejandro Velez created the company during their senior year at the University of California, Berkeley from a belief that business can be used for good. After graduating summa cum laude in 2009, they founded the mushroom farm that now makes grow-your-own Mushroom Gardens using entirely recycled coffee grounds as the soil – an idea upon which he and Alejandro came across in a business ethics lecture.

Arora was always interested in sustainability and job creation, and during college worked in Ghana for six months to implement a profitable recycling program at the 30,000+ student University of Ghana campus.

Prior to founding Back to the Roots, Arora was headed toward business consulting, which he gave up in favor of urban mushroom farming and sustainability. Along with Velez, Arora serves on the board for the Sage Mentorship Project, a one-to-one mentorship group connecting UC Berkeley students with local, disadvantaged elementary students. He also serves on the board for Alpha Epsilon Zeta, a professional fraternity on the UC Berkeley campus, and the Social Venture Network, the founding organization that helped spearhead the socially responsible business movement 25 years ago.

Today, Arora has been named one of 2012  Inc 30 Under 30 Entrepreneurs, a CNN Generation Next Entrepreneur to Watch, Forbes 30 Under 30, and one of BusinessWeek’s Top 25 Social Entrepreneurs. The company has grown from a handful of employees to 31 employees, and was honored in Fall 2012 with an Empact100 award from the White House, recognizing Back to the Roots as one of the top 100 entrepreneurial companies in the US.

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