A note from the head of Marico Innovation Foundation

India does not have an innovation problem. It has a translation problem. The ideas exist, entrepreneurs exist. What consistently fails to show up is the bridge between a proof of concept and a business that can reach people at scale. The gap is where Marico Innovation Foundation (MIF) has worked for 23 years. It is the gap that will define the next chapter of this foundation.

As I step into the role of Head of Marico Innovation Foundation, I, Varun Hangloo want to use this edition of InnoWin to share where we stand, what we are learning, and where we are headed.

What we are building across our programmes

Scale-Up, our no-equity accelerator, was built on a counterintuitive idea: the most valuable thing we can give a founder is not capital. It is judgment. Having worked with over 50 disruptive innovators and engaged a network of over 100 mentors, we have learned that the founders who grow fastest are not the ones who raised the most. They are the ones who found the right room at the right time, people who had navigated the same decisions, made the same mistakes, and were willing to say so.

We are now sharpening Scale-Up’s focus on early stage innovators, where the right support at the right moment has the most consequential impact on a founder’s trajectory.

Our agri-tech pilot in Mirzapur and Varanasi, run with our on-ground implementation partner Samunnati Foundation, has taught us something that does not show up in pitch decks: technology adoption among farmers is not a technology problem. It is a trust problem. A farmer who has watched promising solutions fail to deliver will not risk another, regardless of what the data says. Our job is to understand what makes that trust possible. That learning is shaping how we think about Phase 2 and a deeper field partner model for 2027.

Indian Innovation Icons 2027 has drawn over 1,000 applications from across India. What is striking is not just the number. It is the range of sectors represented and the audacity of the problems Indian entrepreneurs are choosing to take on. Shortlisted innovations are now in on-ground due diligence with our knowledge partner Deloitte. What we discover in that process shapes how MIF thinks about the next two years.

What these programmes are teaching each other

What strikes me, sitting across all of these programmes, is how much they are already teaching each other. The trust problem we are learning about in Mirzapur is the same problem a Scale-Up founder faces when walking into a room of corporate buyers. The answer in both cases is not a better product. It is a relationship built before the transaction.

MIF’s next chapter is about taking that insight seriously and building programmes that reflect it.

A moment of transition

This is also a moment of transition. Suranjana Ghosh led MIF through a meaningful period, expanding our presence in the climate and circular economy space and building the partnerships that strengthened this institution. I am grateful for the work she put in and for the organisation she has handed over. Mr. Mariwala’s belief in the potential of Indian innovation continues to give MIF its purpose and direction. That has not changed, and will not.

Looking ahead

We know what MIF stands for. The question for this chapter is whether we can deepen our impact, increase our reach, and make that work matter for more innovators across India.

InnoWin exists because the people in this network are not observers of what Indian innovation becomes. You are participants in it. We will use this space to share what we are learning, including the things we are rethinking. If something we write makes you think of a conversation worth having, we want to have it. The direction is clear. The work is just beginning.