InnoWin | The Case for Scientific Optimism

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In this edition of InnoWin, we speak with Neha Jain, CEO of Zerocircle, a sustainability company building seaweed-based biodegradable packaging to address the global plastic crisis.

Neha believes that real impact must happen at the industry level and not just via individual action. In 2020, she founded Zerocircle with the hope to replace conventional plastic packaging at scale. Today, Zerocircle’s product line includes sustainable films, coatings, and wood-free paper, with applications across the food, pharmaceutical, and paper industries.

Zerocircle is part of Scale-Up, MIF’s no-equity accelerator program for startups working on innovations to address India’s most pressing challenges. We asked Neha on what it takes to make innovation scale, how to build teams in the sustainability space, and her advice for Gen Z and women entrepreneurs.

Text: ✍🏼In Conversation with Neha Jain, CEO, Zerocircle

Q. What does disruptive innovation mean to you?

If innovation only works in a lab or for a niche audience, it’s not disruptive. Most solutions fail because they are wrapped in rigid go-to-market strategies.

Disruption only lasts when the product, the story, and the supply chain move together.

Q. In your sector, what helped you push through the biggest barriers?

For me, it’s scientific optimism of building a technically sound product that truly delivers. I believe that if there’s evidence, there has to be a way.

Our investors and supporters ease some of the pressure. Their faith in our product gives us the room to breathe, experiment and gradually turn small milestones into meaningful inventions in packaging.

Q. What advice do you have for Gen-Z entrepreneurs in the sustainability space? 

Gen-Z is living with the impacts of climate change, not just reading about it as a future risk and that is real, irreplaceable motivation.

Entrepreneurship, especially in sustainability, still asks for patience and the willingness to be tested. Before you break the conventional rules, know them, live them. That’s how you build something different that works in the real world.

Q. How can India’s innovation ecosystem make it easier for women-led ideas to scale?

Most women I know feel there’s a greater risk of failure — not just financial, but social. They are often fighting biases at home, at work, and with investors who quietly assume that women may not be as good at running a business.

What would truly help is writing the first cheque. Let them build a team that can bring their ideas together.

Do not over-mentor. Over-mentorship is as good as micro-managing someone. Confidence builds when you free-fall.

Q. What’s one leadership choice or risk you took that changed your trajectory?

One of the biggest leadership choices I made was to stop taking every decision myself. I started encouraging my team to take their own calls, even if it meant watching a few things go south at first.

It allowed me to get out of the quick-fixes cycle to finally focus on decisions that need strategic clarity.

Q. Tell us about a habit that changed your life.

Good sleep is non-negotiable for me.

I snooze and schedule everything in my inbox. It’s labelled, timed, and ruthlessly organised. I don’t let this system break.

📌ICYMI: MIF Insights | What shaped MIF’s March