Awards celebrate inspirational alumni

Two alumni from Cardiff Business School who have both founded successful companies have been recognised at the second 30(ish) Alumni Awards.

Harsh Dahiya (MBA 2019) and Rashi Sanon Narang (BSc 2003) were among the recipients recognised in the Entrepreneurship category at the awards ceremony held at the university’s innovative sbarc | spark building on 5 October.

The ceremony was hosted by Cardiff University’s new President and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Wendy Larner and featured emcee Matt Barbet (BA 1997, PgDip 1999).

Eschewing the format of traditional ’30 Under 30’ lists, the awards are designed to recognise the change-makers, innovators, and rule-breakers among the Cardiff University alumni community under or over 30, who feel 30(ish).

Meet the inspirational winners from our school:

Rashi Sanon Narang (BSc 2003)

Rashi started ‘Heads Up For Tails’, India’s leading petcare brand, in 2008. At the time, the pet care market in the country was unorganised with no quality offerings. Besides a stigma of inferiority attached to it, no one believed in its potential. She faced rejection from hundreds of vendors, retailers and even her friends and family. But she knew that just like her, there were other pet parents looking for quality products, which kept her going.

15 years later, HUFT has 85 stores pan-India. She has built a brand synonymous to pet care in the country and created a market where none existed. However, her contribution isn’t limited to providing over 5,000 quality pet products and over 50 spas with trained groomers, to the people of India. Rashi has, through the HUFT platform, played an instrumental role in empowering pet parents with knowledge that enables them to understand and care for their pets better. The brand also helps thousands of community dogs and cats via the HUFT Foundation.

Harsh Dahiya (MBA 2019)

Harsh is the founder of Harvesto Group, the leading manufacturer of specialised laboratory equipment and world’s largest manufacturer of digital soil testing kits, currently used in over 40 countries across the globe.

Harvesto’s technology under the Soil Health Card mission of the Government of India, has benefited over 200 million Indian farmers. Harsh has created over 1,500 rural entrepreneurs in India, employing over 500 people every year.

Harsh was awarded the ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ award by the Hon'ble Union Minister of India Mr KJ Alphons in 2019. In 2022 he was named in the ‘Top 25 Alumni’ of the Manav Rachna Educational Institutions, out of more than 35,000 alumni. In 2017 his work at Harvesto was recognised by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Harvesto and Harsh Dahiya’s work has been awarded and recognised several times by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Hon’ble President of India, Government of India, World Economic Forum, Niti Aayog, and Ministry of Agriculture of India.

Congratulations to all the inspirational alumni recognised in this year’s 30(ish) Alumni Awards list.