The Founder
Najeeb Bin Haneef
Najeeb Bin Haneef O, founder and CEO, Zaara biotech Pvt. Ltd. hails from Pathanamthitta district in Kerala, the southern state of India. He was introduced to farming at a very young age by his grandfather, who was involved in commercial agriculture. He found particular interest in the social importance as well as the commercial aspect of food production.
Growing up, Najeeb was drawn to biosciences and joined Sahrdaya College of Engineering and Technology to undertake B. Tech
undergraduate education. During his undergraduate training, he was acquainted with alternative food sources. Intrigued by its untapped potential, Najeeb researched various food sources ranging from Mushrooms to single-cell proteins. With the support of his friends, Najeeb started Zaara Biotech as a college start-up in 2019.
Zaara Biotech launched a number of high-nutrition products in the same year including the iconic Blite cookies. With the collaboration from ICAR-CIFT for research and development, the company improved upon its products with algal-seaweed technology adding to its quality and taste. The hands-on experience and guidance of experts from ICAR-CIFT during the collaboration enabled Najeeb and his friends in acquiring expertise in the field of sea-weed technology.
Najeeb graduated with a degree in biotechnology in 2020 and Zaara biotech secured an initial investment of 10 million dollars in 2021. With a plethora of high-quality products, Zaara Biotech currently operates in multiple countries with its latest undertaking being the expansion of the company to the United States of America while Najeeb, currently the CEO of the company and already an astute scientist in algal seaweed technology with a zeal to further enhance his knowledge is currently undergoing postgraduate education from Sree Buddha College of Engineering and Technology.