Disha Singh is the Founder & CEO of Zouk, a D2C brand which brings stylish & functional products with an essence of India. With over 60,000 happy customers, Disha has scaled Zouk into a highly loved lifestyle and fashion brand. Zouk has raised over $1.5M from Stellaris Venture Partners, Titan Capital & founders of popular D2C brands like Mamaearth, Wow Skin Science and Beardo.
After an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad, Disha started Zouk in 2018. From early on, her focus has been on designing great products by fusing Indian handicraft design with modern functionalities using 100% vegan materials. Her products have even appeared organically in the movie Sherni and the Netflix series Little Things 3.
In her Zouk journey, the part Disha is most proud of is that as a woman, she has been able to upskill and support over 200 expert artisans, who make Zouk’s Proudly Indian products. That is rare given production has typically been a male-dominated industry.
Besides production, she handles a varied spectrum of roles at Zouk from product design to brand building to digital marketing. Her IIMA batchmate & husband Pradeep Krishnakumar, runs other aspects of the business.
The idea for Zouk came to her during the second year of IIMA, where she got a chance to meet the local artisans at Kutch. She saw these artisans making beautiful handicraft products but with no modern utility. She thus saw a gap in the market.
Post her MBA, she did short stints with a Lakme Fashion Week designer & a boutique women’s wear brand. This helped her understand the nuances of a lifestyle business, before starting Zouk
Disha believes that entrepreneurship is not about lofty valuations and wealth creation. Her passion for entrepreneurship comes from her desire to build an enduring business that will be her legacy.
Being from a middle class family, without any background in business, she initially faced challenges to convince her family. But with strong determination and faith in her idea, she took the leap and was supported by her alma mater IIM Ahmedabad, which awarded her the IIMaverick scholarship for entrepreneurship. IIMA professors continue to provide her with mentorship.
Disha and Pradeep are rapidly scaling up Zouk, with the vision of building an iconic global consumer brand from India.
About Zouk : Zouk is a Proudly Indian and 100% Vegan Direct to Consumer (D2C) brand for Bags, Wallets and Accessories. The company was founded by Disha Singh and Pradeep Krishnakumar, both batchmates at IIM Ahmedabad. The idea of Zouk was born when Disha visited Kutch for an IIMA course.
She saw that her friends loved the local handicraft items but did not buy any, given they were not functional. Thus, they set out on the mission of bringing to customers stylish and functional products with an Essence of India. Zouk’s current set of products include Laptop Bags, Office Bags, Backpacks, Handbags, Sling Bags, Tote Bags, Women’s Wallets, Mini Wallets and Passport Holders.
All products are handmade by expert artisans in their in-house manufacturing facility in Mumbai. Customers love the fact that the products are Vegan, with Indian prints and modern functionalities. Zouk is in fact a PeTA approved Vegan brand.
