Pic/Sneha Kharabe; Illustration/Uday Mohite

On A rainy evening in 1996, while in his chauffeur-driven car, investment banker Venkatesh Iyer came across a moving scene on P D'Mello Road in Wadala, one that changed his life. A hungry child was fighting with a dog for a piece of chapati. "For the next few days, the scene replayed in my head. I realised that if I were to start a business, it should be something that creates education, employment and entrepreneurship for those at the bottom of the pyramid," says the 50-year-old, who quit his 15-year practice in corporate finance and entered the F&B scene by launching Goli Vada Pav in Kalyan in 2003.