In 2012, when Niloufar Sassani of Iranian origin and Edoardo Bortolato, an Italian, were studying at Milan’s Bocconi University, they knew little about each other’s cultures. "We were madly in love. But, Edoardo, like most people, saw Iran mainly as an oppressive regime with no freedom," says Sassani, who was raised in Tehran. She, on the other hand, had a fair idea of life in Europe having worked in Paris in the past. "But, it’s different knowing it from a native’s perspective," says Sassani, who later worked for a shoe manufacturing unit as marketing head. Bortolato, her then boyfriend and now husband was employed as a business consultant before both turned entrepreneurs.