Long race

AN ENDURANCE QUESTION TURNED INTO A CONSUMER NUTRITION BUSINESS

- ANEES HUSSAIN

THERE IS A POINT in every Ironman where the body stops responding. The swim and the 180-km ride are done. What remains is a marathon on legs that have already worked for hours. Athletes call it the dark place. Avnish Chhabria has been there on the course, and several times off it.

He grew up between a government school in Surat and Scindia School in Gwalior. A disciplinary incident that led to a serious ligament injury ended his boarding school years. Back in Mumbai, he finished school, went on to Nottingham for two master's degrees and a PhD on low-cost carriers. That work took him to Tony Fernandes' strategy team during AirAsia's India entry. He then joined Boohoo in its early years. He did not stay long in either role.

He returned to India to build his own ventures. Aqua V, a vitamin-infused water, was shut down by regulation in 2008. Stylista, a designer-led high-street platform, sold to Myntra for $4.5 million within 18 months.

Scootzy, a logistics venture, was acquired by Swiggy. Not every attempt worked. A coconut water business in Sri Lanka exited at a fraction of expectations. The pattern, however, held: each exit or failure led to another start.