Startify founder eyes Gulf expansion for Indian D2C brands

Sudhir Syal has promoted Irish band Westlife’s concert in Dubai and sold premium eyewear in the Middle East. He will soon promote corn chips as well as fashion and personal care products in the region. But there’s a big difference this time.

- Dilasha Seth

Syal, who established BookMyShow and Lenskart in the region as the chief executive officer of their Middle East operations, is now set to facilitate the entry of several other Indian brands in the Gulf under his “go-to-market accelerator" startup Startify.

Startify’s objective, says the founder and CEO of the six-month-old startup, is to help launch and scale direct-to-consumer (D2C) Indian brands that are keen to tap into the $250-billion retail market of the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

“Lenskart opened my eyes to the fact that Indian brands can succeed in this market... I realized that other companies can benefit from the Lenskart playbook as they scale in the MENA region," he said. “That’s where Startify came from."