Sagar Daryani

About

Sagar Daryani would wear a Wow! Momo T-shirt and approach potential customers on college campuses with a tray full of momos and relentless persistence. “We never had money to print leaflets, so sampling was the only way,” recalls the Kolkata-born Sindhi entrepreneur. His selling instincts were honed early at the age of five while helping at his father’s garments business. “I learnt how to sell a pair of trousers to a guy who came to buy a shirt,” he quips. That same entrepreneurial flair came in handy when he co-founded Wow! Momo in 2008, with Binod Homagai, a friend from St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata. Seventeen years later, it is one of India’s fastest-growing QSR and FMCG firms, a ₹650-crore business across 30-plus cities. Daryani is aiming for ₹1,100 crore in the near future, and a $100 million pre-IPO round by July. “Every month, I’m launching 20 stores, hiring 170–200 people... we can produce 1.2 million momos a day.” For Daryani, the IPO is not just about capital. “It’s about brand visibility, showing Indian QSR can be global.” He believes momos can be the next big thing in the food space. “If Domino’s can sell a ₹300 pizza in 500 cities, we can sell ₹100 momos in 5,000.”