Asia's Best Younger Entrepreneur 2009

Pranoti Nagarkar Israni
Singapore

Age: 27

Company: Zimplistic Pte Ltd.

Breads such as roti or chapati are staples in the diet of some 800 million Indians, and so Israni decided to launch her own startup in June 2008 when she came up with her first invention, an automatic "Rotimatic" set to be the rice cooker for the roti-eating population. The appliance, about the size of a mini-microwave oven, does the measuring, mixing, kneading, making, and baking of rotis, with users only required to refill the wheat and water compartments after a few days. Zimplistic recently won the prestigious StartUp@Singapore 2009 grand champion trophy, which comes with $28,000 in prize money and one free year of office space. Prior to this, Israni's Zimplistic was awarded the YES! Spring Singapore grant for young entrepreneurs valued at $35,000. Israni amis to partner or license with a consumer appliance brand to bring Rotimatic to market in 2010.