From Engineer to Food Entrepreneur: The Story behind Nira Shah's Little Fingers
When Nira Shah, an electronics engineer and mother of twins, planned a family trip, she faced an unexpected challenge: finding genuinely healthy snacks for her young kids. Scanning ingredient labels revealed a disturbing pattern – most packaged options contained refined sugar, excessive salt, artificial flavors, preservatives, and palm oil.
"Little Fingers was born out of necessity, as the saying goes – necessity is the mother of invention," Shah explains. This frustrating experience sparked what would become her entrepreneurial journey, creating a brand focused on clean, nutritious snacks that parents could trust.
A Mother's Mission Becomes a Business
Nira Shah dove into food science and nutrition, experimenting with traditional Indian ingredients like millets, jaggery, whole wheat, and sattu. After months of research and trials, she developed a range of snacks that not only met her high standards for nutrition but also appealed to kids with their delicious taste and texture. Thus, Little Fingers was born – what she lovingly calls her "third child."
What Little Fingers Offers & What Makes it Unique?
Little Fingers product line includes BRANLAC, instant ready-to-eat premixes made with oats, wheat, multigrain and millet, sweetened with dates powder. They also offer nutrient-dense porridge mixes made from millets and multigrain blends with almonds and dried fruits.
This woman-led brand sets itself apart with a commitment to 100% clean-label products, completely free from maida, refined sugar, preservatives, and artificial additives. Nira also focuses on harnessing the power of traditional Indian superfoods to create tasty and nutritious snacks. Their products feature millets (ragi, bajra, jowar) high in calcium, fiber, and iron; jaggery as a natural sweetener with minerals and antioxidants; whole wheat and sattu for protein; and nuts and seeds essential for brain development.
Challenges Turned into Educational Opportunities
In her journey to create a D2C brand, Nira had to face quite a few challenges. The biggest hurdle was the lack of nutritional awareness among parents. “Many parents unknowingly opt for packaged snacks that seem convenient but are often loaded with unhealthy ingredients,” says the woman entrepreneur. Nira decided that starting a kids food brand is not just about selling the products, but also about educating parents about the importance of clean, nutrient-rich foods. For this, her brand runs workshops, creates social media content, teaches label reading, and provides nutritional guides to help parents make informed choices. They also offer product samples at community events, mom meet-ups, and pediatric clinics to build trust and encourage trials.
Slowly and steadily, Little Fingers quickly gained traction through word-of-mouth, social media engagement, strong digital presence, and strategic retail partnerships. They have a strong presence on Amazon, Flipkart, and other health-focused e-commerce platforms. Little Fingers now has a growing customer base across India, and Nira is determined to take it even further.
Recognition and Growth
Nira has earned multiple accolades and recognitions, including the Woman Entrepreneur Award under the Rainmaker category, and an award from Treta Yug Foundation. The Government of Gujarat has highlighted its business as a 100% women-empowered organization using millets. "Little Fingers is the only brand under our category to be covered and highlighted on the official page of the Government of Gujarat," Nira notes proudly.
Little Fingers has also been recognized by ShethePeopleTV and Kidsstoppress as one of the healthiest food brands, and won the Social Impact Award by Red FM. Recently, Nira also won the Women Listed “Celebrating Excellence Awards” 2024, held on 1st March, at India Habitat Centre, Delhi.
The Road Ahead: Future Goals & Expansion
This woman entrepreneur has ambitious plans for Little Fingers. With a vision to establish the brand on a global scale, she aims to compete with multinational corporations while staying true to her roots. She is focused on expanding its product line to include high-protein snacks for teens and nutritional products for mothers. “We want to make India a leader in baby and kids' nutrition by offering safe, nutritious, and delicious food options,” says Nira.
Every great idea starts with a personal story. For Nira, it was the constant struggle of finding healthy, guilt-free snacks for her child. So, she turned her frustration into a mission – to create something that other moms like her could trust, rely on, and feel good about.
Also Read, From TV Screens to Pet Bowls: Palak Jain’s Unexpected Entrepreneurial Journey with Paws For Greens
Also Read, Turning Arts to Business: Pooja Bhagwat’s Entrepreneurial Journey With Calligraphy
