Name: Rahul Nainani

Title: CEO & Co-Founder

Organisation: ReCircle

Rahul Nainani, Co-Founder and CEO of ReCircle - a pioneering clean-tech organisation, is on a mission to drive the Circular Economy.

A distinguished alumnus of the CFA program, Rahul excels in strategy, branding, business development, finance, and fundraising. He has forged long-term collaborations with industry giants, including HUL, UNDP India, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages, Mondelez, Tata Starbucks, and others, aiding them in accomplishing their sustainability objectives. As an innovative leader, Rahul prioritises sustainable growth, creating mutually beneficial outcomes for employees, partners, clients, and society.

A ‘Purpose fuelled by Passion and Profit’ mindset enables Rahul to function as a Social Entrepreneur with a proactive, hands-on leadership style; his energy is contagious. Recognition: Fortune India 40u40 (2024) | Circular Economy Award 2023 - Circular Business Model- FICCI (2023) | Winner Yourstory Tech Sparks Delhi(2023) | Best Social Impact Startup - Entrepreneur. com(2022) | Social Impact Leader in Recycling - Business World(2022) | Young Achievers Award - India Achievers Forum(2021) | Young Entrepreneur Award - Business World(2021) | TSS Social Enterprise of the Year(2021)

Thank you to the 2,000 leaders who’ve generously done the 7 Questions on Leadership!

I hope Rahul's answers will encourage you in your leadership journey. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Jonno White

1. What have you found most challenging as a leader?

Over the years, I’ve learned that the nature of challenges evolves with growth, making it a constant priority for me to reassess and optimise. While the competitive landscape of the clean-tech space posed a significant challenge, entering the waste and sustainability sector itself wasn’t the easiest decision, especially with a background in finance. Conveying the appeal of this sector to my family and navigating through a less glamorous startup domain were initial hurdles.

In addition, the sustainability sector lacked the traction it enjoys today, and releasing tangible impact in the space demanded patience. Despite these initial obstacles, we persevered, guided by an innovative mindset and a keen ear to market needs. Pivoting our business model at the right time allowed us to create a truly impactful business. I’ve always approached challenges with a solution-oriented lens, emphasising a proactive stance. It’s not just the challenges themselves but the attitude towards them that propels me forward.

2. How did you become a leader? Can you please briefly tell the story?

I’ve always been driven with a ‘purpose fuelled by passion and profit’ mindset and have consistently pursued the transformation of my ideas into realities with actionable outcomes. I have a background in finance (cleared all 3 levels of the CFA program), but knew I wanted to work in the circular economy space very early on.

Back in 2016 my co-founder, Gurashish Singh Sahni and I ended up visiting the Deonar dumping ground located in Mumbai right after a massive fire broke out there — in fact, there was an image that NASA took from space where the fire was visible. We ended up going to the landfill site after the fire to talk to the people who lived around the neighborhood and to the people who worked on the dumpsite.

We quickly learned that the average life expectancy of people living in the neighborhood of the dumpsite was 38 years! This was an eye-opener for me and made me question that if this is affecting the people in the neighborhood then how soon is it going to start affecting the rest of the city? Following this, I visited landfill sites in multiple cities across the country and the situation was the same everywhere I went.

While this is one of the moments that inspired me to work in the sector to make a real change there have been multiple other instances that keep driving me to do the work that we do. I would like to see a world where no resources are wasted, and importantly we have to rethink waste as a resource.

3. How do you structure your work days from waking up to going to sleep?

I think it helps to be disciplined with your time — be it with work or time off. I try to switch off on Sundays and spend time with family and friends.

4. What's a recent leadership lesson you've learned for the first time or been reminded of?

A leadership lesson that resonates with me - and one that I’ve been reminded of through my professional journey underscores the significance of prioritizing people and teams over traditional KPIs like revenue, profits, or valuations. While these metrics are undoubtedly important to track, it’s crucial to recognize that they are outcomes facilitated by a dedicated team.

In the journey of building a business, the team plays a pivotal role – numbers alone cannot pave the way to success. This understanding reinforces the value of fostering a strong and collaborative team, as they are the driving force behind achieving significant milestones.

5. What's one book that has had a profound impact on your leadership so

far? Can you please briefly tell the story of how that book impacted your leadership?

Zero to One by Peter Theil where the core idea is that to build a startup with the potential to revolutionise the world, one must transform from Zero to One, not from one to many. This involves challenging existing assumptions about the current state of affairs.

When we initiated our journey in the waste management and circular economy sector, the industry was non-existent. We lacked established rules or benchmarks for comparison. Our progress stemmed from adopting a radical mindset, thinking differently, and constantly questioning the status quo, allowing us to reach where we are today.

6. If you could only give one piece of advice to a young leader, what would you say to them?

Have an unwavering focus on whatever you set out to build. In the early stage of your journey make mistakes and learn quickly, try what comes on your plate. However, with time, focus is very important and saying no to businesses that are not part of your goal is even more important.

7. What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as a leader, so far? During the first month of the pandemic in 2020, we were contemplating running our material recovery facility in Dahisar, Mumbai because we were worried about the health of our informal waste partners (Safai Saathis) who work at the center. However, to my surprise, everyone on the team, including the Safai Saathis suggested we keep operations running because if we didn’t there might be another pandemic looming right around the corner.

This made me realise the importance of what we do. We are building something here that adds value to people’s daily lives, and that all our employees, Safai Saathis included, are equally passionate about our work and mission. At ReCircle, we’ve always been driven about building a culture driven by care and collaboration and this was evident at a most crucial time.

Over the years we have diverted over 100,000+ MT of waste from landfills and our oceans. And it doesn't stop there — we're also empowering 3100+ Safai Saathis, across a 300+ collector network to create a revolution; originating in India, and spreading across the world.

Waste isn’t only an environmental problem but also a human and societal issue, and while our efforts might be pan-Indian, the mission to create a circular economy truly impacts the globe. After all, it is the little things that matter. This is what drives me every single day.