Watch out for…
ikhil Arora of Back to the Roots and Neil Thanedar
of Avomeen Analytical Services have made it to
CNN Money’s list of 10 young entrepreneurs to
watch out for. The 24-year-old Nikhil started Back
to the Roots, a gourmet mushroom farm supplying restau-
rants and groceries, with Alejandro Velez. Though the duo
had never considered urban farming, ‘during spring semes-
ter at UC Berkeley in 2009, the two discovered that leftover
coffee grounds can be used instead of soil to grow gourmet
mushrooms,’ CNN said. ‘Turning down job offers in consul-
tancy and investment banking, Arora and Velez spent the
summer after graduation training themselves to be urban
farmers via You Tube videos. With a $5,000 social innova-
tion grant from UC Berkeley’s Chancellor, the two started
Oakland-based Back to the Roots. In 2010, Back to the
Roots expanded with grow-at-home mushroom kits, now
available in 300 Whole Foods stores.’ Thanedar, 23, mean-
while was graduating from the University of Michigan with
a double degree in business and molecular biology. But he
‘dreaded the idea of spending another five to 10 years work-
ing his way up someone else’s ladder before striking out on
his own,’ said CNN. So, he jumped in at the deep end and
N
or those of you
who have
noticed Janina
Janina’s West Side Story
JANINAGAVANKAR.COM
PEOPLE
BACKTOTHEROOTS.COM
Neil Thanedar, left, and Nikhil Arora
started Ann Arbor-based Avomeen Analytical Services, a
chemical testing laboratory that has a caseload growing by
10 percent each month, and they are on target to reach $1
million in sales this year. Good going, guys!
FAREED & THE
FOX FIGHT
areed Zakaria believes the network he works for, CNN,
shouldn’t try to woo Fox News viewers, because they won’t
switch. ‘The people who watch Fox are not going to watch
CNN. Let’s be honest,’ Zakaria told NPR while profiling CNN and
its managing editor Mark Whitaker. ‘Our competitors should
properly be The New York Times, the BBC and NPR.’ Direct hit!
F
Doesn’t pay to
ah the pitfalls of
working for the gov-
ernment! The Whi-
te House’s annual
disclosure of staffers’
salaries has revealed how
much (rather how little) Kal
Penn makes from his
assignment. The actor, who
returned as associate direc-
tor of the White House
Office of Public Engage-
ment late last year after fin-
ishing A Very Harold And
Kumar Christmas (which
will release this year), is among the 64 White House staffers
who make less than $43,000 a year. He makes just $41,000
a year. Good thing that’s not his only job!
A
be
Kal
FRED PROUSER/REU TERS
Penn
