USC alum creates the perfect brew in India

“The school of schools for the country of countries.”

That’s how USC President Carol Folt framed her first visit to India a few months ago as part of her efforts to ramp up the university’s long-standing and multifaceted relationship with the country. Folt led a USC delegation on a tour touting the strengths and advantages of USC as a university and research partner of choice for Indian students, businesses and government organizations.

Branded “USC-India:Partner the Future,” the USC delegation met with dignitaries, business and academic leaders, hundreds of university alumni, and Indian journalists in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi.

“The time is right now to super charge the USC-India global partnership,” Folt said to reporters, Indian officials and USC community members. “Through this partnership, our students can develop specialized knowledge and a network of support necessary for launching new products or new businesses, for shaping policy or inventing solutions to challenges in health care, sustainability, science and technology.”

Here, USC alumnus Ajai Thandi ’13 talks about how his Trojan experience provided him with opportunities unparalleled by any other university.

Ajai Thandi always wanted to be an entrepreneur. But en route to that dream, he worked as an investment banker at J.P. Morgan & Co. in New York City after earning his bachelor’s degree in economics at USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.

“Investment banking is a great training ground and hones your critical thinking and analytical skills,” Thandi says. “Most importantly, the long work hours helped me understand the meaning of building a strong work ethic to get things done. It gave me the confidence to do something of my own.”

That something took Thandi back home to New Delhi, where he and two friends co-founded Sleepy Owl Coffee in 2017. The company offers packaged coffee from locally sourced beans that’s then distributed nationally.

While there is a fortuitous gap in the Indian coffee market, part of the challenge is introducing the drinking habit to customers: “India is otherwise a tea-drinking nation, but coffee consumption in the country is growing,” Thandi says. “We saw this opportunity to educate the consumer and make them fall in love with our brand.”

The grind of a startup is, of course, demanding — so Thandi also relies on lessons learned at USC. “USC was the perfect amalgamation of work and play,” he says. “I believe in working hard to achieve my goals and being equally mindful of taking time to enjoy the journey.”

It’s a lesson he believes others in India would benefit from: “I wish to see more students from India go to USC and experience the student life that I had,” says Thandi, as he reflects on USC’s visit to India.

“Hopefully they’ll return to be entrepreneurs and build the startup ecosystem in India.”