Aduja Naik, a resident of Margao, pursued her education in Goa College after completing her 12th standard. She obtained her bachelor's and master's degrees in Biotechnology and went on to earn her Ph.D. in Biotechnology from CFT IRR Mysore. Aduja has experience working in the industry and is currently a dedicated teacher at Parvatibai Chowgule College. In addition to her academic pursuits, she is also the proud founder of the startup Mushroom Connect. During the challenging times of the Covid pandemic, Aduja and her team brainstormed ways to assist people in cultivating mushrooms at home. Leveraging their background in Biotechnology, they embarked on a remarkable journey. Their first breakthrough product was Mushroom spawn, which laid the foundation for their venture. “They actually taught us how to make business out of this idea and they have been supporting us for the last almost 2 years. Through FiiRE we could connect to mentors who guided us and helped us to do really well and for this we thank FiiRE.”