In 2024, Ishat Jain launched SUNROOOF, an innovative interior startup based in Delhi. The startup transforms every ceiling into the sky using technology, innovation, and design.
While every parent strives hard to ensure that their children excel in school academics, Ishat Jain dropped out of formal education after 8th grade. It was because his parents had a different plan than formal education.
They wanted to expose Ishat to various books beyond academics and introduce him to extraordinary personalities in the entrepreneurship ecosystem. For Ishat’s parents, this was a better way of raising their kids.
“None of us in my family, particularly my father, believed in the modern education provided by schools these days. As a result, I didn’t receive formal schooling beyond the eighth grade,” the Delhi-based young entrepreneur explained in an interview with Startup Pedia.
Ishat’s parents run a luxury modular kitchen interior business based in Delhi called Magppie. Celebrities like Ranbir Kapoor, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Sunil Bharti Mittal and others are on the list of Magppie clientele.
Even Ishat’s elder sister decided to leave formal education during her 11th grade to pursue her passion for health. She is now India’s leading health educator, with over eight million subscribers on YouTube and a substantial following on Instagram. Her platform, the Satvic Movement, focuses on natural methods for healing without relying on medication.
Ishat Jain was homeschooled and gained knowledge through research, reading up on entrepreneurship, and meeting industry leaders. His primary education was in marketing and brand positioning.
The Birth Of SUNROOOF
While researching, Ishat stumbled upon a crisis the world was facing due to the lack of exposure to sunlight. A study examining daytime sunlight exposure and mood in UK adults found that an additional hour spent outdoors during the day was associated with a lower lifetime risk of depression.
He realized that the issue demanded solutions, and coming from a family with a background in design and innovation, Ishat thought of coming up with a disruptive lightning product idea where people could be exposed to sunlight while being indoors.
Ishat further added, “I figured that sunlight is not accessible to everybody in the world because of two reasons – the location of the country we belong to and lifestyles that do not allow us to interact with sunlight. I wanted to start by providing solutions in Scandinavian countries.”
He spent another three years on research and came up with the idea of SUNROOOF, the world’s first lighting technological system that brings the psychological benefits of sunlight to places with no access to natural sunlight.
Even though Ishat Jain’s plan to kickstart with Scandinavian countries did not come through because of compliance issues, in 2021, his father exhibited his luxury modular kitchen business in India Design (ID), one of the largest exhibitions for architecture and design.