Ashwin Nayanar is Co-Founder and Chief of Chocolates at VOCCA, a UAE-born premium artisanal chocolate brand under The Craving Company, supplying noon, Emirates First Class, Majid Al Futtaim, and exporting to 15+ countries.

Born and raised in the UAE, Ashwin trained as an architect at Manipal Institute of Technology and pivoted to entrepreneurship after a career setback in 2018, channeling his design sensibility into building a chocolate brand from the ground up.

Ashwin identified a gap in flavor innovation within the UAE's gifting culture and built VOCCA around Gulf-inspired sensory profiles including saffron, Arabic coffee, dates, and cardamom, earning a feature in Fast Company Middle East.

Alongside VOCCA, Ashwin serves as Managing Partner at Masala Factory and is a proud member of BNI Global, while also operating Cocofix, a mass-market chocolate line under The Craving Company's B2B private label and contract manufacturing arm.

VOCCA has grown from a kitchen experiment into a multi-store UAE retail presence with Halal-certified, UAE-manufactured products reaching 15+ countries, high-profile brand collaborations with Tesla and BMW, and a 47K+ GCC social media following.