The Founder
His Journey. His Story. His Purpose.
MUHAMMED SHAHANAVAS M
Founder · JoMenu International
Early Years
Shan did not begin his journey in a boardroom.
He began it under the open sun, laying interlock tiles, his hands shaped by hard labor. From a young age, he learned what real work felt like.
When opportunities were limited, he adapted.
He moved into livestock and cattle trading. Then came ceiling cement work, transporting stone and sand in trucks. Each chapter looked different, but the lesson was the same. You do what life asks of you, and you keep moving forward.
The Middle East Chapter
Eventually, life pushed him far from home to Dubai.
There was no comfort, only necessity. Shan worked jobs not driven by passion, but by survival. Those years were difficult, but they taught him resilience. And in the middle of that struggle, he discovered a skill that would change his path.
He learned culinary work not because it was glamorous, but because it was the option in front of him.
That decision changed everything.
His growing skill took him to Oman, where he became an Italian chef at a well known café. From the outside, it looked like success. Inside, life was falling apart. A painful breakup, relentless work pressure, and deep loneliness in a foreign country slowly broke him down.
Eventually, Shan returned to India exhausted, hurt, but still standing.
On his way back to Kerala, life tested him one more time.
He spent an entire day sleeping at Mumbai railway station with nothing except uncertainty. When he reached his hometown, he did not even go home. For thirty days, he stayed away because he had no savings, no safety net, and no backup plan.
What he did have was courage.
The Birth of Jomenu
Starting from zero, Shan partnered with a local restaurant chain in Kerala. He sold his menus, helped open franchise restaurants, and invested his time and expertise into building their growth. But when conflict arose and he needed support the most, the very people he helped chose to walk away.
That moment changed his thinking forever.
Why not start something of his own?
Why not build within the space he knew better than anyone else?
With fear, risk, and uncertainty in front of him, Shan took the leap.
He launched his own Italian café model restaurant, betting everything on himself.
The breakthrough came quickly.
He signed a deal with Kannur Warriors FC, a team in the Super League Kerala, to provide food services and event management. His discipline, leadership, and execution stood out immediately.
Soon after, Super League Kerala itself reached out.
Shan was trusted with managing the league's final event, a defining milestone that brought him credibility, experience, and powerful connections.
Those moments became the foundation of what Jomenu is today.
And this is not the end of Shan's story. Everything until now was built through hardship, sacrifice, and persistence. He built alone, step by step, when no one was watching. Today, he is no longer alone. He stands alongside brothers from other mothers, partners who share the same hunger, the same struggle, and the same dream. A dream to build something meaningful, to win in life, and to give back to the community. Shan's journey has not ended. It has only just begun.