Prishita Agarwal and Abhi Mishra, two University of British Columbia graduates, have transformed discarded wine and beer bottles into a thriving glassware business that recently secured a contract with FIFA for the 2026 World Cup. Their company, Mosa, produces glasses, platters, and candles from upcycled bottles, now featuring official FIFA Vancouver branding.
From Dorm Room to FIFA Licensee
In his early days at UBC, Abhi Mishra's dorm room window sills were lined with empty beer, wine, and liquor bottles. "Whenever we finished a bottle, we'd keep it on the windowsill," he recalls. His strict, non-drinking parents back in India would have been "shocked" at the volume of bottles collected, he says, but they likely didn't foresee how well their son would adapt to North American university culture.
What started as a simple gesture of not wanting bottles to go to waste turned into a business idea. Mosa emerged from a pile of broken glass after one of those dorm parties and was recently named the official World Cup 2026 licensee in British Columbia for FIFA-branded glassware, mugs, and soy candles in upcycled glass.
Discovering the Problem
Mishra was picking up the shards of a broken bottle after a raucous night in his dorm when he wondered why broken glass went into a bin with non-broken bottles. Where did it all go? Although it was two in the morning, Mishra and another student at the party, Prishita Agarwal, decided to Google it. "We discovered the glass is 100 per cent recyclable, but over 79 per cent ends up in landfills," they found. To the two sustainability and marketing students learning about upcycling at Sauder School of Business, the waste seemed counterintuitive. "It didn't make sense." There was also the matter of all the glass that never made it into recycling bins—the dorm windowsills were full of bottles. "We started thinking, 'Is there something we can do about this?'" said Mishra.
Starting the Business
Mishra and Agarwal began watching YouTube videos to see what they could do with used bottles. In short order, they ordered a $50 bottle cutter from Amazon and started tinkering with the bottles in their dorm rooms. They cut, sanded, and polished wine and beer bottles, turning them into glassware. They sliced bourbon bottles vertically to create serving platters. Their glassware and platters were a hit with their dorm friends. "They said it was cool," said Mishra.
So Mishra and Agarwal set up an impromptu booth on campus to test interest among a broader sector of people. They made $3,500 their first day—and were also unceremoniously told to pack up by campus security. After that, there was no stopping the duo. They collected bottles from friends and campus pubs and started selling the products at local farmers markets on weekends.
Growth and FIFA Contract
Since they graduated in November 2023, it has become a full-time business for Mishra, 25, and Agarwal, 24. The friends now have production and distribution centres in Vancouver and Montreal, a website, and are stocked with 80 retailers across Canada, as well as on Amazon. Their latest achievement is landing a contract to produce FIFA-branded glassware for the 2026 World Cup, a testament to their innovative approach to sustainability and entrepreneurship.
