Not everyone can turn his or her passion into a business. That is what Aarti Gill did after her MBA from INSEAD. Her love for active and healthy living drove her to launch FitCircle - an app-based service that provided nutrition suggestions, marathon training guidance and diet consultations - in 2014 along with Mihir Gadani.
The duo logged one lakh monthly users quickly but realised that it was difficult for people to implement the online recommendations into their day-to-day life. They decided to pivot FitCircle into a products firm. In 2016, they narrowed down their offerings to clean, plant-based nutritional products. The plan was to offer alternatives to existing brands that had artificial ingredients, chemicals and preservatives. Oziva was started with a loan of Rs 20 lakh. From one protein and herbs drink, it now has 15 products across five categories: Fitness and nutrition for women, skin nutrition, hair nutrition, men's fitness and kids' nutrition. The products contain botanical extracts and plant- and wholefood-based nutrition. Nearly 70-80 per cent consumers are women. "While we never targeted women specifically as a consumer segment, they were adopting clean eating habits much faster than men," says Gill. Now, the company is launching solutions for women's health, starting with two common hormonal conditions: Polycystic ovary syndrome and early menopause.
The 70-people company claims to have a net annualised run rate of Rs 100 crore and plans to reach Rs 200 crore by March 2021.