“Entrepreneurship is all about achieving equilibrium. When I initially started, I used to look at the highs & lows. However, now it’s all about equilibrium in every situation which is not possible if one keeps thinking about moments as highs and lows”.
– Aarti Gill
OZiva is a preventative healthcare startup and an active nutrition brand. It offers a range of natural products that consist of botanical extracts and plant, whole food-based nutrition.
With a firm belief that there’s more to everyone, the startup is committed to support every individual for a quality and clean nutrition.
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The OZiva Founder –
Ms. Aarti, presently the co-founder of OZiva, is an IIT Roorkee alumnus.
Born and raised in Chandigarh, Aarti’s mother worked as an officer at the Punjab Government’s healthcare department. Over the years, Mother’s work served as an inspiration for the daughter.
Ms. Aarti was well aware of preventative healthcare and wanted to turn into an entrepreneur in the sector in her future.
The OZiva Founding –
However, Ms. Aarti took an unconventional route before she got there.
After her graduation from IIT Roorkee in 2008, she worked with tech start-ups and also at corporate entities. She then went to complete her MBA degree at INSEAD, France and Singapore campuses.
She recalls incidents in her personal life that left an impact on her mind. She can remember days and instances where her mother used to wake in the middle of the night for medical emergencies in the neighbourhood. Especially, she can recall those cases where leading a better lifestyle could have saved lives.
These are also some reasons for her decisions to adopt a fitness regimen and a healthy lifestyle.
At IIT, she was part of multiple clubs and committees including choreography and dance.
Hitting the Roadblock –
At 24, Ms. Aarti hit the roadblock.
She quit her corporate job to pursue her own interest in preventative health care. Her fascination and passion drove her to pursue an active business venture. Along with her co-founder, Mr. Mihir Gadani, Ms Aarti started an app-based platform Fit Circle in 2014.
The app provided exercise boot camps, nutrition suggestions, diet consultations, and also expert consultations for healthy nutrition.
Coping and Learning from the Failures –
Unfortunately, the platform did not pan out well.
She reconceived her ideas and launched OZiva in 2016.
In four years, the company gained momentum and is presently a INR 50 Crore brand that has grown by 7 times just in past 12 months.
OZiva emerged as a platform for plant-based and organic nutritional products. The company claims to be the world’s first connected Omni channel nutrition brand, a platform in which consumers can pick up products from anywhere and consult an expert digitally.
Her first venture, Fit circle is still a part of OZiva backed technology providing enhanced services and information to the customers.
An Endeavour for Better Health Choices –
Ms. Aarti says her goal with OZiva is to enable people to make better and healthier life choices. To make this happen, the platform offers a range of products that consists of botanical extracts and also plant and food-based nutrition.
Ancient Wisdom and Modern Philosophy –
The products of OZiva offer the benefits of Ayurveda combined with the results of modern food sciences. Ms. Aarti’s co-founder, Mr. Mihir Gadani is a biotechnologist with an extensive experience in Botanical sciences.
It is Mihir’s works that forms the philosophy of combing Ayurveda with food sciences.
With the help of technology and modern science practices, nutrients are extracted from Ayurvedic herbs and these natural extracts are added to the products of OZiva.
The products are clean and natural and are free of artificial sweeteners and ingredients.
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Ensuring Quality Deliverance –
The company has an in-house Research and Development Team.
The team consists of about 40 employees where the efforts of the team are reflected in the name of the company where “O” stands for “Originality” whereas “Ziva” in Hebrew means “Brilliance or Radiance’.
The team works on the formulation and potential of herbs and plants on various products wherever any need is identified.
Sourced ingredients are initially sent to the NABL accredited labs for rigorous quality checks. These checks include nutrient profiling, toxicity check, and also potential allergens.
If all the quality parameters are met, the ingredient is finalised. The products are then manufactured at GMP certified registered units.
The end products are also tested for quality before shipping to the consumers.
OZiva Products –
The products of the company are divided into two main categories –
- Everyday nutrition
- Hair and Skin care nutrition
Both the category products are available to women and men. Soon, they plan to expand a Children’s nutrition segment as well.
Being a digital first brand, all OZiva products are available on its platform’s website as well as e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, Snap deal, Nykaa and also few offline stores.
Campaigns and Awareness –
Women make up 70% of OZiva consumer base.
The targeted audience are mainly from urban cities and metropolitans. The start-up ships products to more than 1500 towns in the country.
Awareness about health conditions and disorders also forms part of OZiva’s vision.
For instituting a conversation and awareness about PCOS, the company launched #MyPCOSStory which attracted hundreds of women who came forward to share their stories.
Endorsements and Partnerships –
The products are endorsed by actors like Divyanka Tripathi and Vidya Malvade.
Actress Deepika Padukone has recently been added to the list of endorsers. These are also extensively used by Indian Football players like Captain Aditi Chauhan and actors like Debina Bonnarjee and Sambhava Seth.
The brand’s top line revenue is just under INR 50 Crore and plans to cross 100 crore mark within this fiscal.
Ms. Aarti says that they look forward to invest in people, technology, and products for the growth of the brand.
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