In a small but firm step, two foreign educated sisters from Gujarat are gearing up to take on domestic and multinational cosmetics giants, both from the organic and inorganic stream, through their indigenously-developed organic skincare brand Azafran Organics.
The sisters, Aditi Vyas and Mansi Vyas, in their 30s, and the daughters of Dishman Pharmaceuticals Ltd.’s Chairman and Managing Director Janmejay Vyas, have just entered the Rs.500-crore Indian organic skincare market with their range of products. The skincare product market is extremely cluttered, and products are priced from Rs.30 a piece to over Rs.1,000.
The global market for skin care products is estimated to be around $13 billion in 2018, and the Indian market size is about Rs.10,000 crore to Rs.12,000 crore. Their efforts, which started in 2007, fructified in April this year when their company Azafran (Saffron in Spanish) Innovacion Ltd. launched an entire range of 25 organic skincare products in the price range of Rs.200 to Rs.700.
“We started the company because we realised that many skincare products available in the market don’t give flawless skin without potentially causing other problems or only giving temporary or superficial results. Most commercial beauty products are full of chemicals and preservatives that can do irreparable damage to your skin. Quality has always been a concern,” said Mansi Vyas, the co-founder and director of Azafran. It took them three years to receive the required certification from the U.S. and France and another five years to grow the organic herbs on their farm, extract essential oils, do research and development, conduct market survey, and roll out the desired products.
The company operates out of a 40-hectare facility near Sanand, which includes its own organic farm, large greenhouses, manufacturing facility and dedicated R&D centre.
“We grow over 35 varieties of plants, flowers and herbs. We extract and process these at our own facility and ensure 100 per cent natural purity. Our goal is to convert Indian consumers to a purer and healthier way of life by offering them innovative organic products at affordable prices. Now several MNC players are entering the organic field and we will compete with them,” said Aditi, co-founder and Director Azafran. On the reasons behind starting on their own, she said, “We come from a business family and entrepreneurial spirit is in our blood. Our father who single-handedly set up Dishman Pharmaceuticals, a leading API company, is inspiration for us.”
They have invested Rs.20 crore to set up the ‘Farm-to-Face’ model, and are hoping for a turnover of Rs.40 crore in three years.
They are now planning to venture into organic colour cosmetics segment in few months.
