[100 Emerging Women Leaders] Why this mother-daughter duo plunged into the clean beauty segment

As the head of the beauty category for Zalora, one of Southeast Asia’s largest online shopping platforms across Singapore, Hongkong, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Taiwan, Meenakshi Ganesh had access to leading multinational brands with some of the best beauty and skincare products.

“Southeast Asia has an evolved clean beauty scene, where the customers are aware of what suits and helps them and what doesn’t,” says Meenakshi.

But this wasn’t the case in India where there weren’t brands that met her skincare needs. “The brands available were either too expensive or compromised on the quality of the formulation to be price competitive, and therefore, did not deliver any concrete benefits,” says Meenakshi.

This led her to start Light Up Beauty, a D2C beauty startup, along with her mother Janaki Ganesh. The startup offers a ‘smart skincare’ regime, which, Meenakshi says, uses superfoods and natural ingredients as actives to deliver results and doesn’t use toxins or harsh chemicals.

The mother-daughter duo spent close to nine months on the skincare formulation and came up with a simple skincare regime, with six products that focus on natural brighteners, antioxidants, and hydrators.

Though she’s passionate about brand building, Meenakshi has no business background. Her father is a senior lawyer at the Supreme Court, and her mother is a lawyer as well. But, as a commerce student, Meenakshi had always envisaged working in a regular job. Her aspiration, as an MBA graduate, was to climb up the rungs of the corporate ladder.

Taking the entrepreneurial plunge

“The vacuum in the Indian skincare market made me take the plunge. Neither my mother nor I have any background in chemistry or making beauty products. But I call her my chief formulation officer. I think what is important is that we allowed our passion to dictate our journeys and not society or education,” she says.

Their staunch belief in the fact that what’s good for your body is good for your skin led them to incorporate superfoods such as matcha, avocado, chia seeds, blackcurrant, beetroot, and Kakadu plum in every formulation.

“We follow a ‘10 clean commandments’ policy with respect to our formulations and aim to deliver toxin- and chemical-free products to our consumers. None of our products contains parabens, sulphates, harsh lighteners, urea, talc, mineral oil, or alcohol, which severely damage the skin,” explains Meenakshi.

Promoting a healthy glow

Meenakshi says they want users to flaunt their natural complexion instead of hiding it behind layers of makeup or resorting to filters.

Light Up Beauty aims to achieve a naturally brightened and even-toned complexion and strives to promote a healthy glow, without being heavy on the wallet. Meenakshi says her team goes through multiple rounds of formulations before finalising the final product. Close attention is paid to synergy, as the founders want to ensure that the natural ingredients work together to deliver the results they promise. Each formulation is also PH balanced.

Every formulation is dermatologically tested and certified safe before it is launched and marketed.

“We never test our products on animals and make sure that every formulation is allergen-free. Each and every formulation is licensed under the FDA before it is launched in the market,” says Meenakshi.

Apart from strong, core formulations, the founders also believe in the importance of “look and feel”.

The bootstrapped startup began with an initial investment of Rs 25 lakh from the founders’ personal savings. This was used for formulation, product development and testing, packaging, and initial marketing.

Tackling challenges

“Launching the startup amid COVID-19 was challenging, given the volatile state of the market and the lack of awareness surrounding the brand. But we worked hard to educate customers about the uniqueness of the ingredients that have gone into the formulation, and orders started picking up slowly,” says Meenakshi.

Being a woman entrepreneur comes up with its own set of challenges, says Meenakshi. “Being a lean startup, we follow a contractual manufacturing setup, which means there are several negotiations in play. Most beauty brands have VC investments and celebrity backing, but we don’t have all of that. So, the biggest bias was getting people to take us seriously. I faced biases in terms of minimum order quantity and pricing.”

Meenakshi says what helps is being extremely persuasive and clear about the price floors.

Advising all women entrepreneurs, she says, “The Indian business landscape is changing to support women entrepreneurs. There is no better time to start up in India.”