[100 Emerging Women Leaders] How Priti Gupta is meeting the finer nutritional needs of the Indian family

At the age of 32, after working as a chartered accountant, teaching at SP Jain, NMIMS, and being associated with the Bombay Stock Exchange for more than a decade, Priti Gupta decided her destiny lay elsewhere—in nutrition. 

The catalyst to shift careers and in many ways, her lifestyle itself, came in 2017, in the form of a bad burn injury on her left leg, caused by the silencer of a bike. Her skin was charred to the bone. The accident also affected her immunity.      

“That was a time when I had just become a new mother to my son and was already struggling to keep up pace with his energy and nutrition requirements,” says Gupta, now a sports and fitness nutrition specialist.  

On the recommendation of a friend, she reluctantly agreed to take a collagen supplement to help with skin healing, and the results put all her fears to rest.

“I was struggling with the injury for over a month, and after taking collagen, I saw it start healing and new skin growing back in a week,” Gupta tells HerStory.

Collagen is the most abundant protein produced naturally in the body. It helps improve skin health, relieve joint pain, and prevent bone loss, among other things. With age, collagen production naturally begins to diminish. 

Identifying the need for these supplements among the Indian population, Gupta started her first entrepreneurial venture, Meneki Global, a nutrition foods company in June 2018. Its first product was PawaCollagen, a hydrolysed marine collagen powder.  

Since then, Meneki Global has curated close to 42 sports/fitness nutrition products including vegetarian collagen, haemoglobin boosters, supergreens and advanced hydration supplements for sports and workouts. 

A reluctant market

The journey of building a nutrition brand hasn’t been easy. 

“In India, the tricky thing is, people don’t think twice before say, drinking alcohol frequently, but the mention of ‘supplements’ always makes them war,” says Gupta.

“As part of our customer engagement and one-to-one counselling, we had to debunk a lot of myths about supplements being harmful to the body. Your body derives no more than 20% benefit from any form of exercise, whether you’re running, gymming, or doing anything else. Most other benefits come from a healthy lifestyle, eating, and resting habits, which very few people take accountability for,” she adds.

Having done her specialisation in sports and fitness nutrition from the American Council of Exercise, Gupta says creating dietary and lifestyle changes go hand-in-hand with taking in supplements, which together enhance repair and restoration in the body.

“When we started taking supplements, both my husband Rajeev and I shifted to natural, healthy foods, stuck to a simple, healthy diet and exercise routine. Our son followed in our footsteps and to this date, he hasn’t had an aerated drink. He is 15 years old and a national-level speed skater,” says Gupta, who is now also an endurance cyclist. 

Some of the products offered by Meneki are advanced sports hydration tablets to maintain electrolyte balance; hydrolysed marine collagen powder; fish oil capsules, soft gels, moringa powder, beetroot powder and super greens.

“We work with natural products without additives or flavours. These can be incorporated easily into your everyday diet, mixed with smoothies, beverages, and meals,” says Gupta.

A steady growth

Less than two years after Gupta started Meneki, the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered businesses. However, Meneki’s sales grew, as curiosity among people about healthy alternatives and better lifestyles increased during the period.

Even as she was trying to understand the market, the pandemic brought in demand from Tier II and III cities, especially for products like ‘Sattu’ or the brand’s black chickpea and finger millet powder.  

“Since our inception, we have been consistently doubling our revenues."

The power of women in nutrition 

In many ways, we are going back to nutrients we always knew and grew up on in the past, but have forgotten along the way, she says. 

“Women have an innate knowledge of this as they are by nature creators of life,” says Gupta. “More importantly, a better family health starts with their own health. The more aware they are of their own bodies nutrition needs, the more resourceful they can become for their families.”

Being a woman entrepreneur comes with its own sets of challenges unique to them. “But breaking glass ceilings is not new to me,” says Gupta. “I want to transform the Indian health and nutrition space by equipping consumers with the right knowledge and clean products so that they can make informed decisions and focus better on their life goals.”