Vaikunth Dempo’s venture Aurawell Essentials deals in products using the ancient Indian science of Ayurveda and modern day technological innovation for a better living
Vaikunth Dempo considers himself fortunate to be born in a business family in Goa that had a chance to dabble in different types of businesses for decades. He always wanted to be an entrepreneur since a young age; and over the years has ventured into many business projects. He has a degree in BCA, MITSOM-Pune (University of Pune) and an MSc in innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship, from University of Newcastle upon Tyne (United Kingdom). Since 2013, after his return from the UK, Vaikunth has been an entrepreneur and loves to travel during his free time. An avid aviation enthusiast, Vaikunth loves to read books, learn about spirituality and watch football.
His venture, Aurawell Essentials aims to bring holistic lifestyle products and services to the consumers by combining the ancient generational knowledge of Ayurveda and Aura management with modern technological advancements, thus aiming for complete physical and spiritual well-being. Aurawell Essentials also aims to bring sustainability to their projects
Vaikunth speaks on getting into the business of wellness. “I have been interested in the idea for some time now. While I was busy with my other ventures I always had an idea of owning a wellness and sustainable company. About 2 years back, while at CII Yi event I met a contract manufacturer from Tamil Nadu, had a quick conversation on the idea and to my good luck he was also keen on the idea and agreed to work with us. We have been working on high quality products and look to bring many new products in the near future”
Their manufacturing partner began the search for organic and ayurvedic products in 2013. They had a small manufacturing facility for cosmetics in Kodaikanal since 1995. Their relentless search for unadulterated products in the cosmetics industry have been the backbone of Aurawell Essentials.
All skin problems have solutions in Ayurveda. Aurawell makes tailor-made products to suit the needs of a customer base that is looking to try out organic products. The soaps are 100% hand-made, without using any synthetic chemicals or artificial flavours. Their products range from herbal cosmetics, herbal extracts, herbal veterinary products, herbal repellents for agriculture and pests. Aurawell plans to introduce aromatherapy kits and essential oils in the near future. With regards to distributing the products in Goa, Vaikunth mentions that in the initial six months, the distribution of the products was led by an in-house team. “The goal was to focus on getting personalised services to our clients, so we could be in touch with our customer base to understand how our products fared and to get relevant feedback, where we could improve upon. As we have been working with an exclusive partner store in Goa it wasn’t difficult to manage with an in-house team. Now that we are looking to scale up we will be actively looking for distributors in various cities and also looking at ventures that have online e-commerce stores which could buy in bulk and manage all the distribution.”
Aurawell Essentials have a couple of marketing strategies to push up their sales. “Social media platforms gave us a very good forum to get our brand going. We also set up a You Tube channel where we promoted a fitness camp and tried to get to our customers by providing them free online fitness programs. We have also used word-of-mouth marketing as a method of pushing our products. We however also look to leverage more tools in the near future that would mostly be useful in scaling up like – having a brand ambassador, promote wellness, and sustainable event, and more.”
Vaikunth mentions the roadblocks that he has faced along the way. “Getting the brand going into an already competitive market is a challenge and along with government regulations and matching safety standards always keeps us on our toes. We aim to climb the ladder organically. I understand that there will be difficulties to face, but we hope to clear them as we encounter them”.
As far as competing with other national and international brands go, Vaikunth says, “The brand was started with a personal passion for wellness products and we aim to be an overall brand that is wellness friendly and sustainable. We hope to make our products good for the body, mind and soul; while also making our packaging more sustainable or reusable that would give us an upper hand over other players. Our utmost focus will always be to provide a genuinely high-quality product and we would appreciate it when our customers become repeat customers. This is how we look at taking a bite in the pie of the market share”.
Regarding future plans, Vaikunth states that he is planning to export the products and that he is in talks with distributors overseas. He also plans to get into corporate gifting with the idea of promoting sustainable and reusable products and making ayurvedic products available to people at better prices.
Vaikunth concludes with a message to aspiring entrepreneurs. He quotes Yukteshwar Giri from Autobiography of a Yogi. “Look fear in the face and it will cease to trouble you.” I find many people stop taking important steps in the face of fear which is mostly in the mind. An entrepreneur has to take a leap and do what they want to do while facing them and it will cease to exist”
