Meet Tanushree Ishani D & Pooja Karegoudar Womenpreneurs Who Are Shaping Future

I hope this can inspire you to become a successful entrepreneur too! Why is it important to hear the story of a successful entrepreneur?

Having the vision to become an entrepreneur is great. Making it happen is another story!

In that frame, I had the pleasure to interview Tanushree Ishani D & Pooja Karegoudar, founders of BodyCafé. BodyCafé is an organic lifestyle wellness brand that is based on authentic and traditional beauty practices. BodyCafé takes inspiration from ancient home remedies (gharelu nuskhe), the goodness of nature (Prakriti) and Ayurveda. Painstaking research, highest standards of purity, authenticity, quality, and ethical sourcing of organic ingredients go into the making of BodyCafé’s products. BodyCafé products are made of nutrient-rich organic ingredients, purest of essential oils and lots of love to heal your skin, hair and body in a safe, gentle yet truly effective way. They are natural and organic, free from parabens, artificial or synthetic fragrances, artificial colours, mineral oils and paraffin and harmful additives.

1. What gets you out of bed in the morning i.e what’s your source of motivation?
Let’s first begin by saying that when you love doing what you do, it’s easy to get out of the bed. 🙂 But having said that, there are days when we might feel exhausted, fatigued or under the weather or it could be just a Sunday morning when we would want to laze in bed, but we do not have the liberty nor have the luxury to enjoy late mornings.

We have dreams, we have a vision for our brand, promises to keep and to get up and turn them into a reality is what attributes to us waking up with enthusiasm and motivation every day.

2. Why should people choose your product/services?
The products of BodyCafé are designed for people from all walks of life. We help people adopt a healthy lifestyle ‘in toto’ as we have products not just for grooming or vanity needs but also for pets, baby, wellness and home care.

Painstaking research, highest standards of purity, authenticity, quality, and ethical sourcing of organic ingredients go into the making of our products. Our products are made of nutrient-rich organic ingredients, purest of essential oils and lots of love to heal your skin, hair and body in a safe, gentle yet truly effective way. They are natural and organic, free from parabens, artificial or synthetic fragrances, artificial colours, mineral oils and paraffin and harmful additives. We have also applied the science of Aromatherapy in our range to create a perfect harmony between the mind, body and spirit for our users.

The ingredients used in our products have certifications of purity and authenticity from relevant boards. We adhere to environmentally friendly manufacturing practices and our brand is absolutely against animal testing. Additionally, users have the advantage of ordering bespoke products.

3. What’s your competitive advantage and why can’t it be copied?
Pragmatically speaking, this isn’t a monopoly environment but having said that, our biggest USP is that each and every product is handcrafted i.e handmade to ensure special care, attention and lots of love go into making every product. Arguably, this is time and effort consuming but this practice also ensures that our users do not end up compromising on the ingredients of the products.

Another advantage is that we are very competitive when it comes to pricing and this is primarily because we firmly believe from a college-going adult to someone living on retirement pension should be able to enjoy our products.

We also use the highest quality when it comes to butters and essential oils and also apply the science of aromatherapy into making our products so that it also helps our users to not just focus on their grooming but also give them a sense of physiological and psychological well being.

We do not use any form of artificial colours or fragrances, thus giving our users products in their purest forms.

A very interesting observation would be that we theme our products and definitely do not stick to the repetitive combinations. For instance, we have introduced a spa range dedicated to famous cocktails and another time launched artisan soaps that paid homage to Indian spices. We offer gourmet products for the soul. Our combinations are very unique such as cardamom and vetiver or cinnamon and star anise with neem. This helps our users experiment and break free from the monotony.

Another advantage that we offer is that users have the luxury to order their bespoke range from us and this is a huge hit especially amongst those who travel frequently. This gives our audience the power to choose what they want and not be dependent on the regularly available products.

4. What risks are you facing?
There are multiple risks that we are facing every day. The fact that despite spending enough time understanding Indian skin concerns and doing extensive market research on products, a particular range of products might not be well received by the audience. The growing competition, brands aping our designs or themes or combinations, the fact that we are not funded yet which makes scalability a huge challenge to capture the critical mass are few of the risks that we are or that we know we will be facing.

5. Have you considered any alliance/partnership?
Yes, we have tied up with few spas and salons and are looking to collaborate with more Spas/Parlours/Salons. We are even looking to partner with Organic brick and mortar stores, event management companies and corporates for gifting options, hospitals and pharmacies for our wellness range and most definitely hotels and lodges.

6. What are your cash flow projections? When will you break even? How much will you need in investments?
We are looking for a seed round of funding.

7. What comes first for you money or emotions?
Quite an interesting question. I think we as a brand have the perfect balance of money and emotions. For instance, as every product is handmade, it helps us open employment opportunities for people when most companies are moving to machineries that hinder employment. Secondly, we definitely have set a benchmark when it comes to our client relations because we take special care to interact with every client and till date has not built a chatbot which ideally would make our lives easier but also cut out the ‘human’ touch. We go the extra mile when it comes to fulfilling an order irrespective of the order value. Most importantly, our brand is cruelty-free, which means we are doing our best to contribute to the cruelty-free industry.

The fact that with minimum investment, we are still functioning as a brand and surviving despite the huge competition means that we are also focussing on our revenues and targets. Money and emotions exist in parallel.

8. What are your strengths and weaknesses?
Both of us have our roles very well sketched so it helps us own the task.
We always involve each other in every decision and share our problems, challenges, worries, fears and have our backs at all times. We have always been supportive of each other. Running BodyCafé means a lot more to us because we are here to break stereotypes, for instance, women can’t work together or that women cannot run business and manage domestic life. It is a huge responsibility because we believe, if even one girl gets inspired by us or if one boy realises that this is how women need to be then our hard work is worth it.
Tanushree: When it comes to production, Pooja knows her way with ingredients, combinations and what would be well accepted by the audience. She weaves magic and her passion to create something new is what drives her. She is also very aesthetically sound.

Pooja: I think Tanu was born for business. She can connect anything and everything with the brand. Her concepts when it comes to marketing or people relations is commendable.
Both of us do not like to settle for mediocrity.

A huge challenge, however, we face is, when it comes to ‘marketing’ ourselves, both of us are very modest. We cannot claim to be people we are not or glorify ourselves or the hard work we do which makes the visibility of our brand sometimes a challenge. It baffles us when our contemporaries irrespective of the industry so effortlessly tomtom about themselves. We cannot say we admire that but have to admit, it is beneficial for the business. For now, we are happy to let our work do the talking.

9. Tell me about an accomplishment you are most proud of.
The fact that we are growing organically just like our brand. A new client, a recurring client, a new sale made, a PR release, the look of worry yet pride in the eyes of our families, users coming up to us and appreciating our products and efforts, every challenge won – all of these are accomplishments that we take pride in.

One incident that strikes is once we were travelling and at the airport in the security check, one of the staff members recognised our pamphlet that was in our handbag and mentioned that she had read about us – made us feel ‘quite cool’ 😀

10. How do you handle the pressure?
We do not handle the pressure. We accept the pressure. It is now a part and parcel of our lives. The hard thing about hard things is that there is no ‘one size fits all’ recipe. However, the best approach we feel is to hope for the best and be prepared for the worst. It is a cliche but it is true. Also, one should always adopt a divergent thought process. What alternative possible solutions could be sought for a problem is what matters rather than fussing over the problem. A solution-centric approach is what helps in times of pressure and challenges.

11. If you sold your company today, what would be the tone of the conversation? What would you want to gain? What would you want to avoid losing?
It is too early to talk about an exit strategy. We have just begun. Let us answer this question after a decade maybe.

12. What advice would you give to someone starting out?
Advice is a big word. But here’s what worked or works for us. Do not be scared. If you are scared means you are either not confident of yourself or your product. So, be confident but at the same time be realistic. The path is not going to be easy. There will be many hurdles and things will most definitely not be put on a platter. Work hard and celebrate your struggles because it is most definitely worth it.
Funding is not the end goal. Funding most definitely helps to scale but in the end, it all comes down to the revenue that you generate.
Play by your strengths and quickly learn from your areas of development. Never compromise on your ethics.

Do NOT stick to stereotypes. The entire essence of entrepreneurship is lost because of the stereotypes associated with it. There is no recipe to be a good entrepreneur. Do not ape others. Have your own unique persona and working style. Be prepared for setbacks and heartbreaks. Do not take success to head and failures to heart.

13. What’s the one question you were expecting most and I haven’t asked you?
We would like to share a few learnings or observations. Being women entrepreneurs is not easy and we do not mean to play the sexist card here but we need to hustle every day and might we add hustle hard. It is extremely amusing when we come across people who know us, are aware of the hard work and efforts we put in yet expect ‘free stuff’ or ‘discounts’. The interesting part here is our immediate families and spouses buy products from us at full MRP. When you see a budding entrepreneur and when you see the amount of hard work and effort they put in, it is a good habit to not resort to such antics. Recently we read something very interesting online. It was something on the lines that people would blindly support or invest in brands that would rope in a famous face but would not support a brand started by their family member or a close friend. The irony is the credibility of that particular brand ambassador is not known compared to the entrepreneur. The struggle is very hard especially when people you are emotionally dependent on do not see your vision or understand your pace. We have been very thankful to our parents and spouses for supporting us constantly, going beyond their comfort zone to accommodate our lifestyles and some few incredibly supportive friends and well-wishers. Of course, the love that our users show us and our brand is the biggest motivating factor that keeps us going.

Link
Website: https://bodycafe.in/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Bodycafe.in/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bodycafe.in/