Rupali Sharma was facing the problem of acute hair fall when she had her second child. That is when she decided to try her mother’s homemade remedy of onion juice. When her hair fall promptly stopped, she decided to build a thriving business out of it. Rupali is now the founder and CEO of Aegte Lifesciences, a brand that offers natural and chemical-free personal care products. She is a mompreneur who started with Rs 5 lakh capital, one product and a ton of confidence over her idea. Her company now clocks in revenue of 7 crores and a collection of 28 pure and natural products.
Rupali’s journey of establishing her full-fledged business started when she decided to make her first product based on her hair fall experience- Aegte Onion Hair Oil. She launched it in the Great Indian Sale on Amazon, and as expected, the product went out of stock! When she started to receive more queries about the hair oil, she decided to launch more products. Aegte Lifesciences is based in India but is now present in several other countries, including the UK, US and the UAE.
Rupali did not have a smooth start with Aegte owing to patriarchy. People were apprehensive about a woman taking charge of a company and warned her not to enter the skincare industry as it is already full of competing brands. When she took her son to meetings, people looked at her questionably and judged her mettle about running a company. Although, she was thankful that her husband decided to switch from his IT job to help her full-time with the business. Running a skincare company indeed was a learning curve for both of them, and they never stopped.
Rupali wanted to name the company ‘Shop Authentic’ but later decided on Aegte, which is the Danish word for ‘authenticity’. They want to highlight the unique character of their products in the brand name itself, which is ‘authentic’. Rupali has firsthand witnessed the power of natural ingredients on skin and hair. In our busy lives, Aegte is a ray of hope as it offers a natural and readymade solution. It makes it easier for women to add natural care products to their busy schedule. All the products manufactured by Rupali’s brand focus on natural ingredients that can benefit the skin and hair.
With a lot of grit and determination, Rupali has now created a digital-first brand that sells its products on Amazon, Flipkart, 1mg and Snapdeal apart from their website. They sell their herbal products in the US by partnering with Karmaplace.com. Her brand also sells products offline through approximately 50 retail shops.
Rupali is very particular about the products, their ingredients and the manufacturing process. The manufacturing units are located in Delhi and she herself overseas the process carefully. She comes up with product ideas with her team and decides on the ingredients. Her manufacturing team assembles the final product after taking inputs from concerned departments.
COVID-19 did not badly hit Rupali’s brand because it is digital-first, and the products were already sent to Flipkart and Amazon’s inventory. Their operations, however, have changed in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. The brand now also focuses on sanitising the packages and creating a safe work environment for their workers. Going ahead, this mompreneur is planning to introduce a collection of natural products under Rs 500 to match the affordability to customers. She has also decided to enter into health supplements arena in addition to her skin and haircare range.