Tell me about your journey so far in the wellness industry?
I took wellness as a career about 15 years ago. Initially, I worked with Taj Wellington Mews Luxury Residences for over 9 years as Cardio Trainer. Then I worked with wellness outlet of Parle, in which I used to handle V gym at Vile Parle and worked for kids fitness in Eurokids. During my entire professional journey, I took certification and tried my hand in different categories of health and fitness to create a healthy society. Post that, I launched Orange Tree beauty studio, which is a makeover studio with fitness and beauty practices. Being in this profession for all these years, I have realized that people are not aware of health and fitness practices. However, with rising awareness, people are getting more and more health conscious due to which a sudden boom could be seen in this industry in the last 5 years. The entire nation is becoming more and more wellness conscious. I feel blessed to become a part of an industry where I can help people to achieve a healthy life.
What made you choose fitness as a profession? How did you conceptualised The Orange Tree and when?
I belong from a simple family of Ahmedabad with a non-entrepreneurial background. In academics, I did my bachelors in Science with a major in Microbiology. Further, I took certifications in the same line and started my career as a Medical Representative. Somewhere down the line, I always felt that this is not something I was destined to do. Then, I got married and came to Mumbai, which is known as the land of opportunity. Here, I joined a fitness class to remain in shape after the birth of my first child. The regular personal fitness sessions encouraged me to opt for this career option as I have been offered a job as a fitness instructor. From here, I began my professional excellence as an instructor in a fitness centre. I learned the nuances of fitness to shape my career in this field and soon became a Reebok Certified Fitness Instructor, which was extremely difficult to attain at that time.
What challenges you have faced while creating Orange Tree? How did you overcome that?
After working as a fitness trainer, my desire of growing never subsided. Thereby, I am learning the technical aspects of beauty and took a professional training for more than two years in the same field. Soon, I opened my beauty and fitness makeover studio. For the past 7 years, I have been running my Orange Tree studio at Breach Candy road in Mumbai.
Is Orange Tree bootstrapped or you have raised funds from the investors?
In Mumbai or any part of the globe, one need funds from the investors to set-up a business. I tried and got in touch with different banks, but finally received investment from the Central Bank of India.
Elaborate on the scope and growth of the wellness sector in India five years down the line?
If you see the growth chart of the wellness industry, the last 5 years saw incredible growth with rising awareness and income level. Even the social networking sites are playing a pivotal role in the growth and expansion of the wellness business. People are conducting workshops on spa management and wellness concepts and they are becoming more business savvy in this category. Fitness is just a segment of wellness, still gyms are mushrooming in every nook and corner of the country. The fitness industry is in its nascent stage. The industry is fairly fragmented as the majority of the market appears to be dominated by a large number of mom-and-pop gyms. The organised fitness services accounts for merely two of the overall fitness industry. There’s no denying from the fact that India has grown towards health and wellness and it will grow manifold in the future.
You were the fitness expert for various big organizations like, Axis Bank, Johnson and Johnson, EuroKids School etc., kindly share the scope of wellness in the corporate space?
India has immense scope of fitness. Even big business houses have started various fitness and wellness programmes that are extremely mindful of the advantages of having a healthy workforce. If workers are healthy, their attendance will see a good growth and this will eventually reduce the medical health insurance. More than this, employee fitness programmes will enhance worker morale, boost productivity and maximise performance.
How do you rate the competition in corporate fitness space? Can you name few corporate fitness gyms and wellness centres which are dominating the market at present?
I believe, the corporate fitness is at its nascent stage. At this point of time, personal fitness is more prevalent, thereby, we see a lot of competition in the personal fitness space. Generally, we have seen only big business houses having active HR departments using employee fitness as one of the incentives to boost their morale. It shows that a limited number of organisations are adopting fitness as a part of their HR programme, which leads to limited competition. However, in my opinion, our country is at an inflection point in the field of health, fitness and nutrition. Therefore, in the coming years, more and more companies will adopt fitness as their major focus area.
What are your future plans with The Orange Tree?
My vision is to build Orange Tree Image into an institution, where an individual will be facilitated in the overall personality development by addressing the requirements of his body and mind, without limiting it to one or two aspects only. I want to develop Orange Tree into a very trusted name, offering holistic development of a human body and to open various franchises of the Orange Tree Image.
