How The Era Has Changed For Women Entrepreneurs

Indian beauty industry is growing at a CAGR of 18.6% and is expected to cross Rs. 80,370 crores by 2018. Changes in consumer lifestyle, higher disposable income as well as awareness are some of the drivers for this growth. In spite this robust growth, the industry is still largely unorganized. Moreover, the biggest challenge for this sector is skilled manpower. It is estimated by 2022, the health and beauty sector alone will require a workforce of 12 million.

Given that the beauty and wellness sector employs more women than men, the industry also has potential to make significant contribution to women empowerment. To this end, the government of India has taken some laudable initiatives under the 'Skill India' mission, helping the beauty and wellness sector become more organized and create a pool of certified and skilled professionals.

Being a women entrepreneur in the late-eighties, trying to scale up in a highly unorganized industry domain like beauty & wellness services was one of my biggest challenges initially. Being in what was largely an unorganized sector, I struggled to raise capital, and banks were apprehensive of something that was hardly deemed as sustainable and scalable. Fortunately, times have changed dramatically, with the Government's proactive push to create entrepreneurship opportunities for by making banking finance more readily available for even the unorganized sector and through initiatives like Start up India and setting up of industry-led, government backed sector skill councils.

Today, the Beauty & Wellness is one of the key sectors that can provide employment and entrepreneurship opportunities to enhance women's control over financial, human & intellectual resources in society. However, organized players along with government need to build aspiration in the trade and provide support to women entrepreneurs both financially and emotionally.

Back in 2001, when skill development had not acquired the attention it has today, VLCC set up its first training institute for beauty and nutrition to ensure that young people acquired the skills that would help them get jobs and make careers in the Beauty and Wellness industry. Today, with 80 campuses, the VLCC Institute of Beauty & Nutrition is possibly the biggest chain of vocational education academies in this domain across Asia, where nearly 20,000 students graduate every year. It has trained over 52000+ students under 'Skill India' mission alone.

As the Chairperson of the Beauty &Wellness Sector Skill Council and Founder of VLCC, I can proudly say that we have been successful in creating a foundation for women entrepreneurs. Nearly half the women pass outs from our institutes have already become self-entrepreneurs. Not only that, 95% of staff at VLCC are women, 85% of students population at our institute are women. With such encouraging figures, I can clearly see a remarkable shift towards women contribution in this sector and hope to see more women entrepreneurs contributing to the growth of our country.

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VLCC to open 50 institutes in India; plans to go international

Beauty and Wellness firm VLCC is on the expansion spree with a target to add 50 new training institutes in India over the next five years.

The company, which has about 70 institutes in India, has also chalked out plans to foray into international markets such as Canada, Malaysia, Srilanka, Kenya, Oman and Bangladesh.

With the opening of more institutes, VLCC is eyeing a 35 per cent year on year revenue growth. In FY 2018, it had a turnover of Rs 55 crore for the skilled business.

"We will add 50 new institutes in India and also in countries such as Canada, Malaysia, Oman and Srilanka with a target to train approximately 15,000 students," VLCC Group Director Sandeep Ahuja told PTI.

The company offers about 100 courses and workshops in the beauty and wellness space and has trained over 1 lakh students so far.

The institutes have crossed Rs 50 crore target and is set to go over Rs 100 crore with international expansion by this fiscal end, as per the company.

With regard to retail expansion in the personal care category, Ahuja said VLCC has recently added close to 100 new distributors and is betting on the modern trade across national and regional customers besides giving leverage to the e-commerce.

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Blow drying you Hair – Remember these important 7 steps

Blow drying is the technique of drying and styling damp hair with the help of blow dryer. It helps to develop soft natural hair styles with free flowing effects. The style shape is only temporary – as the hair gradually absorbs moisture from the atmosphere it returns to its original state. Listed below are the principles of blow drying your hair:-
– The hair is always dried from root to point, this smoothes the layer of cuticle, making the hair flatter and increases the ability of the hair to shine
– The nozzle of the hair blow dryer should point away from the head, this will avoid any discomfort from burning the scalp or neck
– The section or mesh of hair taken should be no deeper than the bristle or teeth section of the brush and no wider than the width of the brush. Matching the amount of hair to be dried with the bristle or teeth ‘footprint’ of the brush will always guarantee that you are not trying to handle too much hair
– The flat jet of warm air from the nozzle should be parallel with the section being dried. This ensures that all the hair dries at an even rate
– The drier must be kept moving in relation to the lengths of the sections of hair. This will avoid hot spots and hair damage as a consequence
– The hair is dried with an even tension without pulling, the movement, volume or curl is achieved by curving the hair in the direction required. This ensures that the movement that you create in the hair will be even throughout the hairstyle and will last
– Extra curl or movement is achieved by quickly cooling a previously dried section whilst the brush is still in place (i.e cool-shot drying, most professional hand dryers have this facility). The cooling action fixes the hair from alpha to beta keratin state, whereas warm hair can still revert back from beta to its original alpha state.

Thing to remember – Hair dryers only blow out what they such in from the other end. Always make sure that the filter is attached to the back of the dryer, as this will prevent hair from getting sucked in. This is not only embarrassing but dangerous as well.

P.S: This blow drying article is a part of Hair Technology course provided by VLCC Institute of Beauty & Nutrition. Diploma in Hair Technology course provides training in Hair Cutting, coloring, Hair extensions and detailed practical sessions guided by Industry best trainers.

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VLCC to train transgender persons in beauty therapy

In a major boon to the transgender community in the city, VLCC Institute will provide free training course for the job of ‘Assistant Beauty Therapist’ at their SR Nagar branch as part of a collective effort to help mainstream the members of transgender community.

Speaking to community members at SR Nagar branch on Tuesday, VLCC Hyderabad Regional Head M Sujatha said make-up and beauty industry provides great opportunities for transgender people.

“I have personally trained two transgender persons who are doing extremely well in the industry now and the industry has its doors open to members of transgender community,” she said. The 90-day course would provide in-depth knowledge of skin and hair care, she added.

Apart from teaching various aspects of beauty therapy, assistance would be provided to participants in placement and a stipend of Rs 2,000 for conveyance would be provided. There was no educational eligibility required, she added.

The project would be held in city on pilot basis and extended to Bengaluru, Mumbai and New Delhi, Bengaluru-based Trans activist Yash Sharma said.

Community-based organisations such as the Telangana Hijra Intersex Transgender Samithi, Udbhav, Payana and The Humsafar Trust are collaborating with VLCC Institute for the initiative.

“Over 20 members of transgender community have signed up for the course, although several details are yet to be finalised. I am sure more will follow the suit,” said Sharma.
As a curtain-raiser event for the project, a gender sensitisation workshop was held for VLCC staff at the SR Nagar branch, where senior rights activists such as M Rachana, Chandramukhi and Vyjayanti Vasantha Mogli spoke about non-binary gender identities.

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Fruit Facials: Benefits over other Facials

There is a clear trend shift in these recent years from the upbeat Gold, Diamond and Pearl facials to the more Organic and natural facials. Such facials are natural cures and are definitely more rejuvenating and giving better results in terms of cleaning the clogged pores of the face. Just to make you remember, the benefits of home remedies like Multani Mitti, Milk, Tomato Juice and other fruits which are rich in Vitamin C and have anti ageing properties. Such Fruit Facials definitely result in the improvement of the skin as they are very well absorbed in the skin and the plus side being no side effects. These facials not only improve your Blood Circulation but also act as Natural Moisturizer leaving you with a soft and supple skin and enhance your Beauty.

Here‘s a quick guide to learn the same.
Products:
– VLCC Aloe Vera Gel
– VLCC Sandal/Wild Turmeric
– VLCC Fruit Pack
– VLCC Rose water/Punernava
Other Ingredients:
– Soda Bicarbonate | Cucumber | Banana | Papaya | Honey | Orange | Milk
Suitable for: Oily and Dull Skin
Procedure:
– Clean face with moist cotton
– Remove makeup with VLCC Sandal Cleansing Milk. Clean face and neck with wild turmeric
– Darb VLCC Rose water for toning
– Apply cotton strips dipped in soda bicarbonate solution. Give steam for approx 5 minutes or as required
– Extract whiteheads and blackheads, if required. Give Cold compression with strips soaked in Rosewater
– Induct or apply Papaya Juicefor Dry Skin, use Orange/Mausami Juice for Oily Skin and use Cucumber Juice for Normal Skin types. Apply the juice on face, then use cotton to squeeze more of the juice from the skin
– Without wiping off the juice, give massage for 5-7 minutes with Pulp of Banana for Dry skin, Vlcc Cucumber gel for oily skin and Aloe vera gel for normal skin types
– Wipe and clean face with moist cotton
– Apply VLCC fruit pack and put wet gauze over it
– Wash out the pack after 10 mins, frequency of the same should be once in a week to get rejuvenated Skin. It also helps in removing Tan and delays aging process of skin, giving glow to the face.

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