The Echo-nomist

#7- Women Entrepreneur series

VLCC is one of the most renowned health, wellness and beauty services in India founded by Vandana Luthra. Hers is an inspiring story about beating all odds. She became a successful entrepreneur despite the male-dominated start-up environment and took her company to new heights. All while taking care of the house as well.

It all dates back to her childhood. As a child, she would accompany her father on his business trips to Germany. What struck out to her was how well their health and wellness industry was doing. It was surprising since the industry had almost been left untouched.

That’s sort of when she realised she wanted to do something about it. Her first step was to earn a degree from New Delhi’s Polytechnic for Women. She went on to complete her nutrition and cosmetology education in Germany. In 1989, she opened the first VLCC Centre in New Delhi’s Safdarjung Enclave. 

Vandana incorporated VLCC with the aim of promoting health and fitness in India and helping those around her. Her inspiration to help others most probably stemmed from the lessons she learnt from her parents. When her family first bought a TV, a rare privilege to have at that time, her parents invited kids from around the neighborhood to watch it.

Moreover, her mother ran a unique trust by the name “Amar Jyoti” to educate, empower and assist children who suffered from disabilities. While she came from a service background, her husband, Mukesh Luthra, came from a business background. She says she adjusted to her new surroundings and learnt from the best of both worlds. 

When she started her business, in the late 1980s, there were hardly any women entrepreneurs. It was largely male-dominated, so she faced a lot of criticism and backlash.But she was determined and believed in her unique, unusual idea. 

She had to make the decision to leave her three year old daughter at home. While she knew this was the right thing to do, others around her weren’t so convinced. Armed with conviction, knowledge and sure-footedness, she was able to convince those around her. Her husband supported everything she did and even offered to fund her when she pitched her idea. However, she was determined to make it on her own. So she secured a loan of ₹3,00,000, bought an old loss-making beauty parlour in South Delhi and set up her first beauty and wellness centre by the name Vandana Luthra Curls and Curves (VLCC) with just three employees. 

VLCC gained quick success. The next centre emerged within a year and a half and by the time the 10th centre started in 1993, she was able to convince her husband to join in. Moreover, she was able to repay the loan she had taken within just eight months of incorporating the business.  

Luthra’s business gained popularity as a household brand, although achieving that status wasn’t easy. The biggest challenges she faced were taboos associated with the wellness industry back then and being a working mom. “The wellness industry was new and people used to look at me with a ‘beauty parlour-wali’ kind of mindset. I am glad I was able to change that. Back then, customers had to go to different places for different services — instead, we introduced a concept where everything was under an umbrella,” Luthra said in an interview.

They didn’t just help customers lose weight but got them to believe in themselves. They focused on body positivity, a concept unheard of in the 1980s, and sold other services as well  (like skincare, nutrition etc.). When customers were satisfied with the services they were being offered, the word spread.

Their weight-loss and other offers were sold out in a month and Luthra and her team had to work overtime to manage the traffic. Convincing the public wasn’t enough since the medical fraternity was skeptical of the brand’s services in the initial years. They did not see wellness and nutrition as something they could work with. It took five to six years to convince the medical fraternity, but she was persistent and determined. Now 60% of our clients are referred by doctors. 

She was able to overcome all the hardships and expand her business operations in more than 153 countries pan India. VLCC has spread its wings outside India with a presence in 16 countries. They even expanded their services and now run the largest vocational academy network in Asia in the fields of beauty and nutrition. 

This isn’t all, VLCC filed a prospectus with SEBI in August’21. She plans to raise ₹400 crore to fund expansion. The company is profitable and reported profits of ₹62.42 million for the year ended 31st March’21 (source: VLCC’s prospectus).

In the process of scaling-up her startup, she grew on a personal level as well. She learnt work life balance and used the strategies she used to run a house to run her business. Needless to say, that was a smart one. Vandana Luthra has won various awards including the Padma Shri for her outstanding contributions to the world of business. She was featured in Fortune Magazine’s “50 most powerful Women in Business in India” five times in a row. She has also made appearances on Forbes Asia’s Power Businesswomen list.

Her story is inspiring for women around the world. She spotted an opportunity and popularised an entire industry in India. She put unending and unimaginable efforts to bring her organisation to where it is today. After all, she is known as the “Queen of Wellness” for a reason. She is a mother, a wife, a daughter and above all, an entrepreneur.