Ghazal Alagh is a hands-on entrepreneur. In a span of less than six years, she created a profitable D2C unicorn venture, Mamaearth. Valued at about $1.2 billion, the start-up already counts some 10 million people as its customers and is reportedly prepping up for an IPO as early as next year.
Alagh believes that power entails the ability to make a difference and perhaps, she has been able to demonstrate the same through her own story: faced with a crisis of catering to her first child who was born with a skin condition, Alagh didn’t falter but instead turned it into an opportunity to build something that could service thousand others and add value to the market. “The biggest pressure on me is to have happy consumers on board who trust us, believe in what we are doing. If I am able to live up to their expectations, everything else will get sorted,” says Alagh.
Alagh says that joining the ranks of a unicorn was never a milestone for Mamaearth. “When that news came out, we did not celebrate, at least between me and Varun,” claims Alagh. The focus, instead, is on building on the firm’s omni-channel play. “The space that we are in, the natural way to our scaling up is going to be an omni-channel play. The strategy for us a company is to be the number one choice in beauty and personal care for consumers out there. We want to be able to be present in all touch points that our consumers want to see,” says Alagh.
A self-made woman and also a mother of two, Alagh has not been immune to scepticism harboured by a certain section of society which still grapples to come to terms with the fact that women can ably juggle work and home, and often even better than men. “The bias still exists and it is very important for us to cater to that bias. It is very important for a woman to stand up and say that this is something which is important to me, I want to get this done, I want to achieve this in my life, and give her ownself priority over everything else,” says Alagh.
Being a woman at the helm, Alagh has taken to mentoring scores others of her tribe. In fact, almost 90% of her portfolio investments are skewed towards women-led businesses. “That’s where I feel responsible to now give back,” says Alagh. She has a message for all aspiring entrepreneurs: “Don’t let anybody, anything stop you from doing what you want to do. Do what you want and everything else will get figured out.”