A daughter generally looks up to her father and most likely emulates him in terms of work or aspirations. Today we have a successful lady onboard, an entrepreneur who is one of the few women in India who has pushed her family's business to new heights, seeing her father's dedication and hard work.
Lawyer by education, businesswoman by profession and natural skincare enthusiast by passion, Sanchi Sehgal joins us for this interview. She attended the University of York to study Sociology and Social Psychology, after that she further pursued her education in Law in the UK and joined her family business, Ozone Group of Companies in 2019, which started as a pharmaceutical company three decades ago and has since spread its roots to include sectors such beauty, analytical labs, wellness, and skill development.
With a young, technology-enabled and user-oriented outlook, she founded Ozone Signature- a skincare brand with a research and development, 'formulation-first' approach to treat skin and hair concerns.
- How did you contribute the idea to create the Ozone Signature brand?
Ozone Group of Companies was founded in 1991 by our Chairman and Managing Director, Mr S.C Sehgal with the vision of ‘Adding Life to Years and Years to Life.’ To add years to life, Ozone Group of Companies ventured into the healthcare industry - manufacturing and delivering prescription medicine in speciality areas such as cardiovascular, diabetes, pain management etc.
When we expanded into skincare we ensured we approach skincare and concerns with a scientific approach and pharmaceutical infrastructure. This gave birth to our Ozone Signature Range
- Why do you feel herbal products are the future?
Botanical ingredients have been used in skincare for a long time, allowing significant research around their uses, how to formulate with them as well as their benefits. Skincare products made with botanical ingredients have therefore evolved over time with regard to quality, safety and effectiveness.
- How does your brand satisfy the Skincare and haircare needs of the customers?
Unlike synthetic products that provide temporary beauty while damaging the skin in the long term, we re-discovered the power of our very own Ayurvedic herbs mentioned in our Ayurvedic classical texts to heal our skin and make it more resilient to damage. The change starts from the inside out and leads to an overall healing process rather than concealing the concerns.
We’re breaking stereotypes and introducing a new culture around beauty — inspired by the ancient science of Ayurveda.
Ozone Signature Range brings to you, a tale as old as time. These classical formulations come from the wisdom of our ancestors, and we are humbled and honoured to be able to bring them to you, exactly how they were intended.
- What is your advice to people running behind synthetic products?
Exponential progress in technology and research have provided the cosmeceutical industry information as well as uses of a variety of ingredients – both botanical and lab generated. Each ingredient has its own benefits and personality; we stand by the fact that there is nothing wrong with using synthetic ingredients, the only thing that matters is that it is formulated correctly – in a balanced manner that enhances and delivers the properties of the herb.
However, our inclination does remain with botanical, herbal ingredients as they are much more readily accepted by the skin and show unparalleled results if used to their potential.
- How much research did your team have to put in before launching the perfect herbal products?
Our pioneer range is a line of Ayurvedic serums. These are Siddha Tailas (Ayurvedic medicated oils) which have been mentioned in old ayurvedic texts for prominent skin concerns and how to treat them. The quality of these Siddha Tailas depends on the expertise to manufacture them in a way that the properties of the herbs present are enhanced and give visible results.
To make them according to ayurvedic practices as well as reach the desired result followed by testing for stability and safety, it took our research and development team almost a decade of work.
At our own SGS certified farm, we follow Ayurvedic practices, we harvest herbs at their maximum potency and prepare them using unaltered recipes which then are formulated and tested in our own NABL certified labs for potency, stability and effectivity.
We take full control of our product manufacturing with inhouse farms, manufacturing plants and testing labs.
- Are you planning to launch IPO for Ozone?
We are not currently planning an IPO.
- What are your future growth plans?
It’s the age of the extremely aware and well-informed consumers, we are definitely going to be seeing more science-backed claims and products. The modern consumer is extremely aware and likes to understand the how’s and whys of things. When it comes to skincare, the information does not end at what this product can do. They want to understand the claims the brand is making and how the specific product helps with that. We intend to keep everything transparent.
The next normal game plan is to do everything in alignment with nature and not at its cost. We are constantly pursuing making our practices, ways, products, and packaging environmentally friendly and reducing our carbon footprint.
