The globalization has provided a wide platform and exposure to people at large, to try a variety of foods especially the processed and packaged foods. This has impacted the food choices to a great extent and the recent Pandemic has exposed the general health, immunity and wellness of individual bringing in lots of health challenges. The number of chronic ailments, nutritional and mineral deficiencies, unhealthy practices (e.g. smoking, alcohol, drugs) , long hours of sitting jobs and life style issues, acute and chronic ailments like hypertension, diabetes, renal, cardiac, hepatic and endocrine diseases- has led to plethora of health and wellness issues.

A conscious change in adopting to holistic nutrition and wellness has been the need in the present times, however lack of right source of information, guidance, ease of applying the changes in day to day life, and gaining confidence to practice the changes with induced wisdom and appropriate counselling as stimulus to take necessary action with regard to food and wellness, has been the biggest gap in the system so far. This was foreseen by Dr. Suguna Sapre 15 years ago and established Suphala Care, a brand fulfilling the weaknesses in these areas by providing training, workshops, counselling, research, development/solution, and product building.

A Ph.D. from Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad, Dr. Suguna Sapre pursued her Masters in Community Health and Nutrition. Taking note of her childhood interest towards healthy living, Suguna converted her passion into profession, and eventually started up being the Founder and Coach of Suphala Care.

Suguna recently engaged in an exclusive interaction with Women Entrepreneur, here’s the snippet from the same.

Tell Us About Suphala Care. What Are Some Features That Showcase Your Expertise As A Doctor.

A holistic wellness care center with a special focus on 360-degree health and wellness, Suphala Care takes care of all these by organizing training, workshops, interpersonal counselling, education, awareness programs, specialized B2B consulting for theme-based restaurants, fitness centers, wellness retreat centers and so on.

With our vast experience in world cuisine, and expertise in traditional Indian (that takes care of Central, North, South, West, East) we give special care and interest in training budding chefs, homemakers, bachelors, and spinsters.

As Chief Coach of Suphala Care, I personally oversee, holistic wellness for therapeutic nutrition among patients from various medical super-specialty by having professional association with multitudes of medical fraternity right now from areas like – diabetes, general medicine, nephrology, gastroenterology, cardiology, endocrinology, ENT, gynecology, oncology, and neurology.

Throw Some Light On Your Prior Industry Experience. What Motivated You To Foray Into Establishing This Venture?

In my career’s journey so far, I have been with industries like Infosys Consulting, Glg Consulting, Panacea, Quintiles, NovoNordisk, Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Watson Labs, and others. I have also worked on various clinical trials, user experience for some of the applications, product management of healthcare and wellness solutions, and others. I have served NGOs like CARE soon after my Post Graduation and the Bill & Melinda gates foundation as part of Pro Bono consulting during my corporate stint.

As a child, I had a profound impact of my grandmother on me, whom I cherished as a holistic healer through her love and making me believe that food is medicinal. This imposed a kind of discipline, trust, righteousness, and “habit to proactively act” about what we believe, among the family members. All this connected me to Nutrition from a very young age, after growing up I pursued my Graduation, Master and Ph.D. in the same field and this paved the way for me to foray into starting my own center Suphala Care.

What Are The Various Roles & Responsibilities That You Currently Shoulder At Suphala Care? What Are Some Of The Most Challenging Aspects Of Your Role And How Do You Overcome Them?

I do take care of talking to customers one to one. This is the most important aspect of the execution cycle. This enables me to understand the problem areas firsthand, and triage to the respective sections of our system. I manage the end-to-end inputs to outputs (report generation, quality, consulting outputs), as well the new services, solutions (innovations) and prospective towards new paradigms.

Time, people management, without losing the ball on quality and balancing the revenue are the most challenging aspects. I consider a good talented team is very important who is ready to take proactive measures and responsibility. While I monitor the outputs of each phase and review, I ensure that there is a primary responsible owner of that portion of the flow and task within my team – and team members have been always upto the expectations and exceeded the same in most cases.

How Has Your Past Industrial Experience Helped You In Your Current? What Are The Major Milestones That You Have Achieved In Your Professional Journey?

Having worked with NGOs, Corporate, clinical research, hospitals, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, consulting, nutrition counselling nutrition counselling and pharmaceutical research has helped me manifest the experience and confidence that I have gained with assertive out of the box initiates as a solution to practical and real pain points in the areas under the purview of Suphala Care we focus.

"Never ignore the voice within oneself to pursue difficult avenues. I truly believe that support, energy within and resources will arrive at appropriate times if one has truly committed to the mission"

When it comes to milestones, my most significant achievement would be my entrepreneur journey, my research, my NGO, and my corporate expertise which has helped me reach so far in my career. I can proudly say that the experience and expertise which I had gained before going solo, across in horizontal and vertical lengths and breadths has made me a proven problem solver in the areas a of health and wellness domain.

How Do You Keep Yourself As Well As Your Firm Aligned With The Periodic Evolutions Occurring In Your Field?

Owing to my vast industry experience and my network in the academia as well as the industry, I have got the chance to keep myself up to date with about the latest trends and tech innovations, along with business avenues, and cross domain collaborations. When it comes to the company, the very nature of the product is based on innovations planned as part of our core strategy.

What Would Your Advice Be To Young Women And Girls Who Aspire To Become Business Leaders And Entrepreneurs In The Future?

I believe Tenacity, being humble, and keep learning with belief in oneself- is the key guiding force that has helped me in going ahead while working passionately to date. These qualities are universal and apply to everyone. Also, never ignore the voice within oneself to pursue difficult avenues. I truly believe that support, energy within and resources will arrive at appropriate times if one has truly committed to the mission.

Dr. Suguna Sapre, Founder & Coach, Suphala Care

Quick Facts

Educational Qualification

• PhD - Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad

• Masters in Community Health and Nutrition

• PG,Diploma, Entrepreneurship Development of India, (EDI)

• Bachelors in Applied Nutrition and Chemistry

Headquarter

Bangalore.