MxMIndia

Tag: Mosons Group

  • Indian Woman will launch food products, cleaning products and household items like mixer grinder and egg beaters

    Mosons Group in non-personal care initiative after selling Indulekha

    By Shramana Ganguly

     

    A month after selling its personal care brand Indulekha to Hindustan Unilever, Kerala-based Mosons Group is set to launch Indian Woman, a non-personal care brand. The first products under the brand would be launched by April, said managing director Fayas MP. “Indian Woman will launch products that will be manufactured across 1,000 village panchayats of Kerala,” he said, adding the initiative will be 100% not-for-profit.

     

    Indian Woman will launch food products, cleaning products and household items like mixer grinder and egg beaters. After five years, once Mosons’ non-compete clause with HUL expires, the brand would launch personal care products as well, Fayas said. The company formed self-help group Indian Women Charitable Trust last month even as HUL finalised the Indulekha takeover. Most of the earnings through the sale of the flagship personal care brand will be pumped into the new initiative, Fayas told ET.

     

    Indian Woman would set up one small-scale manufacturing unit in each of the 1,000 village panchayats, he said. “We are keen to employ local woman workforce in these units that would be run by woman entrepreneurs and manufacture products from locally sourced raw materials and are specific to the region,” said the 31-year-old, who would mentor the brand.

     

    “We need more than Kudumbasree (Kerala government’s woman empowerment project) units. Instead of limiting them to run mere Vanitha hotels and pickle-making units, they need to be raised to the next level by proper assistance in terms of technology and marketing,” Fayas said. “Indian Woman will sell products across Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and the Gulf, to begin with. These village units can act as a centre of development for the villages,” he said.

     

    Mosons has received more than 1,500 inquiries for setting up of units and more than 3,000 inquiries for distribution from Kerala alone. “We are keen to send these proposals to the Ministry of Industries, Kerala, and seek their willingness to do the project. If not, we will directly attempt to initiate this,” he said.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2016, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

    Licensed to republish

     

  • Managing Director Fayas MP could find a foothold for his premium brand in Kerala on the proposition that hair fall and hair loss cuts across demographic lines and hence the price should not matter

    Indulekha: Common man’s premium product

    By Shramana Ganguly

     

    The Kerala-based Mosons Group, established in 1976, was a manufacturer and supplier of coconut oil extractions before Fayas MP, 30, took it in a new direction. A psychologist by qualification, the third-generation businessman and managing director of the company, successfully experimented with premium coconut oil under the personal care brand Indulekha, now being acquired by Hindustan Unilever.

     

    “Fayas wanted to challenge himself by launching a premium hair oil in the Kerala market that was already flush with coconut hair oil,” said Anant Narayan, branch head of Carat Media, the advertising agency that’s been handling the accounts for Indulekha Bringha Oil, Indulekha Satapatri Skin Cream, Indulekha Akrot Face Pack and Indulekha White Soap since 2012.

     

    Indulekha Skin Care Oil was launched in 2008-9, followed by Indulekha Gold Hair Oil, which was renamed and relaunched in 2010-11 as Indulekha Bringha Oil, now the group’s flagship. The fine-tuning helped. “We marketed the brand as a 100% ayurvedic and medicinal brand rather than a cosmetic product and stressed on its main content, bringha,” Narayan said. Today, the brand has 10 products in the hair and skin care segments.

     

    “Indulekha is the common man’s premium product,” said Alex Thomas, brand head, who was part of the launch team and works closely with Fayas. He was handling the account when associated with the Fertile Isle agency before joining as brand head.

     

    Fayas could find a foothold for his premium brand in Kerala on the proposition that hair fall and hair loss cuts across demographic lines and hence the price should not matter. A 100 ml bottle of Indulekha Bringha Oil costs Rs 432. By 2012, the company had roped in Carat Media as it expanded to other areas including Maharashtra and the Middle East. In 2014, Fayas brainstormed with Thomas and Narayan over possible innovations and introducing a product differentiator. “That is when the selfie comb bottle happened,” said Narayan.

     

    The bottle with a patented comb-shaped cap has been popular since its launch in 2014, with sales rising at a 30% pace since then. The company had drawn up plans for expansion to other Indian cities when it caught HUL’s attention, said a person associated with the brand.

     

    When Fayas joined the company, started by AC Moosa and then continued by his son Anwer MP, it had diversified beyond coconut oils and coconut shell powder manufacturing and introduced extra virgin coconut oil into the market. The family also ventured into making machines for coconut-based products.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2015, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

    Licensed to republish