Beauty
for Vandana Luthra, founder and vice chairperson VLCC is not about glowing skin
and shiny hair, beauty to her comes from the confidence and the integrity with
which a woman carries herself. In Chandigarh to talk about the growth plans of
the company, and the anti-obesity drive that the company is running, Vandana
doesn't like to call the company all about Beauty and Wellness,
she sees something far more in this-
Beauty,
it's education and skilling domain.
I
firmly believe that VLCC's Vocational Education business vertical is critical
in ensuring that the growth of not just VLCC but also the wellness services
industry as a whole in India is not stymied by the lack of trained and skilled
manpower. Over 10,000 students passed out of the VLCC Institutes' campuses
across 49 cities, in 2015. In fact, as of July 31, 2015, we operated 65 VLCC
Institutes, comprising 64 institutes across India and one in Nepal.
We
are actively involved with providing training in the beauty and wellness domain
as part of the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) initiative which was
formally launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 15, 2015.
The obesity battle
The
idea of an anti-obesity originated way back in 2001 as it became an increasing
cause of numerous health hazards, in India. We have been raising the
alarm against obesity through public service campaigns. We finally launched our
first such initiative, called the Anti-Obesity Day, which we have been
observing on November 26 every year.
Globally,
Indian men rank fifth and women rank third in the overall obesity index. The
reasons of Obesity globally remain the same which is lack of physical activity
and lesser intake of nutritious food. The same holds true for residents of
Punjab as it is making them more prone to non-communicable diseases (NCD) like
obesity, hypertension, diabetes, etc., revealed a survey conducted by the
PGIMER. 41.4 per cent of Punjab's people are overweight.
Up next
I believe that the increasing awareness about health and
well-being, the rising cost of curative healthcare which is prompting people to
increasingly look at preventive healthcare as an option, and a growing middle
class population nationwide with both the conviction and the resources to spend
on beauty and
wellness treatments are factors that are contributing to the
development of a vibrant beauty and wellness sector in India.
