Cikitsa - Providing Beauty & Healthcare Products From Mother Nature

Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Cikitsa.

In the past, the healthcare and beauty industry has been flexible, but the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted both sectors globally. The healthcare and beauty industry in India is expected to exhibit huge growth in the coming years. People are getting concerned about their health and beauty which makes them choose herbal and natural products over chemical products. The herbal product market is expected to grow at a CAGR 38.5% to Rs.14 billion (US$ 188.6 million) by 2026. Cikitsa has promised to bring well researched quality products to the world. They have aim to provide truthful beauty and healthcare products from Mother Nature.

Read the startup story of Cikitsa, Founders, ideation, its products, and more about Cikitsa.

Cikitsa - Company Highlights

Cikitsa - About
Cikitsa - Founders and Team
Cikitsa - The Idea and Startup Story
Cikitsa - Name, Tagline, and Logo
Cikitsa - Products
Cikitsa - Customer Acquisition
Cikitsa - Challenges Faced
Cikitsa - Advisors and Mentors
Cikitsa - Future Plans

Cikitsa - About

Cikitsa is a Cochin based Beauty and Healthcare startup founded in 2020. They offer products inspired by ancient science of healing.

At this time, their hero product is Cikitsa hair oil that caters to customers who are seeking to alleviate an array of hair issues while promoting hair growth. In addition to that, they have a selection of other nature-based products that cater to a wider audience.

The company’s short-term goal is to ramp up their product from an eCommerce business to brick and mortar stores spanning across the state. In the next year or two, they are anticipating the launch of their product in some of the flagship stores across the country. With due time and continual growth, it won’t be long before Cikitsa hits the international markets.

Their core beliefs guide them and help formulate their convictions, their values, and their code of ethics.

They diligently spend time in bringing the best of nature to their customers in the most unaltered form- from soil to shelves. They are guided by the desire to provide 100% organic, natural, and efficacious products that address their customer’s concerns within a budget.

Cikitsa - Founder and Team

Cikitsa was founded by Fazal Rahman with his co-founder Thamanna in 2020, the very year they got married. Right from the inception to this date, her support and contributions to the making of the brand have been nothing short of irreplaceable. Her know-how of the cosmetic space with her passion for all things creative has helped us position themselves in a commendable way.

Thamanna takes care of and heads the creative and marketing side of things, Fazal Rahman takes on the general operations and financial side of the business.

Cikitsa - The Idea and Startup Story

Enterprising, inventive, and extremely driven, Cikitsa’s founder and CEO, Fazal Rahman has always been unafraid when it comes to heading the path less travelled. That would explain why he wanted to venture into the relatively daring task of setting up his own business, despite enjoying comfortably mighty success in his family business. Thus, in many ways, Cikitsa was conceptualized by the founder’s towering entrepreneurial mindset.

That, coupled with his drive to create a natural, sustainable, and eco-friendly brand that fostered conscious living, Cikitsa was quick to peek through. When he shared the business idea with his immediate family and close friends, the love, support, and encouragement sure gave him the extra nudge to follow through with the plan. To set the wheel in motion, he was quick to identify the prizable and yet often untapped potential of amalgamating Ayurveda into cosmetic products. Thus began extensive research to identify the needs and pain points of their target market. To ensure maximum quality and stringent safety regulations, he sought expert opinion each step of the way.

Time, energy, and money were invested in formulating, manufacturing, and designing the product to perfection. From sourcing the raw materials right through packaging, binding standards are ensured to provide the best quality products that tackle customers’ pain points without burning a hole in their pocket.

Cikitsa - Name, Tagline, and Logo

When setting up the brand, they were dead set on choosing a name that best represented the intent and purpose of the brand. Because of that, they were bound and determined to steer clear of any and every westernized name.

Cikitsa was ideated from the Sanskrit word ‘Chikitsa’ which loosely translates to salving therapy or resurrective healing. Considering that it was much in line with their brand and ethos, they didn’t have to think twice and wound up using it without second thoughts.

Cikitsa - Products

At present, their hero product is none other than Cikitsa hair oil. In making this product viable they have fortified pioneering research, ingenious formulas, and synergetic herbs to alleviate irksome hair issues such as dandruff, dryness, lice, postpartum hair loss, etc, and in the course of time, promote hair growth.

Right from sourcing raw materials through packaging, they take care to stand by their pledge to offer products that are as close to nature in non-prescription formulas. They provide safe, thoroughly researched solutions with no side effects.

Over time, they have made tweaks to their product, in terms of making the product more eco-friendly and sustainable.

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Cikitsa - Customer Acquisition

As soon as the product was ready to be sold, they reflexively sprang into action and started promoting it on their Social networks. They reached out to their network, both personal and professional, to get the word out about their launches. While the first few purchases came from friends and family, the word fast caught on and they ended up seeing good traction without any paid marketing.

Thus, by simply leveraging their online presence and harnessing the power of word-of-mouth marketing, they were able to expand their reach and expand their customer base quickly.

By being hell-bent on tracking and analyzing customer behavior and metrics, they were able to continually make progress. They kept an open mind while listening to their customers’ feedback and were quick to act on their key concerns and suggestions. Not only did this help us in retaining existing customers via repeat purchases, but also furthered positive reinforcements around their product, and attracted new customers.

They were also quick to create an attractive and functional website to bolster their customer experience further. Launching its website helped us streamline the purchase process, and made placing an order with us a lot more convenient and hassle-free. That, along with implementing good SEO practices and regularly optimizing their web pages for search, they were able to drive a lot more traffic and in turn, more customers.

Cikitsa - Challenges Faced

While setting up my business, we, as a team, had to tackle several roadblocks to get where they are today. While most of them were anticipated hiccups, their journey was not without major challenges.

One of the trying issues was procuring licenses for their products. While getting all the required paperwork for a business is often always tedious and time-consuming, it took us quite a while to wrap up the documentation towards legal compliance. But by being proactive and consistent in their approach, they were able to speed up the process and make things happen.

Another taxing challenge came in the time of the pandemic when their day-to-day operations were largely disrupted and they were forced to slow down. Nevertheless, their timely interventions and re-direction helped accelerate their recovery.

Cikitsa - Advisors and Mentors

When Cikitsa was in its early inception stages, the brand very much benefited from the mentorship and guidance of the directors of my family business. Seasoned professionals and experts in their own lane, they sure helped me navigate the business in the right direction. Even to this date, their timely inputs and pointers continue to steer this business to greater heights. It would also be worthwhile to mention the invaluable feedback and suggestions from my family who are weathered and accomplished business veterans themselves.

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Cikitsa - Future Plans

All things considered, the future sure looks bright for Cikitsa. From newer and better additions that customers love, we’re committed to building a brand that’s synonymous with the good old glory of nature.

In the next few years, they see themselves diversifying their product portfolio and launching thoroughly researched & effectively formulated products to the market. With due time and steady progress, they definitely are going international to cater to a larger customer base across the globe.

FAQs

Who is the founder of Cikitsa?

Fazal Rahman and Thamanna Jabin are the founders of Cikitsa.

When was Cikitsa founded?

Cikitsa was founded in 2020 in Cochin.

What are the products offered by Cikitsa?

Some of the products offered by Cikitsa are:

• Cikitsa hair oil
• Bamboo Tooth Brush
• Almond Oil
• Honey
• Wooden Comb
• Wooden Razor