Shahnaz Husain needs no introduction. The Founder of the Shahnaz Husain Group, she is the first woman in 107 years to receive the prestigious World’s Greatest Entrepreneur Award from New York-based Success magazine. She was also invited by the famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Sloan School of Management to speak about her entrepreneurial journey. Her relentless efforts have not only revolutionized skincare but also put India’s rich Ayurvedic heritage on the global map. Over the years, she has earned numerous national and international accolades.
Started Small, Dreamt big
Shahnaz opened her first herbal clinic in 1971 and traces her roots to a royal family in Samarkand (modern day Uzbekistan). Her Oxford-educated father, Chief Justice NU Beg, put her in an Irish convent (Queen Mary’s in Allahabad), which instilled a love of poetry and English literature in her heart. Shahnaz explains that she started small, but always dreamt big. She further adds “I started small but followed unique marketing and business strategies, like word of mouth and my franchise system, taking Ayurvedic beauty care worldwide with a crusader’s zeal. Today, after more than five decades, we have a global network of franchise salons, retail outlets, beauty training academies, and over 375 products for beauty and health care.”
The Shahnaz Husain Group today operates in more than 175 countries, with franchise salons, retail outlets, and training academies. The success of her brand has made her the subject of a Harvard case study. Shahnaz says, “I was invited by Harvard Business School to speak on how I established an international brand without commercial advertisements. I became a Harvard case study for brand creation and am now part of a Harvard subject in Business History for Emerging Markets in recognition of the market for Ayurvedic beauty care created by me.”
From Ayurvedic Inheritance to Artificial Intelligence
Adapting to the digital world Shahnaz has been treating skin and hair issues for more than five decades. The grand dame of herbal beauty still maintains this personal touch. But now she has a little help from artificial intelligence (AI), which is changing the way businesses operate. Globally, AI is being used in many industries, including the beauty segment, by allowing brands to create more immersive and customised customer experiences. Top beauty brands are using AI to enable users get customised beauty help with the click of a button, disrupting a market used to person-to-person contact and the “touch and feel” aspect.
“Today, beauty brands can adopt Artificial Intelligence to create personalised products that are specifically tailored for customers. The customer can refer to the virtual card, fill in the details and search for a custom based product online. Thus, with the help of Artificial Intelligence, the customer may be able to find a skin profile that is totally personalised and unique, so much so that it may not fit another person,” she explains. Machines will have to be programmed to take many other details and differences into account, like geographical region, climate, skin colour, ethnic backgrounds and so on.
SKILL DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
Shahnaz Husain is also involved in the Government Skill Development through her beauty academy, for Training and Certifying under-privileged women in the beauty and wellness industry. Under her leadership, the academy has created Study Material and Class Plan to train women. The beneficiaries also received Toolkits to help them start their own business, without relocating from home. They can also freelance, or work as beauty therapists in a local beauty parlour. Over 50,000 women have been trained and close tracking of these Certified Beauticians have revealed that, apart from getting jobs in the organized and unorganized beauty salons/parlours, more than 74% are earning an average income of Rs.4500 in rural/semi-Urban locations by serving home-based women clientele in their locality.
Innovation in the product line
In the beauty business, the words herbal and organic are used interchangeably. “For the last four decades, I have focused my efforts on the benefits of organic ingredients and the harm caused by chemical ingredients. We formulate skin and hair care products according to the Ayurvedic system; they contain plant ingredients, essential oils, and natural substances,” Shahnaz says. Shahnaz Husain products are made without using Parabens, Sulfates and synthetic colours.
Shasight and Shamute: Empowering the differently abled
Shahnaz Husain has stayed devoted to humanitarian concerns including helping the underprivileged. She believes that a corporate or commercial organisation’s contribution to a social cause should be ongoing rather than one-time. There should be a long-term and persistent commitment to improving society. Her International Beauty Academy for the differently abled is dedicated to humanitarian concerns and has demonstrated a strong dedication to empowering the speech, hearing, and vision impaired. The training gives them professional prospects. The initiative was inaugurated in 1984 by the then President of India, Giani Zail Singh. Since then, Shasight and Shamute have taught hundreds of students free of charge and even helped them get jobs at Shahnaz Husain Salons. Shasight and Shamute have become a significant component of Shahnaz Husain’s dedication to social issues. The speech and hearing impaired, as well as the visually handicapped, are successful in finding work because they have superior sensory awareness. This allows them to focus more attention on pressure spots during massages, giving them an advantage.
Cancer Care: Close to Shahnaz’s heart
Shahnaz has formulated products that are helping cancer patients who undergo chemotherapy, which leads to several side effects including hair loss and skin problems. The Shahnaz Husain Group has sent Chemoline products free of cost to cancer hospitals, like Sloan Kettering, Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Centre, Dharamshila Cancer Hospital, MNJ Cancer Hospital, Tata Memorial etc. “I also read an article that said cancer cases will surge over the next 25 years. This prompted me to start working with Ayurvedic ingredients to formulate products to deal with the effects of chemotherapy and radiation on skin and hair. I formulated the Chemoline range, which was launched in London. We give it free of cost to cancer hospitals as part of our CSR activities,” Shahnaz says.
What the future beholds
Shahnaz Husain group plans to include concentrated international branding and will appoint distributors in new markets. Currently, the Shahnaz Husain Group exports to countries around the world, including those in the EU, UAE, UK, US and many other countries in the Asian and African sub-continents. “We will continue to extend our franchise business, in India and abroad, setting up salons, spas, beauty training academies, and retail outlets based,” Shahnaz says.
For More Information: www.shahnaz.in
