It had to do a lot with the environment Sarrah Kapasi grew up in. Since she was four years old, she would visit her Dad’s office every weekend and spend the day there observing how a business ran. She recalls, “I really enjoyed it. Whenever I was asked what do you want to grow up and be, I’d always say I want to run a business. And, here I am! As a 25-year-old co-founder and CEO of a start-up, D-Alive Health, I want to empower people to believe in themselves and consider NOW as the right time to start something they really believe in.”
She adds, “All my life, I have seen my father struggle with finding solutions for diabetes in India. So, I was pretty sure from a very early age that I want to undertake a business with a cause. And, what better than seeing my father happy and a million others like him struggling to lead a normal life.”
A holistic solution for diabetics
That’s the genesis behind starting D-Alive Health, India’s first company to provide holistic wellness solutions specially designed only for people with diabetes. Today along with her father, M N Kapasi and childhood friend Alfiya Attarwala, Sarrah Kapasi has taken the company to the top of the organic shelves in the nascent but growing diabetic food market.
India’s per capita consumption of sugar is still amongst the highest in the world. Rather than comparing sugar-free, the right comparison must be low carb, because diabetes is largely caused by excess carbohydrates consumption and diabetics have to medicate primarily for carbohydrates especially the simple carbs and starches that convert to sugars very rapidly to cause a spike in blood sugars and then are stored as fats in the body.
Sarrah Kapasi informs, “At D-Alive, we are in tune with what truly works meeting and improving the diabetic health goals since one of our owners also is a Type 1 diabetic plus we have more Type 1s enrolled who test all our foods for no or as little insulin as possibly needed against consuming our Organic (100% Natural) foods.”
Compared to international trends, India is still very heavy on unnatural or artificial sweeteners or high carbohydrate natural alternatives viz. jaggery, dates, anjeer/ figs etc. to sweeten our sugar free foods whereas internationally sugar free foods have heavily switched to using Stevia and Coconut Sugar to add sweetness in a much healthier way. “Sugar alcohols viz. Erythritol, Xylitol, etc are also added here in far more excess quantities as otherwise termed safe for daily consumption internationally,” she laments.
We women mean business
Speaking about the initial challenges she faced, especially as a young woman, she agrees, “This field is definitely rough, fast paced and cut-throat competition bringing in multiple entry barriers already. So, yes! it was more challenging than difficult but we had a novel concept and the confidence to create a new path in this male dominated industry so we took it head on. Certainly, as young women entrepreneurs, Alfiya and I did get exposed to multiple levels of patriarchy even to date and a need to explain ourselves as serious entrepreneurs with a plan.”
She continues, “We had to work a little harder than usual to bring everyone aboard, moreover not take us for a ride when they were not addressing a male’s voice. As authoritative figures in our field of work, we faced difficulties in gaining a certain sense of trust in our potential. We are a passion led enterprise, here to stay and our work is not a product of changing hobbies.”
Sarrah says that trying to convince the older generations of established companies to promote them instead of mansplain all their moves was and is always something they had to deal with but who cares?
“We turn that into our strengths and get our work done. Swallowing your pride and hustling through these challenges is very tough and demotivating but we took each day at a time and pushed ourselves, supporting each other, to let the industry know we mean business!,” she affirms.
The raw materials are sourced from all over the country that are certified organic and true to their origin. D-Alive is USDA and India Organic certified which calls for stringent procedures and quality control measures.
All processes are monitored and traced by these esteem certification bodies along with APEDA which carries out regular audits to ensure the organic integrity of the raw materials sourced right from the suppliers to logistics to end consumers.
Welcome shift to organic and natural
D-Alive’s range of products is building a 360 degree approach to embrace every such product that are household and health necessities. It could be low carb binge or fully cooked meals, D-Alive’s product line works towards facilitating every such requirement.
Sarrah Kapasi explains, “To date, we have a line of sauces, salad dressings, premium sweets, snack bars, drink premixes, sweetener blends and many such incredible health solutions. All of these products are continuously audited and regulated to stay true to its USDA and India Organic certifications.”
The Covid-19 pandemic has put huge pressure on the healthcare sector. Suddenly the populace is seeped with a realisation that our health should be in our hands and our immunity can see us through these challenges, and food is the means to that end. Sarrah feels that the future looks promising for sustainable food and the market seems ready for this welcome and much awaited shift.
Sharing her insights on the sustainable product market in India and how the pandemic has changed the scenario, she believes, “I feel the future of the sustainable food product market in India is very very bright. In many ways, Covid-19 is like a reminder from Mother Nature that it has the power to take some drastic correction measures when things go out of hand.”
Sarrah believes that it should come as a lesson to each of us that kindness is crucial, even to our Planet. “As a country with some really responsible youth, I think we have a very bright and sustainable future ahead of us,” she adds.
Future footprint
Globally, D-Alive’s products are available in reputed hypermarket chains like Mega Mart and Choithram’s (Qatar), Mohammed Mustafa (MMS, Singapore), and launching soon in Lulu Supermarkets (Saudi Arabia). Apart from this the company is aggressively exploring more avenues of sale.
As for the future roadmap, Sarrah elaborates, “We want to make D-Alive a quality-standard for products that hit the market. Just like vegetarian food is marked with a green dot, non-vegetarian food with a red dot, we want to create a blue dot for diabetic food that will ensure it is 100 per cent safe for diabetics to consume.”
The company is also in the process of exploring and finalising more product categories like snack bars, probiotic snacks, beverages, along with additions to variants in its current range. But it will happen in the long run in a phased manner.
Sarrah sums up her vision, “We want D-Alive to have every over-the-counter solution for diabetes / health enthusiasts who don’t want to compromise.”
