In an exclusive interview, Pooja Bedi, movie star and now wellness and organic champion speaks about her wellness venture and urges that India must liaise with foreign countries to accept the Ayush certification to increase exports of the country’s wellness offerings.
From movie star to wellness and organic champion. What was your vision and inspiration behind starting the company? Why did you choose the name ‘Happy Soul’?
I’ve grown up in a family that has always valued health & holistic well-being. Mental, emotional, financial, social, environmental & sexual wellness have been treated as equally important as physical wellness. Over the past 20 years I’ve read a lot, done many certified workshops and diploma courses in various alternative sciences which resulted in my brand Happy Soul, a holistic wellness wonderland.
Our Souls are always Happy, but it’s our social programming and hence our minds that create our own emotional prisons. My brand aims to help people be the happiest and healthiest version of themselves.
Tell us about your organic product line?
We are essentially a multi-vendor platform and promote the best brands, companies and professionals in the world of holistic health & wellness. Our own product line is currently limited to Soy candles in Glass Jars and a range of charcoal free incense sticks. Our café menu has a wide variety of dishes featuring organic ingredients and produce and we even have a hydroponics unit within our café. Our chicken is antibiotic-free and eggs are cage-free.
What are your thoughts on the organic market in India? Its growth and potential?
Organic plays a huge role in health and wellness and the wellness market is estimated to cross over 6 trillion globally by 2024. In India, there has been a huge surge in the organic market sector, both in terms of production and also consumerism. Post Covid, wellness is no longer a buzzword, it’s now a way of life.
What are the future plans for Happy Soul?
We currently have two wellness retail shops and a wellness café in Goa and a retail franchise up and running in Kannur, Kerala. We plan to franchise these models pan India to approximately 5 new locations in 2023 and 25 new locations by 2025. In addition, we will be coming out with an extensive product line of our own and also expand into wellness centres and spas. Our IP of Wellness Awards and wellness festivals will kickstart in 2023 as well. Our holistic online portal happysoul.in will launch this year and give consumers a look at wellness travel, wellness recipes, products & blogs, and access to service professionals & workshops. And the whopper will be our B2B2C resellers wellness marketplace that will launch in 2023 empowering housewives, students, entrepreneurs and wellness professionals to earn through and spread wellness on a mass scale.
