Vandana Luthra

Vandana Luthra (born 12 July 1959) is an Indian entrepreneur and the founder of VLCC
Health Care Ltd. a beauty and wellness conglomerate represented in Asia, the GCC and
Africa. She is also the chairperson of the Beauty & Wellness Sector Skill Council (B&WSSC),
an initiative that provides training under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana scheme.
She was appointed the first chairperson of the Beauty and Wellness Sector Skill Council in
2014 due to her strong connections with politicians, this is backed by the government of
India and offers skills training for the beauty industry.
Luthra actively helps the underprivileged and the physically challenged by providing them
scholarships for free education. She is Vice Chairperson of the NGO, Khushii, which has
projects like telemedicine centres, a remedial school with midday meal facility catering to
3,000 children, and a vocational training facility. She is a member of Morarji Desai National
Institute of Yoga and of the Steering Committee and the Sub-Committee formed by India’s
Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship on the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas
Yojana.
Education
Luthra completed her graduation from the Polytechnic for Women in New Delhi. She later
went on to gain expertise in beauty, food and nutrition and skin care from Germany, UK and
France.
Mrs. Luthra has won numerous accolades in India and internationally. In the year 2013, she
was awarded with one of the country’s topmost honors, the Padma Shri, for her immense
contribution to Trade & Industry. She won the Asian Business Leaders Forum Trailblazer
Award in 2012, the Enterprise Asia Women Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2010, and the
Rajiv Gandhi Award in 2008. She has been featured in the Forbes Asia 2016 list of 50 Power
Businesswomen in the APAC region. She has also featured in Fortune magazine’s annual
listing of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business in India for six years in a row – from
2011 to 2016.

About the VLCC

Luthra started VLCC in 1989, as a beauty and slimming
services centre in Safdarjung Development Area, New
Delhi. VLCC has a strong national and international
presence. It offers weight management and beauty
programmes (skin, body and haircare treatments and advanced dermatology and
cosmetology solutions). VLCC's weight-management solutions include a unique DNA-based
weight management system to customize weight loss programmes for an individual.
VLCC has the largest scale and breadth of operations within the beauty and wellness
services industry in India. Currently the store operates in 326 locations in 153 cities and 13
countries in South Asia, South East Asia, the GCC Region and East Africa. With over 4,000
employees, including nutrition counsellors, medical professionals, physiotherapists,
cosmetologists and beauty professionals, VLCC is a leader in the Indian beauty and wellness
industry by market share.
Challenges faced by Vandana Luthra
Being a woman entrepreneur in the late-80s, trying to scale up in a highly unorganised
industry domain like beauty and wellness services was one of my biggest challenges initially.
While people were familiar with the ubiquitous 'beauty parlour', the idea of a holistic
wellness solutions provider which combined scientific weight management programmes
with advanced hair and skin treatments was a new concept. I struggled to raise capital, and
banks were apprehensive of something that was hardly deemed as sustainable and scalable.
The support of my family along with my persistence helped me overcome most of these
challenges. My greatest inspiration has always been my mother. Not having conformed to
the gender norms, I felt brave enough to give in to the feeling of venturing into an area that
had always interested me. I could not have done this without the support of my husband
Mukesh, who always had belief in my abilities. The reason I chose this path was because of
the belief that I could do more. It was sheer perseverance and my interest in transforming
lives that made me stay on this path.

Ankita Gaba

Ankita Gaba is an Internet entrepreneur and co-founder of

Social Samosa, an Indian social media knowledge repository. Born in 4 April 1985, Mumbai.
Education & Carrer
In June 2008, she started her first venture, Superchooha, one of India's first social media
agencies. Ankita has been an initiator in the formation of the Social Media Club's Mumbai
chapter, Social Media Club is an international NGO working towards connecting social media
experts from around the world.
In 2011, she founded Social Samosa, a website described as a knowledge repository for
thoughts, ideas and dialogues about social media scenario in India. The portal was sold to
private investors for 2-3 crores in May 2015.

Ritu Kumar

Ritu Kumar is an Indian fashion designer. Born in 11 November 1944, Amritsar. Ritu came
from a middle class family of ideals and values. But unlike the rest of the family from those
days, her family had more open minded views.
Unlike most of the parents of the 60s era, parents and grandparents being highly educated,
believed that educating their daughter was of utmost importance. The choice of her career
was also left upon her wishes. She was given complete freedom & independence, to pursue
whatever she felt was best for her.

Education
Kumar was born in Amritsar in 1944, but the lack of educational opportunities there led her
to move to Simla for her schooling, where she attended Loreto Convent. She later studied at
Lady Irwin College, where she met and married Shashi Kumar, and then went on to accept a
scholarship at Briarcliff College in New York, where she studied Art History. She completed
her graduation from Lady Irwin College in 1964, and went on to pursue her higher education
in Theatre and History of Art from Briarcliff College, New York, USA in 1966. On returning to
India, she studied museology at the Asutosh Museum of Indian Art, part of the University of
Calcutta.

About her Company

Kumar began her fashion business in Kolkata, using two small tables and hand-block printing
techniques. Beginning with bridal wear and evening clothes in the 1960s and 70s, she
eventually moved into the international market in the subsequent two decades. As well as
shops in India, Kumar's company has also opened branches in Paris, London and New York.
The London branch closed after three years, in 1999. Her company's annual turnover at the
time was the highest of any Indian fashion outlet, estimated at around ₹10 billion. In 2002
she launched the "Label" line in partnership with her son Amrish. In 2013 she was given the
Padma Shri award by the Government of India. Kumar discusses her career at length in a
recent interview for the Creating Emerging Markets project at the Harvard Business School,
beginning with how she first broke into the Paris and New York fashion houses and
department stores in the 1970s.
Awards and Recognitions
 Received the “Padma Shri Award”, India’s 4th highest civilian award, for her
exceptional and distinguished service in the field of fashion, textile and
craftsmanship (2013)
 Received the “Indira Gandhi Priyadarshini Award” for her achievements and
contribution in the field of fashion
 Earned the “Chevalier des arts et des lettres” (knight of the order of arts and letters)
by the French government for her contribution to Indian textile crafts, and
traditional techniques
 Received the “Delhi Women of the Decade Achievers Award” for Excellence in
Fashion Retail by the ASSOCHAM Ladies League (2013)
 Received the “Achievement Award” at the L’oreal Paris Femina Women’s Awards
(2012)
 Received “The Outstanding Women Entrepreneur Award” by the PHD – Chamber of
Commerce (1998)