Varun Alagh is an Indian entrepreneur. He is the founder, chief father and executive officer of Honasa Consumer Pvt. Ltd., a company that owns internet-first personal care brand Mamaearth. Varun is the husband of Indian entrepreneur Ghazal Arag.
Wiki/Biography
Varun Alagh was born in 1984 in Gurgaon, Haryana (age 38 in 2022). From 2001 to 2005, he studied at Delhi Engineering College where he pursued Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering. Thereafter, he enrolled at XLRI Jamshedpur to pursue PGDBM in Finance and Marketing (2005-2007). During his postgraduate studies, Varun had the opportunity to intern at companies such as Colgate-Palmolive, Havells Electrical, Madura Apparel, Maruti and Nokia.
appearance
Height (approximately): 5′7″
Hair color: dark brown (semi-bald)
Eye color: dark brown
family
Parents and siblings
Not much is known about his parents.
Varun Alagh with his parents, wife and son
wife and children
Varun Alagh is married to Ghazal Alagh (entrepreneur). The couple has a son named Agastya. Their son was born with a skin disease.
Varun Arag and his wife
Varun Arag and his son
Varun Arag with wife and son
Profession
Varun started his career with Hindustan Unilever Ltd. in 2007 as a Business Leadership Intern. A year later, he was promoted as the company’s Regional Sales Manager (Delhi NCR). In June 2010, Varun was promoted as Regional Sales and Account Manager (Delhi NCR and Rajasthan). He manages a team of 37 people providing distribution services to 55,000 retail outlets in Delhi and Rajasthan. In March 2011, he was appointed Regional Brand Manager for Innovative Deodorants in South Asia. He resigned from the company in 2012. Later, Varun joined Diageo PLC, Mumbai as Senior Brand Manager, Smirnoff. He worked there for about a year before resigning from the company. Subsequently, Alagh joined Coca-Cola Gurgaon in May 2013 as Brand Manager. After working there for about two years, Varun was promoted to Senior Brand Manager in April 2015. As Senior Brand Manager, Varun is responsible for consumer marketing of Coca-Cola products such as Coke Classic, Coke Zero and Diet Coke for India and South West Asian countries (Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal). He resigned from the company in November 2016. Thereafter, Varun founded Honasa Consumer Pvt. Ltd. along with his wife Ghazal Alagh. In November 2016, the company was established. The company launched its first brand “Mamaearth” in 2016. Mamaearth provides consumers with natural (chemical-free) baby care, hair care and skin care products. Honasa’s second brand, The Derma Co, also deals in skin and hair care products. The company launched its third skin care brand “Aqualogica” in November 2021. As of 2022, he is the Chief Dad and Get Stuff Done Officer of Honasa Consumer Pvt. The company has about 400 employees and operates in about 120 cities in India. Talking about this in an interview, Varun said:
In addition to selling through our own website, our business covers 120 major cities across the country and various e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Nykaa, and Firstcry. “
The emergence of business ideas
Varun Arag and Ghazal’s son Agastya was born with a skin-borne disease called eczema. Agastya’s skin is allergic to a variety of products and can cause her skin to become red and itchy when exposed to certain products containing chemicals. Doctors advised them to use non-toxic baby care products on the market for their son. The couple struggled to find natural skin care products for their son because most baby care products in India contain toxins. Since they don’t want to affect the baby’s health, the couple often asks relatives and friends who travel abroad to bring some non-toxic products to their son. Varun and Ghazal got tired of the hassle of arranging suitable products for their children and came up with the idea of making non-toxic products for babies and adults. They named their brand “Mamaearth”. The company’s revenue was Rs. 22.19 million in FY17 compared to Rs. Revenue for FY20 was Rs 112 crore. In 2021, its revenue was Rs. 5 billion rupees.
Varun Alagh, Ghazal Alagh and their staff
Awards
- Received the ‘I am Diageo Award’ from Diageo India for outstanding execution of Smirnoff nightlife events across the country (2013)
- Received the Coca-Cola India Southwest Asia Business Unit President’s Award (2014) for outstanding creativity and execution for leading the Coca-Cola Zero Emissions Project in India
- Awarded the “Above and Beyond Award” by Coca-Cola India and South West Asia for going above and beyond the call of duty on an organization-wide project (2015)
- Received the Business Unit President’s Award from Coca-Cola India and Southwest Asia (2015) for being a key member of the MIT ICE project to turn around the FBO business
Favorites
- Travel destination: Switzerland
- Business person: Indra Nooyi
Facts/Trivia
- In his free time, Varun enjoys traveling and adventure sports.
- Alaa is an avid reader, reading two books a week.
- He follows a non-vegetarian diet.
Varun Alagh’s Instagram post
- Varun is often spotted drinking on various occasions.
Varun Alagh with his wife in Switzerland
- Varun has authored several articles like “5 Benefits of Starting a Business in Your 30s”, “Positive Friction in Business”, “Goldilocks” and other golden rules of motivation and has been published in many business magazines.
- He has appeared on the cover of Forbes India magazine.
Varun Alagh on the cover of Forbes magazine
- Varun is a dog lover. He makes special resting seats for dogs outside his ‘Mamaearth’ store in Gurgaon.
A Mamaearth store in Gurgaon
- Mamaearth’s brand ambassador is Shilpa Shetty (as of 2022).
Shilpa Shetty Kundra serves as Mamaearth brand ambassador
- In an interview, when Varun was asked about the marketing strategy of his brand The Derma Co., Varun replied:
As with any new brand, our strategy is always digital first. We want to leverage D2C first and then launch these products on marketplaces like Nykaa and Amazon. When the brand matures, we will bring it to offline channels. We have seen good response from The Derma Co. and are very confident that its sales will cross Rs 100 crore by next year. “
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education