The youth in Assam and the entire northeast are ideally placed to get skilled in the beauty and wellness industry, says beauty and fitness company VLCC. Interacting with the media at Vivanta by Taj, Guwahati, Vandana Luthra, founder of VLCC said, “The youth of Assam are aptly positioned to get skilled in the beauty and wellness skill industry.”
VLCC, with its extensive presence in 3 cities of Assam, with 4 beauty and wellness centers, the company is planning to open 15 vocational training institutes which are focused on skilling the highly talented and employable youth of Assam. The company will be investing over Rs 28 crore in a new manufacturing facility in Assam which will produce skin care, hair care and body care products. The installed capacity of the unit will be 86.41 million units per annum. The facility will spread in 100,000 square feet area.
Vandana Luthra, who is on a crusade to spread awareness about the increasing menace of obesity, mentioned that India is the third most obese country in the world with 5% of its population affected by morbid obesity. Sedentary lifestyles, unhealthy food habits, lack of sleep, genetic factors and urbanization have contributed significantly to rise of this disease. With this background, for the last 28 years, VLCC has been fighting against obesity and promoting holistic wellness.
Last month, VLCC celebrated 15 years of its anti-obesity day with the ‘Stand-up India’ campaign – a public awareness initiative that encourages people to be more active in their daily lives through the simple act of standing up.
As per the 2014 Annual Health Survey, Assam tops the list of states with highest cases of chronic illness. The same reports also states that ‘of the 19 districts from Assam that are part of the list, nine are among the top 10, indicating high occurrences of chronic disease in the state. The figure is alarming and suggests relatively high number of unfit population as compared to other states.
VLCC’s Anti-Obesity campaign has evolved into a larger movement, which has gained momentum as a public health campaign. The brand has also established the Orange Pledge, where people can sign up for their commitment to the cause. The “Orange Dot” is an icon representing the brand’s ongoing fight against obesity. Taking the Orange Pledge means one is committed to fight obesity and lead a healthier life.
“Assam has been a top priority state for us. In recent years, Assam has been on a robust growth path. With a large middle-income group, the state represents a huge opportunity for beauty and wellness brands like VLCC to further expand its presence to reach a much larger customer base. Especially when it comes to making the people of Assam more healthy, and training the youth in the lucrative domain of beauty and grooming services, VLCC sees itself,” Luthra said.
She further added, “At VLCC, our focus has always been on service delivery and as a reinstatement of the same, we have recently launched a money back assurance scheme for our customers. In addition, to make digital payments accessible for a wide section of our customers, we have in place a several modes of digital payment gateways and mobile wallets with EMI options. All of these measures are aimed at making the VLCC customer more empowered than ever before. In line with our employee first philosophy, we are putting renewed emphasis on training and development of our people so that they can serve our customers even better. Retention of talent and investing in them will remain a way of life at VLCC during all phases of economy.”
