Redefining Body Care : The Story behind Hibiscus Monkey

 

 

What inspired the three of you—coming from diverse backgrounds in finance, corporate banking, and government—to start Hibiscus Monkey together?

Mona: I am a CA and a former corporate banker. I started my career at HSBC. I quit working in the prime of my career to look after my twin daughters – Naina and Roshni –  they were two little girls. Twenty years flew by in a blink, and suddenly, I found myself at a crossroads, a 60-year-old yearning for purpose. Hibiscus Monkey is more than a business; it’s a rebirth. The world has transformed, and I’m diving back in, this time with a renewed sense of adventure. While accounts and finance are the backbone of any business, I am particularly drawn to the art of storytelling that comes with building a brand ground up.

 

Roshni:  I spent the last 10 years in the US. Post my undergrad at Cornell University, I started off as a Management Consultant in corporate America, but very quickly pivoted and decided to move to India to work for the Indian Government. I realized at a young age, I wanted to be a part of India’s growth story and contribute to its development.  In the Government, I was part of a high-action war room that rolled out the Prime Minister’s priority welfare projects. During this time, I realized the necessity for India to shift to a job creator economy from a job seeker one. This led me back to the US to pursue a double masters, getting my MBA and Master in Public Policy jointly at Harvard and MIT.  My education equipped me with the skills necessary to build a business ground up that is rooted in the success of the Indian economy and the community. 

 

Naina: I too spent the last 10 years in the US. While I am an engineer from MIT, I ended up working for several luxury beauty clients as a Management Consultant in New York City.  The engineer in me became fascinated with how prestige beauty brands used technology to create meaningful consumer experiences and this led me to Unilever Arabia where I joined the first-ever Marketing Digital Transformation team. Later, I managed iconic beauty brands like Dove and Simple as Assistant Brand Manager. Post getting my MBA at Harvard, I was clear I wanted to build in beauty and moved to India to build Hibiscus Monkey with my mother and Roshni.
 

What does the name “Hibiscus Monkey” signify, and how does it reflect the brand’s philosophy?
 

Naina: We get this a lot and it is a lovely story. The very first product we launched was our beloved HM Love Scalp Oil, a recipe inspired by our beloved Nani. Fresh hibiscus flowers are the heart of this oil, a tradition passed down from her. And “Monkey”? Well, Nani affectionately called Roshni and I “bandarias” – mischievous little monkeys! So, Hibiscus Monkey was born – a tribute to our roots, our Nani, and the playful spirit that drives us.

 

How do you define “body specialist skincare,” and what makes your brand stand out in this category?

Roshni: Hibiscus Monkey is rooted in the belief that the beauty industry has long neglected the body, prioritizing face care innovation while relegating body care to an afterthought. As a result of this, we have accepted substandard care for our body and continue to neglect the remaining 95% of skin on our body beyond our face. Hibiscus Monkey is rewriting the rules. We’re bringing face-grade science and efficacy to body care.  Hibiscus Monkey is committed to providing targeted solutions for specific body concerns such as strawberry skin, discolouration, and ingrown hair. All products are dermatologically tested and formulated without synthetic fragrances, dyes, parabens, sulfates, formaldehyde, or other harmful additives.

 

Your latest launch, Velvet Spray Squalene, mimics the body’s natural sebum. What makes this product unique in the market, and how does it address specific skin concerns?

Naina: Velvet Spray Squalene is part of our viral in shower body moisturizer franchise, the Velvet Spray! It is named after squalene, a natural oil produced  by our skin, crucial for maintaining hydration and keeping the skin supple. However, with age, the production of squalene declines, leaving the skin drier and rougher. So we bio-mimicked squalene with a plant based ingredient called squalane, derived from olives. It is clinically proven to have higher absorption, allowing long lasting moisturization. It leaves the skin visibly softer, while being lightweight and non-sticky. It also contains plant based salicylic acid to provide daily gentle exfoliation to tackle a condition called strawberry skin, which requires both effective moisturization and exfoliation to soften and smoothen dotted bumps. This makes the Velvet Spray highly effective in tackling dry skin and strawberry skin, leaving the skin soft and the texture smooth. 

 

What were some of the biggest challenges in formulating targeted skincare solutions like the Ingrown Hair Treatment and Probiotics Body Wash?

Mona: We have a radically different approach to body care. We founded Hibiscus Monkey because nobody was solving for skin issues on the body that matter including ingrown hair. in creating our Ingrown Hair Treatment, we took no shortcuts. We were extremely demanding about the formulation and fastidious about how we sourced every single ingredient that went into the product. Our Ingrown Hair Treatment is costly to make. We then made an unprecedented move, given its popularity, we more than doubled the pack size with the same formulation, while still holding the price. We took a hit on our margins, but we made a very conscious decision to hold the price. This is because we want the product to be more accessible than before. The price per ml has more than halved and this has enabled us to take Hibiscus Monkey Ingrown Hair Treatment to more women in need because body matters.

 

Roshni: All our innovations are in house and this allows us to push the envelope when it comes to body care. The Probiotics Body Wash is one of our most ambitious innovations to date. It is truly one of a kind. We recognize many issues on the skin are a cause of an unbalanced skin biome. So we created a proprietary blend of Probiotics, Postbiotics and Prebiotics that puts the “good bacteria” back into the skin biome.  This body wash is not just indulgent, but it is necessary food for your skin that balances the skin biome preventing dryness, acne, dermatitis, among others. We were also clear that we will create body care products without any filler ingredients (that increase the volume of the product without increasing formulation costs). Typically body washes contain 70% added water, we replaced added water with aloe vera and 100% natural himalayan apricot oil. We wanted to ensure our body wash is 100% concentrated with ingredients that matter and serve a functional purpose for the skin. Both Aloe Vera and Himalayan Apricot Oil have tremendous moisturizing properties that leave the skin baby soft and supple post shower versus the tight dry feeling that comes post a shower.

 

As a family-run business, how do you balance personal and professional roles while making key brand decisions?
 

Mona: As I said earlier, for me, Hibiscus Monkey is so much more than a company. It is truly a whole new inning in my life, where I get to rediscover myself and my purpose. It is a full-circle moment for me, I left my job to look after my twins and now I am back in the workforce with my adult twins as my business partners. Being able to find founders in daughters has been a blessing. We dream together, we fail together and we build together – just as we do in life. In the last 2 years, we have been able to create a company that reflects our family values and our passion for body care, while creating memories for a lifetime.

 

Naina: Working with my mother and sister is a riot! We are a loud Punjabi family and the Hibiscus Monkey workplace is boisterous, chatty and filled with banter just how our dinner table conversations are. Truth be told, there are a lot of fundamentals in terms of values and trust that seamlessly align when working with close family members and that gives us so much comfort as co-founders.
 

Hibiscus Monkey’s products have gained traction on social media. How has digital marketing played a role in your brand’s growth?

Roshni: We truly believe in the power of authenticity. Indian consumers don’t want replicas of western brands, they want uniquely Indian brands. For us Instagram is the heart and soul of the brand. Naina and I are the face of our brand. Whether it be through DMs or calls, as founders, we personally connect with our consumers. This has built a lot of trust and an emotional connection with our consumer; when they experience the product and it does what it claims, we end up with not only loyal consumers, but brand champions. Our consumers are our cheerleaders, they have introduced Hibiscus Monkey to so many people in their lives, be it their mothers, sisters or even husbands!
 

What have been some of the most surprising or impactful consumer feedback you’ve received?

Naina: We get the most incredible feedback from our consumers. As Roshni said, our consumers are our biggest cheerleaders. Some of the most memorable pieces of feedback that come to my mind include ones where Hibiscus Monkey has played almost a life changing role in a consumer’s life…there is Ishita who had hair loss after a major illness and then after using our HM Love Scalp & Hair Oil, she told us that for the first time in months she’s loving her hair post the illness. She was one of our first 50 consumers and she continues to be to date. Then there was a consumer who has an autoimmune disease that prevents her from applying creams and she told us that the Hibiscus Monkey Velvet Spray was the only product she could use with her condition that provided her major relief from dry skin too. We have consumers who have eczema who find our sensitive skin friendly products to provide major relief.  To be providing this kind of comfort to someone’s life, means the world to us.

 

Where do you see Hibiscus Monkey in the next five years, and are there any exciting new launches in the pipeline?
 

Mona: We dream big. We’re building an Indian body specialist brand for the globe. In the short run, we have incredible innovations lined up. All our innovations are in house, which is why we have longer innovation cycles than usual…we strictly don’t use white label products. 

 

Roshni: Right now we are focused on channel expansion. As mentioned earlier, we have currently built our business on two online channels – so we have enormous room for growth online first including on beauty first channels like Nykaa as well as quick commerce. We do plan to become omni.