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Olive Lifesciences sees a niche in nutraceuticals, a business that is fast catching on in the West and starting to find takers in India.
Nutraceuticals involves using natural herbs to manage your health better. “Health supplements are a huge thing in developed markets and there are companies that specialise in nature-based health supplements,” says CA Anzar, founder and Managing Director, Olive Lifesciences.
Health supplementsThe company manufactures products for international companies that make health supplements. This involves tying up with farmers for herbs. The active molecules that go into the making of a herbal tablet or pill are extracted from the herbs.
Says Anzar, who worked with a US based start-up in Bangalore: “Natural medicine was my passion and in the decade and a half that I spent in the company, I got a better understanding of finance and both these factors helped me a lot when I started this venture.”
The company has a turnover of around ₹150 crore and counts some big US companies as clients. It has partnered with around 8,000 farmers in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and has around 20,000 acres under cultivation. Olive Lifesciences has 150 employees on its payroll. They extract the active ingredients from herbal plants and make the final products, in compliance with regulatory requirements.
“We continue to work with government agricultural universities and private research institutions in the biological assessment of safety and effectiveness up to clinical trials,” explains Anzar.
Some of the natural substances under contract farming are turmeric, coleus, marigold and sesamin.
Overseas plansThe company has a Department of Scientific and Industrial Research-approved research lab and two manufacturing facilities in Tumkur. Most of its products are tested by independent labs in Japan.
Olive Lifesciences has been funded by a mix of venture capital and by Axis Bank and HDFC Bank. It has garnered 60 per cent of the US market and plans to enter Europe and Japan.
The company is confident that it can hit ₹500 crore in revenues in five years.
The business model will also change, he says. “In the future, it will be one single food that will contain a majority of health-related supplements as compared to taking different kinds of pills,” he says.
As an example, he points to a beverage that will have calcium, vitamin and anti-diabetic herbs.
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