In an exclusive interview with Entrepreneur One Magazine, Mr Aman Puri the founder of Steadfast Nutrition, provides valuable insights into the journey and vision of the company. As a trailblazer in the wellness and sports nutrition sector, Mr Aman Puri sheds light on the distinctive features of Steadfast Nutrition, the challenges faced, and the strategic decisions that have propelled the brand’s growth. Discover the dynamic strategies, innovative technologies, and future endeavours that position Steadfast Nutrition as a frontrunner in the industry, shaping the landscape of holistic health and wellness.
Q1. Can you please tell us in brief about your company?
Steadfast’s parent company, Steadfast MediShield, is a trailblazer in renal healthcare and has served patients with chronic kidney disease and those undergoing renal dialysis and transplants since 2008. Our sports and wellness nutrition division, Steadfast Nutrition, founded by me in 2017, is one of India’s fastest-growing brands in this sector, providing sports nutrition supplements to athletes of over 35 sporting categories and wellness supplements to people of all age groups and walks of life. Athletes who swear by Steadfast Nutrition’s supplements include Olympics and Commonwealth Games winners who have brought glory to the country several times. We have contributed to society and our industry by launching several innovative formulations in the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical divisions.
Q2. Tell us about the key person? What are his/her roles and responsibilities in the company?
As the founder of Steadfast Nutrition and director of Steadfast MediShield, my key responsibility is to improve the health-related quality of life of people. Hence, I ensure that our product portfolio is of top quality, backed by science, helps people attain optimal physical and mental health, is within the recommended dosage, is organ-friendly, and is safe to take long-term. I also take responsibility for innovating and diversifying our product range and keeping up with the latest market trends.
Q3. Who are your clients?
Steadfast Nutrition’s sports supplements range caters to athletes from various sports, including cricket, football, hockey, bodybuilding, boxing, and fitness enthusiasts. Our wellness supplements have been embraced by numerous individuals who want to improve their health and well-being through the nutritional boost of supplements. Steadfast MediShield serves patients with chronic kidney disease and dialysis and renal dialysis and transplant patients.
Q4. How are you different from people working in a similar domain?
The primary difference between Steadfast Nutrition and other brands is the type of packaging and our concern for people’s health. We were the first brand in the nutraceutical sector to launch our supplements in single-serving sachets, making them markedly different from the box supplements offered by other brands. These are not products that are only meant for short-term use but can be had for a lifetime and by people from all walks of life. We are also gender and sports-neutral.
Q5. What is the goal of your company, and how are you planning to achieve it?
I aim to make Steadfast a household name for supplements and renal super specialty medicines by ensuring a top-notch, research-backed product portfolio. In the coming years, we see ourselves as integrating with national health policies to improve healthcare in India and enhance the quality of lives of our people.
We aim to make Steadfast the No 1 choice of athletes by providing them with top-quality, organ-friendly supplements that give them an edge in their training and drive them towards record-breaking performances.
Steadfast Nutrition aims to solve India’s problem of protein deficiency and make the country protein-efficient by 2040. We also envision making India the world’s sports capital by 2050. We have worked towards our first goal by launching 12 unique protein formulations to fill gaps in the availability of good quality nutrition and undertaking social cause media campaigns with a wide reach and impact, educating people about the importance of a protein-rich diet and good nutrition.
We have worked towards our vision of making India the World’s Sports Capital by 2050 by regularly sponsoring and bringing to India Asia’s biggest bodybuilding championship, which gives athletes a direct entry to Mr Olympia, USA, giving a significant boost to the sport in India, providing talented youth with a global platform to showcase their talent. Being Proudly Indian, we will continue to make India self-reliant in sports and wellness nutrition supplements and a global manufacturing hub.
Q6. How are new immersive technologies making a positive impact on enterprises? And what new technologies are you using in your organization?
Immersive technology can help improve customer experiences, enhance customer engagement, and is useful in advertising campaigns and product demonstrations. Enterprises can use this technology to interact with customers and build brand awareness and loyalty, increasing revenues in the long run. Immersive technology can also be used for employee training, enhancing their skills and productivity, and improving their performance.
We like to keep ourselves updated with the latest market trends. Both at the product development and product quality assessment stage. We partner with companies and labs that use the latest state-of-the-art technologies to give us the best of results.
Q7. What are you looking forward to accomplishing the most in 2024?
We plan to innovate more, further increase our brand reach and stature in the market, and establish ourselves as a research-based company which will give us stability and growth, and build our reputation. We plan to expand our footprint across India by increasing store presence and focusing more on marketing and E-Commerce in the coming year.
Q8. What are the new trends you see in the industry today?
The new trends in sports nutrition and nutraceuticals are supplements of different formats (gels, bars, effervescent, gummies, and ready-to-drink products), plant extracts, and functional foods. Also significant is the shift towards natural ingredients, including herbal extracts, to enhance performance, decrease workout-induced inflammation, and improve endurance. The popularity of herbal extracts is rising due to the restored consumers’ faith in traditional remedies as answers to modern-age problems. The demand for plant-based protein supplements is growing steadily. Steadfast Nutrition has launched creatine, which is usually available in the market either as a powder or tablet, in effervescent form, and carnitine, which is usually available as a powder, in liquid form. Our Multivitamin is a 100% vegetarian ingredient and provides omega-3s obtained from flaxseeds rather than fish. In 2023, we also launched Ashwagandha – a traditional adaptogenic herb renowned for its stress-relieving properties. Besides protein, amino acids, vitamins, vegan omega-3, sea minerals like calcium and magnesium, fibers, probiotics, and spirulina have become increasingly popular.
Q9. What challenges did you have to overcome to get here today?
The biggest challenge I faced was stereotypes and ignorance about the use of supplements. Removing skepticism among people becomes an uphill task in the nutraceutical industry. People have to be sensitized and made aware of why supplements are important, which comes with the challenges of time, cost, and resources.
Q10. What does success look like to you?
Success would be our products becoming a staple in every Indian’s health and fitness routine. For me, success accrues from receiving positive feedback from our customers and improving people’s quality of life – be it an athlete who has been able to improve his performance after taking a supplement, an individual who has fulfilled an unmet health need and can lead a happier life with our nutraceutical product, or a patient with chronic kidney disease who can manage his health condition with our medicines.
Q11. As a leader of your organization, what important decisions do you make for the company?
As a leader of the organization, I’m a part of every decision made in the organization which mainly emphasizes product development and business strategy. The most important decision I make is around setting the strategic direction for our growth and transformation agenda and the medium and long-term ways to achieve it. I firmly believe that to grow, every company must adapt to changing market trends, consumer preferences, product innovations, and technology disruptions – my most important decisions revolve around these and are taken with the ultimate objective of developing the best quality and safest products that satisfy consumers and help us expand our footprint.
Q12. How do you encourage people working in your organization?
I ensure that hard work is very necessary to survive and sustain and people are motivated to be honest, loyal, and dedicated towards their job.
I ensure our performers are motivated. I ensure everyone in my organization feels valued and heard and create an inspiring environment for employees. I encourage two-way feedback and express appreciation for individual and team efforts and also give my employees opportunities to connect with industry experts.
Q13. What are the new strategies you have adopted for your business?
We have a consumer-centric approach as our business strategy and we imbibe with the latest technologies and software including AI to come up with the best possible solutions for our business. We do intensive market research and plan the product portfolio accordingly. Since our approach is consumer-centric, so we strategize around different platforms that reach the masses, including E-Commerce marketplaces.
Q14. What are some of your future endeavors?
We intend to increase our national footprint and also envision being a global brand in the coming years with the agenda of making lives better through our world-class products.
Q15. What is the best advice you can give to our readers?
Healthcare has been one of the most critical sectors. However, we realized its importance only during COVID-19 times that the importance of healthcare was unmatchable. At the same time, it is one of the most hostile businesses due to rising competition. We must value the efforts to improve the lives of healthcare workers since they contribute so much to the development of the country.
