W2: On proving necessity is the mother of invention
W2: On proving necessity is the mother of invention

Life Essentials Personal Care Pvt Ltd launched a path-breaking and innovative range of No Alcohol - No Bleach Protection Sprays. Named 'W2 Protection Spray Range', the product has been scaled up, manufactured, and commercialised by Life Essentials and is based on licensing of the ECORSANI technology developed by IIT Bombay. It has more than 250 products. The average order value is Rs 700-800 for buying only protection spray ranges. These products are available on Amazon, Flipkart, and W2-life essential website. They are also available in the specific geographical area of the country i. e. North East, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Punjab, Tamilnadu. The company is also opening in the Delhi-NCR area very very shortly.

Talking about the company, Amandeep Singh, Director of Life Essentials Personal Care Pvt Ltd, said, "W2: life essential personal care Pvt, Ltd started in 2014. The thought was to start a preventive cosmetology range which would lead to more prevention than curative. Secondly, we ensure as natural as we can be therefore we have an ayurvedic manufacturing brand. The third is like the food we take inside the body we apply cosmetics externally. People are becoming more conscious about the healthy options in the market. We work on the same formula that we should have good authentic ingredients so that we can give the right product that can be applied to the body. Even if it comes with at a shade higher a price like 5-10% higher and the ladies today would not mind about it."

There are four different products in the protection range like Apparel protection spray, Room protection spray, Surface protection spray, Hand and Body sanitiser spray. Apparel protection spray is a very very unusual and unique product that converts existing clothes into a protection shield. Suppose people spray all over their clothes profusely front & back, top to bottom then for up to 24 hours they are protected against any bacteria, viruses, fungi that will land on their clothes. The second product is room protection spray. It makes immediate surrounding germ proof. Its packaging is more likely a regular room spray, but it is safe as well as alcohol and bleach-free. The room protection spray also comes with three different fragrances.

Considering the new normal, two unique needs are there today. Earlier people needed to spray their clothes for the fragrance to feel fresh and spray around themselves to avoid any odor. The product is the first of its kind. That's why W2 needs to work hard with the right research partner in IIT Mumbai. So in this way, W2 needs to scale up and -innovate the product. The new need is that I need to be protected, but at the same time, I must smell good.

Similarly, the hand and body sanitiser spray till now used to be alcohol-based only. The hands used to be rough and dry. Because W2 hand and body sanitiser have no alcohol, no toxic chemicals, and it is non-inflammable.

Technically it is edible. Therefore these products are safeguarded, and it makes skin more soft, nourished, and more moist-because these are the certified Ayurvedic product. The fourth product is the surface protection spray which can be used on any hard surfaces like tabletops. Glass, appliances, devices, etc.; inside cars, lift buttons, bathroom & toilet cleaning.

W2: On proving necessity is the mother of invention

W2: Why wait

W stands for" why wait ", and the entire thought behind the concept is that why to wait for tomorrow when we can have it today.

Talking about the name of the company, Amandeep added, "Each of our products come with a question on it like why wait for your hair to turn into grey, why to use chemicals to degrade your skin. All of our products come with a robust preventive component and even if you look at now when we have launched a new range it is also helping you to prevent infections, viruses, and bacteria including SARS-nCov-2 which is the Covid'19 virus. That's how W2 embodies the entire thought of why wait, why delay or why procrastinate. It is also encapsulated in our logo.

Go Global

W2 is selling only in India so far. W2 is getting a lot of interest from the US, Europe, Middle East countries as well as these products come out as a non-alcoholic version of protection. In FY 2021-22, W2 is planning for its first global step.

Primary investors and partners

Under the ECLG scheme by Govt. of India W2 has received a crore of rupees. During the period of the lockdown, the regular personal care product is almost stopped & only essential products are allowed in the market. Getting the support of MSME, Govt. of India W2 decided to work harder in this challenging time. It is rightly said, "Necessity is the mother of invention."

Amandeep said, "Like the feeling of fear of getting Corona to daunt us, we started thinking about the moment when everybody comes out of their house because the lockdown can't last forever. There will be a new world. These are not regular products like a shampoo, a cream, or a face wash that they have to perform better than their competing product; this has to deliver the result that it is supposed to. So when we looked for partners, the only available options are alcohol and bleach (sodium hyper-chlorite solution) based which if you use for a longer time, you give more pain than the gain to skin and body. As our DNA is natural, and we believe in combining the traditional natural treasure that India has in form of Ayurveda. We always fuse it into modern science. So we found our partners in IIT Mumbai. They were already into covid specialist research. We worked with them and finally, the formulation tested on the SARS-COV-2 virus. Once the lab-scale formulation was prepared, we scaled it up onto all scales i. e. lab-scale, pilot-scale and commercial scale. At every stage, multiple batches have tested as per American standards. We made sure in every step once the product is ready, it is delivering what the promise has made. So the funding we got from the MSME fund rolled out by the Govt and others is what we have arranged internally. We created this new range which is the first in the world range because the whole world is still looking at alcohol and hypochlorite. It is a very, very strong innovation in India and waiting for the world."

Commenting on the investors and partners, Amandeep added, "Life essential plans to invest 30 crores into the development and distribution of its product over next 1year. So far, we have not taken any external investment. All investments are from a personal approach over these years. As of now, we are only going ahead with only our internal approach, and we are sure that as we go by, we shall have more funding partners to make our journey easy for us."

ECORSANI Technology

IIT Bombay has developed ECORSANI technology. The alcohol and bleach-free products have been formulated with a blend of all-natural, biodegradable, safe to use and made of GRAS approved ingredient-based Technology (Generally recognised as safe, (GRAS), a US-FDA designation that certifies ingredients are safe). Unlike the current range of available products in the market, this spray is free from toxic chemicals.

It is a very very safe and natural ingredient that has been used to create a formulation based on ECORSANI Technology. ECORSANI is antibacterial, anti-viral, antifungal. In terms of efficacy, it is made up of 3 active ingredients that come from natural sources acts similar to alcohol by disrupting the cell wall of the bacteria and the envelope of the viruses. This whole antibody is based on charging surface antibodies, and even the coronavirus is an enveloped virus. So the biopolymer component of ECORSANI deactivates and disrupts the envelope of the virus. The multi-level attack on the coronavirus is the basis of complete utilisation by EORSANI formulations.

W2: On proving necessity is the mother of invention

Efficacy and sustainability

The active ingredients are coming from natural resources in our product that acts similar to alcohol. What alcohol does is disrupts the cell wall and envelope of the viruses what our products also do, and when these products have been tested, it is ultimately coming as effective. Here on the head to head comparison, all this product have come out as effective as the products with 75% alcohol and 1% Sodium hypochlorite based product. The ECORSANI range of sanitiser & protection sprays validates all as per the American society of testing & material. So all the ingredients, keeping natural the efficacy, is the same as 75% alcohol sanitiser.

Innovation and Technology in Marketing Strategy

Innovation is increasingly playing a vital role in the growth of any company. It is the biggest weapon in any marketing strategy. A market like personal care has B2 kind of products, and it is a very cluttered market. It is the only innovation that recognises new needs or creates new opportunities.

Amandeep concluded by talking about innovation and opportunities, "Because there are no standard products, you innovate and create a product to serve a particular condition that is present in the market that gives you a whole lot of marketing strengths and marketing pace in the market. If you work hard to innovate a product and there is a need that the product addresses then obviously you are the first in advantage and you then take leverage from that development. Not only from immediate sales, but even the brand value takes a positive stance—the innovation you have created successfully marketed. The design makes a disruptive opportunity for marketing."

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