A five-year journey that was completed in less than a year

Ginva Company is a business that manufactures cosmetics and skin care products, which in less than a year was able to meet its five-year goals and its investor’s, and is currently on a growing path.

This startup in the field of health was formed by Dr. Ebrahim Shaygan Mehr and a team of active Iranian youth.

Ecomotive media had a conversation with this team, which we will discuss below:

Where did Ginova begin?

We started investigating the manufacture of cosmetic products in November 2018 and it started in March 2018. Due to the spread of Corona, our work started seriously from June 1399. We started the review of the manufacturing of our products in four packages, sexual products package, skin and hair package, wound and treatment package, and burn package, which we are doing with the help of Baqi Allah Hospital. The skin and hair department was started and we specialized in the bite market, where there are fewer competitors in this field. Our production strategy was such that the goods have the ability to be exported or are similar to products that are no longer imported in the country. We used a new system in our products that absorbed through the skin. We originally wanted to produce pharmaceutical products that would replace oral medications that caused problems for the body. After that, we produced face washes with therapeutic applications, which are unrivaled in Iran. After that, we produced the first 72-hour deodorant, and we plan to produce the first 120-hour deodorant in the world from the beginning of June 1400.

Where did the idea for this business come from?

According to my family history, I worked in the field of broadcasting and distribution. My activities were in Kohgiluyeh and Boyar Ahmad provinces and in Zanjan. I started my own broadcasting company in Zanjan in the second year of my PhD course, and this introduced me to the market. I knew the market’s demand and had good experiences. We had a lot of work. We have reached this area, such as services, e-commerce and payment. For the first time in Iran, we launched a network marketing system in the service sector with the help of Parsian e-commerce and offered Sayan Card in three levels. In 1993, we launched the Alma application similar to Snap Market in Zanjan along with the big markets of this province, and after that we entered our specialty, which is the formulation of cosmetic products, and we designed special products that were different from what was in the market. My major was medicinal chemistry and this is where the idea of ​​Ginva started.

Most businesses come to solve a problem or challenge, what problem is Ginva going to solve?

We were supposed to replace drugs that were taken orally. These drugs either did not have the effect we expected on the local tissue or caused problems such as digestive and digestion problems. We wanted to create a new method in which absorption occurs through the skin and the medicine reaches the site through the skin barrier, for example, for the medicine used in the knee, it can be absorbed through the skin. Later, this idea was combined with cosmetic work, especially skin care and hygiene, which can also have therapeutic properties. For example, one of our products is turmeric face wash, which can also be used as a mask to remove blemishes and lighten the skin.

What happened to form your team?

Certainly, a business that has a transnational vision needs sales forces, obtaining licenses, etc., every business cannot grow with only one founder in order to scale, and we understood this from the first day in order to reach our goals in the shortest possible time. . With my marketing experience and the view I had on the market, along with my wife who also has a doctorate in chemistry and we were classmates and had experience in research and development and formulation, Mr. Nasiri with a doctorate in traditional medicine who helped us combine this medicine with modern science. and Mr. Arjamandi, with his master’s degree in artificial intelligence and digital marketing expertise and extensive activity in the field of IT, we decided to build a team.

Tell about marketing challenges in Geneva:

Startup businesses enter the market with a minimum cost, but the competitors in the market impose a minimum cost on the new entrants, the startup cannot rent a billboard with its high costs, which may be done by the rival company. The startup enters cheaper advertising such as social networks. We also started with a minimal cost, but this made our customers repeat their purchases often. This made us achieve our five-year goals in less than a year and become a profitable team and enter the export field. We also have a problem with funding for development because our demand is greater than our production.

Tell us about the license giant in your business:

License is really giant! But to get the permits, one must be tactful and work as a team. To get permission, we have three dams, the Ministry of Industry and Mines, the Environment Organization, and the Food and Drug Administration, from each of which we need an exploitation license. Each of these also required a standard shed with devices for inspection. Our country has the most difficult licensing system in this field and is full of various challenges. We decided to use our maximum efforts to obtain permits and with research and advice from friends active in this field, we were able to obtain six initial permits and conclude our contract. This process took two to three months.

When did you start recruiting your troops?

Our key and sensitive posts were given to the founders because our products were new and innovative, but we started in March for administrative forces. We also outsourced our distribution and broadcasting. But online broadcasting is also with us because it has content production and this is also a specialized work.

If you go back, would you still choose entrepreneurship?

100% entrepreneurship. I was an employer in our family business from the first day of my work, I never wanted and I don’t want to live as an employee.

You are one of the people who have relevant education in the field of your product, tell us a little about the relationship between work and university education:

The university creates a foundation for mentality, in the same way that when we are studying in a field, we dream about it, but there is no requirement, knowledge and information bring power, and if someone does not have a university education, he needs education and learning, which is usually what the university does. does

Along with its charms, entrepreneurship also has dark parts, please tell us about the dark parts of entrepreneurship:

If someone who is looking for entrepreneurship is looking for a management desk in the beginning, he will definitely fail in the first days. An entrepreneur must know all aspects of his work and this is not an easy task. Not in a specialized way, but according to this famous saying, he should know about his business as wide as an ocean but as deep as a finger. Entrepreneurship is not fun and has a difficult and complicated path. In my opinion, life is nothing but creating a challenge and trying to solve that challenge! There is no greater joy than solving this challenge. Scientific research says that people feel the happiest when they do something for the first time, such as the first day they drive or ride a bike. Personally, I am not satisfied with doing normal and simple tasks, and I was always looking for difficult challenges.

How was the fundraising process for your business?

Of course, in order to attract the attention of investors of each round, every business needs to be implemented in addition to the idea. In fact, the idea alone cannot satisfy the investor and we have to spend from our own pockets to implement the idea. This attracts the investor. This is my advice for teams that want to attract capital. At the beginning, we made the prototypes, we did the tests at our own expense, and we also presented the test samples to the investors. At the beginning, we had a private investor, and then Danesh Banyan Barkat and Amen Capital Part. Second, he made the investment. We are currently looking for investors in the form of facilities and huge capital for development.

Did you use advisors and mentors in this way?

This story is beyond theory and the mentors themselves must have succeeded or failed in this system. In the case of our specialty area and product formulas, it was not logical to use a consultant, but we used them in other works that did not have an NDA, such as marketing, etc. Of course, I believe that the use of consultants should be win-win and if a strong and suitable person is found, we will add it to the system.

Advice for those who are at the beginning of this path:

Before starting your own business, first get employed in a similar business, now as a volunteer, internship, or… in this way, learn the work and become familiar with the challenges of the path, so that the risk of wasting capital is reduced. This is in all aspects, not just the production of the product. Marketing, market knowledge, finance, insurance, tax and all these subjects require relative experience and maturity. Or at least use people with experience in the process of forming their team. Entrepreneurship is not a single person’s work, it is true that partnership has its challenges, but entrepreneurship is a team work.

Further, Mr. Arjamandi, the co-founder of Ginva, said about the creative marketing method of Ginva: As a startup, we could not compare our advertising with big companies, so we used rewards instead of using a discount system, paying attention to the customer and his demands. Focusing on a generation that was neglected and accessible, we produced products with a unique theme for the 80s. On the shelf, most of the domestic products were copies of foreign products, and we focused on a certain group to create diversity to be seen better.