Ankur Goyal's &Me Makes Women Centric Ayurvedic Drinks The drinks are helpful against medical conditions like PCOD and PCOS and provide the nutrition required by women.
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But first, me! That's how Ankur Goyal, Founder, &Me drinks, conceptualised his start-up to empower women by prioritising their health first. &Me, a women-focused bioactive drinks maker, serves to meet unique functional needs across menstrual health, fitness and beauty. The drinks target problems like PCOS, PMS, and other female-specific nutrient requirements. "In my quest to find a solution for the widespread nutritional deficiency in women in India, I started Merhaki Foods (parent company of &Me) in September 2017," he declares.
While Goyal was graduating from Stanford Business School, his mother had visited him in the US. However, she was under immense pain due to osteoporosis. It was only then when Goyal realised that women's health and needs always tend to take a backseat; hence the birth of &Me, which is symbolic of women claiming their rights.
Ankur Goyal, Founder &Me
&Me Drinks
&Me drinks are a result of nine months of rigorous R&D, involving gynaecologists, dieticians, nutritionists, extensive research reports and consumer feedbacks. The brand uses the wisdom of Ayurveda to provide women with proper nutrients. "Every ingredient that our drinks use has a related research paper explaining the significance of the ingredient in combating the challenges associated with PMS and PCOS," shares Goyal.
Citing some of his research findings, he mentions, "One in five women is diagnosed with PCOS and three out of four experience PMS symptoms. Over 50 per cent of women are calcium and iron deficient. &Me tries to alleviate exactly this dismal health status of women."
According to Goyal, the vision of his company is to create and own a "Women's Health' aisle section in every online and offline store. With &Me, he wishes to drive home a larger point -leading the effort in driving awareness of women's nutritional health.
Find Her
- &Me is availabe at andme.in, Amazon, Nykaa and Big Basket. It is also present in 500 physical stores across three cities in India.
- &Me has sold over 1 lakh bottle so far.
- The brand is launching a campaign "#Unstoppable' (July 1 – September 27, 2019) to celebrate women.
(This article was first published in the August 2019 issue of Entrepreneur Magazine. To subscribe, click here)
