In conversation with Rohit Anand, Founder Adthera Consumer Brands

1. What is the idea of Adthera consumer brands?

As per a recent study, more than 50% of Indian kids suffer from one or more micro nutrient deficiency. These deficiencies slow down growth, compromise children’s ability to fight off nasty bugs and make it harder for them to keep up with all that explosive learning. With children often turning their noses at anything the moment they suspect it’s healthy, overcoming this nutritional gap can really become difficult for parents. At Zingavita, we believe getting our kids to eat healthy should be simple and fun. Our mission is to bring delicious, healthy & fun alternatives that little ones will ask for themselves.

2. What made you decide and get into this category of meeting essential nutrition needs of children?

In my previous company, I had frequent travel to Europe & US for work and during these trips, I used to bring multivitamin gummy bears for my children and they just loved them. When I looked at the Indian market, I could not really find similar gummy bear options which are made of natural ingredients and safe for children to consume. I started speaking to my friends and family and started discussing this problem of picky eaters kids who do not eat their fruits and vegetables thus resulting in micro nutrients deficiency impacting growth and overall development. To my surprise, almost 75% of friends admitted to facing picky eating habits from their children. I realized child nutrition is a huge problem amongst picky eater kids which needs to be addressed and that's how Zingavita was born

3. What exactly is Zingavita and how does it help in building immunity in children ?

Zingavita is a child nutrition brand which is on a mission to bring delicious, healthy & fun alternatives that little ones will ask for themselves. We launched Multivitamin gummies as our 1st product offering. We have 3 variants: Strong Immunity, Mighty Vitamins & Sharp Eye gummies.

Strong immunity gummies are infused with handpicked vitamins & minerals like Elderberry, Blueberry, Vitamin C, Vitamin E & Zinc which helps in boosting immunity in kids. All our upcoming products come in new innovative formats and they meet an important criteria of being deliciously healthy which will have a positive impact on overall wellness of children

4. As we move into the better normal post a pandemic, how do you see the demand for nutrition needs in children rise in urban India?

Due to the Covid 19 pandemic, the focus of the population has shifted towards holistic health. Sales of multivitamins and immunity boosters rose sharply during the pandemic as people rushed to buy these health supplements for themselves as well as their children. We have also seen similar traction towards our gummies (Multivitamins Gummies, Strong

Immunity gummies & Sharp eye gummies) which have been formulated keeping current challenges in mind.

This pandemic is a rare event which has taught people to start focusing on a healthy lifestyle. We strongly feel this trend will continue post pandemic as well and people will continue to adopt new innovative health supplements / healthy foods for their overall wellness

5. Tell us what are the 3 key lessons you learnt from your earlier entrepreneur role and how did you apply this to your new and latest venture

The foundation of a company is built by the founders. The founders must have an equitable relationship between them - that provides the fundamental construct of fairness and transparency. My learning has been to work on this model and have equal ownership amongst the founders. Secondly I believe that each venture must be adequately funded - previously I had run a start up which failed to take off because we were struggling to raise appropriate levels of capital. Finally I believe that the quality of the team makes or breaks a start up. Value Edge was successful because of its high quality team and this is exactly what we have tried to do at Adthera.

6. Which marketing tools works best to reach and influence children, who are the most discerning and distracted TG

For us the customer and the decision-maker is the Mother. We want our brand to be loved by kids. For example, each pack of our gummies comes with a fun game that builds cognitive abilities and helps kids come together and spend time off-screen! As a responsible and ethical company, we do not advertise our products to kids, but to mothers, who are equipped to take an informed decision.

7. Can you please share some general nutrition tips so that parents can ensure that their children get good doses of vitamins which are essential for their healthy growth?

To ensure that children get adequate dosage of vitamins, some tips are:

· Include a wide variety of foods in the diet.

· Eat a rainbow diet. Give your child local and seasonal fruits. The more fruits and vegetables on the plate, the better it is.

· Give them 4-5 servings of fruits & vegetables in a day. If the child is fussy, include fruits & vegetables in smoothies, shakes, and homemade desserts.

· Avoid giving fruits after a meal. The absorption of vitamins is affected by fruits eaten after meals.

· Avoid giving them junk or fast food daily. Junk food is full of sugar and oil and lacks vitamins and other essential nutrients.

8. How big is the market for kids nutrition and where do you see your company/ start up go in the next 2 years?

Kids Nutrition is a huge market around the world, including India. If you count traditional categories like Proteins and Chyawanprash, it is more than 1.5 billion USD. We expect it to outperform other nutritional segments and new-age formats to become 5x in the next 5 years. We see ourselves as market leaders in a couple of emerging categories and have a play in most large categories in kids nutrition.