Spirit W | Entrepreneurial culture at L'Oreal attracts me: Manashi Guha

Manashi Guha, a talented and determined individual, is passionate about her role at L’Oreal Paris. Presently General Manager at the company she is of the belief that L'Oréal Paris, the truly global beauty brand has played a key role in the empowerment of women via its landmark slogan, "Because You're Worth it". There is no looking back as today the organization she is closely associated with, is going even further in their quest to recognize the contributions of Women of Worth. Life has not been a cake walk for Guha who has worked in and experienced different industries.  She has been the Group Brand Manager at global companies including General Mills (GM) and Lotte Confectionery.  Earlier she worked as Strategy Consultant at Avalon Consulting (Business Consulting group).  At L'Oreal, Guha’s career started with her heading the Key Accounts and later went on to become the National Sales Development Manager.  Her strength is her ability to understand consumer insights and use them to formulate the brand strategy.

Present in more than 120 countries, L'Oréal Paris grew from one philosophy: to innovate and offer top performing products at great prices to the greatest number of consumers possible. Through their continued pursuit of excellence, L'Oréal Paris is sculpting the future of beauty and has become a global leader in the world of beauty 

trends. Their philosophy centres around the thought that whatever your age, gender, ethnicity or look, "you're worth it". The brand aims to accompany women and men world-over as they go about their daily lives.

Adgully caught up with Manashi Guha General Manager, L'Oreal Paris to know more about the brand, her journey at the company and more.

Sharing some key high points of her career she said, "The professional journey has been very exciting for me as I have worked in lots of different fields ranging from consulting to brand management. I spent close to 14 years in brand management and that is something which is very close to my heart."

Guha shared about her journey so far at L'Oréal. "I've been with L'Oréal for six years and I love the brand and the company. Its values, the research, the power that brand has in India is exciting and motivates me. It's a great time to work with L'Oréal today, as it is one of the fastest growing beauty brand. I love what I am doing and I am enjoying it,” she said enthusiastically.

In the span of six years, Guha has worked and handled all the functions at L'Oréal, right from sales to strategies to managing the brands. "Products at L'Oréal, which are really close to my heart at L’Oreal are Maybelline New York and Maybelline Colossal Kajal as I launched it in India and today Maybelline is a successful makeup brand. It's been an amazing journey with our ambassadors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor, Freida Pinto and now Katrina Kaif too," added Guha.

Presently L'Oréal comprises four categories - Hair Care, Hair Colors, Skin Care and Make Up which is working well for the brand.

When asked which category is working really well in India for the brand, she explained, "Sometimes you are lucky to be part of a brand or company in and be involved in its journey of growth. So, right now all our categories are firing much faster in the competitive market hence it is difficult to choose. Since we are continuously launching new range of products in these categories, it proves the fact that they all are working good.  As of now we are doing exciting work on non ammonia colors."

L'Oréal is one of the leading brands and is synonymous with beauty, innovation and scientific excellence in more than 130 countries. So, what kind of competition does the brand face in India? “For us everybody is competition whether it's mass market or premium market. So L'Oréal Paris as a brand promises to give affordable and accessible luxury to consumers. We make sure that the brand never gets very expensive and is available everywhere but with that we are not as mass as other Indian brands are. Therefore competition is both upwards and downwards. For us P&G, Unilever and Godrej are big competing brands," shared Guha.

With the beauty and cosmetics industries evolving, Guha shed light on how the India market is different from the markets in other countries. She said, "India is at a different stage in comparison to the rest of the world on all categories whether it's Hair Care or Skin Care. It's growing today because our consumer’s awareness too is growing.  They understand that they need to take care of themselves in a better way. Today people know that for different skin types, they have to use different creams. So gradually Indian women are becoming more conscious and are aware of the fact that they need to look nice for themselves rather than for others, so categories like make- up and hair colors too are doing well."

According to her, loads of people, right from her first boss to the people with whom she has worked with, have motivated her in different ways and helped her to grow.

Lastly, Guha spoke about the reasons for wanting to continue with L'Oréal  Paris.  "The brand name itself is enormous potential to grow in FMCG category in the beauty segment. In life everyone looks out for bigger challenges and the environment and the culture that L'Oréal gives you is of being in a very entrepreneurial setting, which makes me want to be a part of this brand,” she said.