How Sunny Leone is transitioning into a successful businesswoman

Sunny Leone and her husband Daniel Weber have ventured into the health and wellness space with Rize. The couple also owns luxury cosmetic brand Starstruck. Rize, a unique healthy energy bar, is the brainchild of two college students, Sahil Manral and Dhruv Verma. Sunny and Daniel have not only invested money in their start-up, but also provided them mentorship to run this business. Brand owners Sahil Manral and Dhruv Verma had also appeared on ‘Shark Tank India’ some time ago.

In an exclusive conversation with Adgully, Sunny Leone, Daniel Weber, Sahil Manral and Dhruv Verma talk about their new venture, what gap theyhope to fulfil in the market, the decision to get into the wellness space, future plans, and more.

How did you get this business investment proposal?

Sunny & Daniel: Sahil and Dhruv approached us at a business enclave 6 months ago. Post that, they reached out to us again via email. As gym enthusiasts, we try many products that seem like they would work or seem interesting. When Sahil and Dhruv came to us with their Rize products, we tried them for a month straight to test how it helps a person. We were very impressed with the formulation and outcome. That led us to discuss on having a collaboration.

How do you juggle between your different businesses?

Sunny: I have a great team which supports me a lot, and I stay focused at all times. I have different goals for different companies and see them through personally.

Does it help being a celebrity to reach out to people with your business ideas?

Sunny: Yes, it helps to get a foot in the door for sure. But the product or whatever you are offering must be great. That is what will stand the test of time or it won’t last long even if you are a celebrity.

Any new venture that you want to start?

Sunny: Yes, there are several new ones on my mind currently and I want to work on them. I think the inner wear space has lots of potential for growth as well as other wellness sectors that we do not cover yet. So, let’s see how things go in future.

What made you get into the wellness industry?

Sahil & Dhruv: We are health enthusiasts ourselves and share a passion for healthy foods. During our journey, we noticed a lot of gaps in the current wellness industry, therefore, we wanted to fulfil them through our brand Rize.

How is it different from the existing products?

Sahil & Dhruv: Our products are 100% natural, with zero added sugar and absolutely no preservatives. Also, at Rize we focus on each product being unique and innovative that emphasise largely functionality of the product and how it solves a certain problem.

What kind of research did you have to do before coming into the market? 

Sahil & Dhruv: We did a lot of competitor research on what strategies they seem to be adopting. Along with that, we did an offline search on what are the placement areas that would potentially give good visibility and sales offline.

What are your future plans for growth of your business? 

Sahil & Dhruv: Our current focus is on online awareness and building a brand. But we want to slowly grow our offline by entering general trade channels first. Expanding this will not only help get us sales and visibility, but also get a good understanding on gauging how the market is reacting to our products. Later, as we proceed we can explore more channels in modern trade as well.