Deepti Mohanty – An Entrepreneur Par Excellence!

An engineer by education and an MBA from the University of Cambridge in UK, Deepti is suitably armed to pursue a career in literally anything that she seeks.

Deepti has over 17 years of experience in driving multi-million dollar business transformation programs, like post-merger integration, the launch of go-to-market offerings, cost reduction, shift in strategy.

In 2015 Deepti moved to Dubai. Deepti is very meticulous in her planning process. Perhaps her years in Deloitte Consulting in the UK gave her that lateral thinking required to evaluate all stages of a business before getting her feet wet!

Did you know that the global beauty market size is $500B with the Middle East market standing at $35B post lockdown?

Deepti came upon this idea of disrupting the beauty and personal care industry. And so she did. She carefully planned out every step of the way – from ideation to implementation. After almost a year of due diligence, her business was launched in April 2019 and is called Vaasara.

The Vaasara mobile App helps people find and make appointments with saloons, spas, and clinics based on their preferences. The process of booking an appointment is seamless and efficient. All payment options are accepted. The B2B platform is used by salons to independently manage their data and booking information. The App has a strong backend with a scalable tech stack and strongly integrated with data analytical tools.

In Deepti’s words, “Our digital products are driven by data insights, market factors, and customer feedback. At Vaasara, we believe, in listening to our customers, while keeping an eye on the future. In less than 2 years, Vaasara is the highest rated beauty App in the Middle East.”

In 2020, post-Covid, Vaasara launched #MySalonIsSafe campaign to allow a merchant to declare itself safe against a checklist of government-listed guidelines. 150+ salons are marked ‘safe’ on the Vaasara mobile app to date.

Today Vaasara has over 450 merchants in the network and over 22,000 people have downloaded the App in the past year. Total bookings revenues are over US$ 1.5 million. Deepti has successfully raised two rounds of funding (In 7 figures!). To augment her future growth plans, Deepti is currently raising the next round.

Deepti attributes her success in large measure to her able and dedicated team. Deepti also believes in nurturing relationships with her merchants. She is partnering with leading banks to reach out to a large network. She plans to add more services and geographies to expand her network in the GCC.

Recently Deepti was recognized as the ‘Top 10 Most Innovative Business Leader in 2020 by APAC Entrepreneur’.

I wish her continued success.

Penned by Sharad Agarwal