Bhavna Vohra, Founder – Heaven on Earth
Passionate about rediscovering ancient and traditional Indian wellness techniques that have generations of wisdom backing it, Bhavna Vohra began her entrepreneurship journey with ‘Heaven on Earth’ 8 years ago. Heaven on Earth is an international multi-brand wellness organization offering a harmonious mix of Indian and International holistic techniques to enhance overall wellness. (www.hoewellness.com) Bhavna specializes in various fields of wellness and training and brings with her tremendous insight into consumer requirements & human behavior along with expertise in the process of knowledge transfer & human resource. Bhavna is passionate about helping people in all aspects of wellness using the entire gamut of sciences like psychology and the alternate methods of healing blended with the meta-physical knowledge. Bhavna’s formal education was in the field of management and marketing and her expertise lies in enterprise management, coaching and counseling. Her corporate experience over the last two decades spans across organizations like GE, Infosys ICICI bank.
“Wellness to me is a passion which today has become a happy business for me. I personally believe in it and it was my journey towards complete well-being that transpired into a wellness business”, says Bhavna. She has channelized her passion into a business that merges “the lost effective Indian techniques in a contemporary setting” for the modern consumer who is seeking refuge for an hour or more in a fast paced world. From the moment the first spa of Heaven on Earth opened up, it resonated with many a weary travellers who seek wellness. Since then, Bhavna has never looked back from there and has built the organization into a brand that is now poised for tremendous growth in the Indian and international market. She says, it not only boosted her confidence in her idea but also gave her the courage to move forward and take more risks and create more unique experiences for her consumers. Her vision is to be a successful leading entrepreneur in the field of wellness and positively impact people’s wellbeing. Bhavna is personally keen on increasing her own knowledge while educating and enhancing the same for the audience at large on wellness and their perspective on it.
High point in career
“The initiation into entrepreneurship and transferring of all learnings of the corporates & MNCs like GE and Infosys and putting them into Heaven on Earth has been one of the most challenging yet the most rewarding point in my career. Translating and making that jump was tough but it is this transformation that helped me build a successful enterprise.”
Most challenging assignment so far
“The most challenging task we took upon ourselves was to bring the ‘wellness’ concept to India. I was one of the first ones to experiment with it. In 2006 the market was inundated with salons and beauty parlors which doubled as spas on one end and five star facilities in posh locales on the other end. There was a huge gap. But investors and stakeholders were unwilling to take a risk. Most wanted to take the safe route and stick to what already worked.
It took a lot of research and sheer willpower on my part to convince the stakeholders to experiment with the concept I believed would work. Trust me, it was not easy facing a roomful of people who had more objections and doubts than I had readymade answers. But this experience made me dig in my heels even more and firmed my belief in my idea. When I convinced my first set of stakeholders I was on cloud nine. We gave them the proof of concept and since then there has been no looking back. But till today, I recount that as one of my most challenging assignments in the setup of my dream venture.”
Greatest inspiration
“My greatest inspiration comes from women who balance their careers and homes. They bring up their children while chasing their dreams. These women with their unbridled enthusiasm have broken all stereotypes and are a huge motivator for me. I enjoy meeting them, a lot of times they come to me for inspiration and advice without realizing that they have inspired me in return.”
Most important milestone in life
“For me the biggest high was the success of getting the concept of ‘SPA’ into the retail environment in India and even more challenging was to get it to the Indian airports. The journey of convincing the Indian airports to introduce this concept was difficult. However, the pride I feel everytime I see a SPA at the airport be it Heaven on Earth, Spaexpress or otherwise it is worth all the hardships. We opened doors for so many more.”
Women are the better halves. What does it mean?
“There is a reason why it is said that men and women are halves of each other. One is incomplete without the other and either being better or stronger is irrelevant and myopic. Not to say that we are dependent on each other or can’t survive without each other but there is a synergy which both bring with their own strengths.”
Experiences as a woman entrepreneur?
“It would be cliché to say that it’s tough to survive and succeed being a woman in the business world. On contrary, I would like to say that we women do get more respect and listening once we have established credibility. The only thing which limits women from being successful is the blocks they put on themselves and the lack of self-belief.”
How do you / did you believe in making dreams come true?
“Dreams come true with focused actions. Achieving success needs serious efforts and commitment particularly when the chips are down.”
Challenges faced
“At Heaven on Earth our constant challenge is that we like to put ourselves in bringing the Indianness to our offerings and give our customers a higher wellness experience which surpasses all international standards as there is more than enough in our heritage, which is not limited to Ayurveda.”
Setbacks and lessons learnt
“We had our fair share of rocky paths and had to garner all energies to deal with them. Losing any airport SPA site to a new entrant trying to ride the wave was difficult to get over. However, we soon realized that such issues will be always be there but won’t be everlasting as the passion, endurance and sustainability in our line of business is not a strength many possess.”