Mumbai Steps Up to a Bigger & Better SMC 2019
Barely a few years since its debut alongside the Professional Beauty Shows in Mumbai and Delhi, Salon Management Congress (SMC) has grown to be one of the most-awaited business events in India’s salon Industry. Hot on the heels of a successful edition in New Delhi, earlier this year, SMC headed on to Mumbai promising yet another power-packed show co-curated by Beauté Espace Media and Professional Beauty India. Two days dedicated to discussing all that keeps the salon industry running towards greater achievements, garnered the presence of over 80 delegates from all avenues of the beauty space. Industry experts, renowned professionals, and business gurus made up the eminent panel of speakers who helped the attendees focus on several challenges being faced by the industry and how to overcome them.
The 5th edition of Salon Management Congress was conducted on the sidelines of Professional Beauty Mumbai Expo at Bombay Exhibition Centre on September 16-17. Day 1 of the panel discussions and workshops began with a crowd-puller – “Mera Wala Salon – The Art of Creating Strong Profitable Identities”. The packed hall witnessed a lively discussion between BBlunt’s Spoorthy Shetty, hairstylist and salon-owner Kapil Sharma, celebrity makeup artist Ojas Rajani, and Truefitt & Hill India’s Istayak Ansari, on how to build a strong and sustainable identity as well as translate it into a financial success.
C K Kumaravel, CEO of Natural Salons & Spa, then took the stage to inform the audience about “What’s next for the Salon industry” and also recounted which his inspiring journey as an entrepreneur. This was followed by another panel discussion titled “Cutting it right: What are the secret ingredients to creating a flexible financial plan for opening a salon?” Rahul Bhalchandra, CEO & Founder-Director of YLG India and Debojyoti Roy, President (Sales & Operations) of Kapil’s Salon & Academy gave a perspective on how their organizations are achieving remarkable outcomes with a flexible financial plan.
Before breaking for launch Lakmé Lever’s CEO Pushkaraj Shenoy moderated an engaging session that explored the topic of building and maintaining a booming team of professionals with well-received panel experts including Vipul Chudasama, Avni Amlani, and Chitralekha Balachandran from Enrich Salons – each of whom shared their respective journey of building a strong culture in salons.
Post-lunch, the panel discussion on “How much impact does the product and brand mix makes to your salon?” was a highlight of Day 1 programmes, with a stellar lineup of speakers featuring names such as Geraldine Scheffermann – Global Educator, Dermalogica; Samir Srivastav – CEO, Jean-Claude Biguine Salon & Spa; Arpit Jain – Founder & Managing Director, Maison D’ Auraine; Rayed Merchant – Director, Beauty Palace & SSIZ International; Sukirti Patnaik – Founder & Managing Director, Indulge the Salon; and International Make-up Artist & Cosmetologist, Ritu Kolentine.
Later, SMC Mumbai 2019 Day 1 concluded with Maison D’ Auraine’s Arpit Jain returning to the stage and joined by Rajsekhar Patnaik, Founder & CEO – Runo Technologies to briefly discuss how technology can streamline operations and drive financial performance in salons.
With the pumped-up enthusiasm from Day 1, the seats at SMC were once again filled for Day 2 with the attending delegates looking forward to the sessions covering topics ranging from ‘Young Entrepreneurs/ Professionals in Salon Business’ to the ‘ABC of salon construction and design’. Young entrepreneurs and professionals like Ryan D’Rozario of Muah Salon, Arpit Sharma of Seven Seas Spa, Shine Janarthanan of Time Machine Beauty Solutions, and Mallika Pirani of Vannilla Salons drove the first session of the day. Govind Shrikhande – Mentor, Ex-Customer Care Associate & Managing Director, Shoppers Stop Ltd took the stage next, for an informative talk on his learnings from the retail industry.
Yashesh Bharwada – Director, Absolute Beauty Concepts and Vandana Bhardwaj – Spokesperson & Director, B2C Network (Marie Claire Salon & Wellness) joined moderator Ritoo Jhha – Editor-in-Chief, Beauty Launchpad India to discuss the ideal balance and approach for salons when working with brands. Post luch, the panel discussions returned with one of the biggest challenges for salons currently – finding talent. Natasha Naegamvala, Garima Jain – Head-Home Operations & Academy, Enrich Salons, Uday Takke, and Manisha Chopra – Co-founder SeaSoul & KeraSoul Cosmeceuticals gave their insights on what training institutes can do to accelerate the development of new talent and how the industry can make itself more attractive and professional to them.
Space designer Ashateet Saran of SA Studio and Viki Takkar of Viki Thakkar Design Studio helmed the next discussion on everything the salon owners needs to know about salon construction and design. Following this, Day 2 and SMC Mumbai 2019 was closed by Siddharth Sengupta, Founder – Samskrt Natural Wellbeing, talking about the future of spas.
SMC Mumbai 2019 bids adieu with a wealth of information and solutions for the salon industry to amp up their business game. Salon Management Congress will now return next year, with its 6th edition scheduled to be held at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi in 2020.
