Her Circle Bizruptors: Nirja Bhatt, Founder- Laani

Laani’s founder Nirja Bhatt noticed something what most personal care brands had chosen to ignore. In a country that is hot and humid for most of the year, 90 per cent of the women’s deodorant market is liquid, in the form of aerosols and roll-ons that can feel irritating and uncomfortable against the skin. Nobody had gone back to the drawing board and asked what Indian women actually needed.

In this video of Her Circle Bizruptors, Bhatt talks about building a personal care brand from the ground up, starting with a single hero product, the Clear Deodorant Stick, formulated specifically for the Indian body odour profile. Unlike liquid formats, the stick goes on completely dry and clear, accounting for the role that food, genetics and climate play in how body odour presents differently for Indian women. While Bhatt calls it confidence in a stick, the brief behind it was straightforward: build something that actually keeps up with the long days Indian women are putting in, because most products simply are not designed to.

She also talks about what it means to build a brand with intention from day one. At Laani, being cruelty-free, vegan and safe for sensitive skin was, as Bhatt puts it, ‘table stakes’. The brand’s conscious certifications aren’t over-advertised as they're considered the baseline for a product that falls in the premium category.

When quizzed about what the USP of the brand is, Bhatt doesn’t hesitate to credit her powerhouse team of women who relate deeply to the problem they are solving and are genuinely having fun doing it.

Get ready to participate and compete in one of the biggest programs of 2027. Do you have what it takes to be a Her Circle Bizruptor?