Several businessmen in India started their careers in their family business but later decided to start their own business. Many of them even have any formal business education, but they continue to grow with skills and hard work. One such person is Darshan Patel, founder and managing director of Vini Cosmetics. He is the man behind India's popular deodorant Fogg. He redefined the deodorant market in India when he launched Fogg with a tagline - 'kya chal raha? Fogg chal raha hai' in 2011.
He was born in Gujarat's Ahmedabad but brought up in Sambalpur in western Odisha. Patel is a prolific brand builder with his different ideas. Initially, he led his family business, Paras Pharmaceuticals. Patel also created popular products such as Moov, Krack, Itchguard, Dermicool, and D’cold. Livon was a part of the Paras group, co-founded by Darshan Patel and his brothers Girish and Devendra.
Patel’s first stint in marketing happened in 1986 when he was asked to help out the family-run business Paras Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Patel had no formal grounding in the basics of branding and marketing.
Darshan moved out of the family business in 2010 to start his company, Vini Cosmetics. Soon, his family sold Paras' pharma portfolio to UK multinational Reckitt Benckiser. He launched his Vini Cosmetics’ first and most successful product Fogg in 2011. The company's value is reportedly around Rs 10,000 crore.
READ | Meet CSK star Dhoni's teammate, 2011 World Cup player, he has now become a bus driver due to...
