Personal wellbeing has, for many decades in India, been linked with the absence of illness. Treating and preventing illness has been the focus of our organized healthcare industry and consumer behaviour has also modelled itself around this reactive framework. The few online health and fitness platforms available are also built around the directory model, where consumers discover services and access them online or offline. Now a Bangalore based young start-up is quietly changing this entire paradigm of health and wellness services consumption in the country.
Focusing first on self-discovery of an individual’s wellness status using a battery of first-in-class online tools, ZingUpLife builds an incremental model of wellness consumption that emphasizes on empowering the consumer through intensive engagement with integrative health and wellness experts, across a wide range of wellness practices. The framework is built on the premise of proactive lifestyle and habit changes that enhance the overall personal wellbeing of the individual, and is constructed around a core of curated wellness advice and content.
ZingUpLife was conceptualized in 2015, when the founding members could not find a solution to discover trusted and verified alternative wellness advisors and services, when the lives of a few family members were affected. Early in 2016, they staked their successful corporate careers to build a compelling value proposition for a two-way wellness advisory marketplace. In Feb 2016 they raised $225,000 as seed capital, from close friends and family.
Many people often wonder how to access and include preventive healthcare practices as part of their mainstream lifestyle. With the ZingUpLife web application, launched earlier in Jan 2017, they now can self-evaluate facets of their personal wellness using a flagship personal well-being assessment, the 8BAK-CTM.
This assessment is a one-of-a-kind self-discovery tool that forms the cornerstone of ZingUpLife’s approach to personal well-being. ZingUpLife then also helps users discover and book relevant wellness consultations within a verified network of leading experts, practitioners and coaches made available through live chat, audio and video, on the platform. April 2017 will see the release of native apps for Android and iOS, in the form of a cutting-edge and engaging personal wellness coach to help users scientifically track, measure and optimize their health and well-being.
“We are thrilled to have partnered with over 100 leading wellness experts, practitioners and therapists, across India”, says CEO of ZingUpLife, Sambit Mohanty. “The user journey towards optimal personal well-being is broken and often painful – we’re here to fix it, and help provide a bespoke experience for everyone around”.
ZingUpLife is building an expert ecosystem made up of practitioners across eight wellness dimensions. These include Psychotherapists, Life & Mindfulness coaches, Nutritionists, Integrative Health specialists and Fitness consultants. “The Indian wellness industry is at the cusp of an inflection point, and robust technology can significantly drive the four critical aspects of healthcare – Accessibility, Affordability, Availability and Awareness, and provide the consumer with a holistic solution” adds Sambit, who in his earlier avatar led the commercial sales business for SAP in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh geographies.
The demand for integrative health and wellness services is exploding worldwide, and for a good reason: Healthcare costs continue to skyrocket and the solution appears to be simple – proactive ‘prevention’ rather than reactive ‘cure’. Evidence-based interventions by appropriately trained healthcare professionals offer cost-productive lifestyle based therapeutic alternatives that help protect, promote and maintain well-being, and dramatically increase an individual’s ‘quality of life’. With consumer demand for wellness services and products higher than ever before, studies by The Global Wellness Institute reveal that the global wellness market is now worth $3.8 trillion, making it nearly three times
larger than the $1 trillion worldwide pharmaceutical industry. Although quite fragmented and largely unorganized, India’s wellness industry is poised to reach over $20 billion by 2017, and is now recognized as a global leader in the field of holistic healthcare and wellbeing. Preventive interventions are now gaining rapid prominence over a curative approach to disease management – owing to factors such as high cost of medical care, lack of awareness, and rising incidences of lifestyle related conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stress, hypertension and obesity.
To register for the 8BAK-CTM assessment, visit https://zinguplife.com/survey/home. Users can now opt for a complimentary wellness report interpretation session with a certified practitioner, for a limited time.