Skilling the beauty PROFESSIONAL

Dhruv Sayani, Managing Director, Ccigma Lifestyles Pvt.Ltd, discusses the changes in beauty education in India in the post-pandemic scenario and the gap in the industry that he aims to fill with his Beauty Skills Academy.

What inspired you to step into the world of the beauty industry, focussing on education in particular?

The beauty industry is a growing industry, especially after Covid-19 the industry has seen a big bounce back with the beauty sector being a large contributor to the economy, especially from Maharashtra and a city like Mumbai, which is inspired by beauty and wellness. I have been closely studying the education sector for the last ten years and I have observed there are various academies in Mumbai providing uncertified education in beauty.

We have seen various academies running out of homes and unorganised set-ups, which have been certifying students in courses in hair, beauty, skin, nails and make-up.

Unfortunately, we have many academies that are not providing quality education or correct infrastructure to the students.

I see that post Covid-19 there is an influx of people that want to join the beauty industry both as professionals and as freelancers but do not have enough choices to get proper certifications. This is when I realised that there is an important need in the education space for beauty. Even when I speak to other companies, I have seen that they do not recognise all the certificates the job seekers bring at the time of interviews for salon placements or beauty product company job placements as they are usually hired only on the basis of their hands-on work, which is checked again. The same holds true for both product companies as well as salon recruitment. This is the reason why we have entered the education space for quality recognition in the beauty sector.

What are the different courses offered at your Academy? What qualifications are needed for admission?

We offer a complete range of professional courses in hair, skin, make-up, nail, and aesthetics for both professionals and freshers. The curriculum we offer is from the Open Study College,a UK-based NVQ (Work Based Qualification), which is equivalent to skill development in India, and our courses have been customised to suit the beauty education needs in India that has also been approved by the State Board of Skill Development. The curriculum that we offer is levelbased learning starting with the basic to intermediate and advanced. We will also have faculty from the UK visiting our students and teaching them courses physically, although currently do them virtually due to pandemic travel restrictions.

The qualifications needed for admissions are completely based on the course. We are currently taking students who have completed 10 + 2 education and are eligible to do any skill-based learning.

What kind of certifications do you offer?

Our students are awarded with two certificates at completion of their courses and the completion of their mandatory examination at the end of the course. Beauty Skill Academy provides a Government recognised Certification by the Maharashtra State of Skill Development Board. We also provide an international certificate from The Gatehouse Awards UK, a Quality Assurance Body, which has certified our international curriculum from Open Study College UK.

The Academy promises 100% placement assistance. Could you elaborate further?

Yes, we provide 100 per cent job assistance to our students. We have tie-ups with many beauty product companies as well as salons that are happy to recruit students from our academy, purely because our students are certified with government recognised education. Our examinations are mandatory and thoroughly graded and the certificates are valid, bearing a QR code for complete authentication. This makes it even more relevant as our certificate holds value both nationally and internationally.

We know many companies, MNC, startups and salons that are constantly recruiting trainers, technicians, stylists and make-up artists etc. and this a perfect platform for them to recruit for hair, nails, skin, aesthetics and make-up.

What is Beauty Skills Academy’s ultimate vision?

Our vision is to create a difference in the unorganised beauty education industry in Maharashtra, especially Mumbai. We have largely seen that there are various academies that are running with insufficient infrastructure or running alongside salons but are not able to provide quality education with the kind of learning, certified faculty, correct practical training that one requires for quality skill education. This industry requires thorough practical learning as well as detailed theoretical learning, which can eventually be graded and marked through a standard examination using benchmarking which will help the industry hire and believe in the well groomed talent and also provide students with a right career path.

Moreover, our courses are GST-free under the GST Act 2017, which makes it even more important for students who can avail these courses at a reasonable cost. We also offer the government supported student skill loans from Nationalised Banks. We would be happy to work with existing academies looking at upgrading their education and curriculum or with salons who are keen to enter into the space of imparting education.