Food and Kolkata! The 2 words those get as harmonious as often used together. From Sandesh to Maach (fish), the city is a foodie’s paradise. To ensure foodies hog without guilt (or rather diseases) in this heaven of a city, shaped-up SKULPT, a gym with comprehensive approach to the health and well being of its member.
“Our business is an all out “services” oriented business. We may be providing machines to exercise and man power in the form of trainers but it has a lot to do with personal attention along with giving priority to member’s requirements”, says Divya Himatsingka, Founder, Skulpt.
Operated through Ideal Gymnasium, Skulpt has slowly and steadily carved its name in the Kolkata market and built a reputation to reckon with. Today, the gym is acknowledged for its unrivaled success in providing the finest equipment and fitness knowledge available.
Excerpts from an exclusive interaction with Divya Himatsingka of Skulpt:
Background of Promoters
The family is involved in real estate and logistics under the brand name of “Ideal”. Skulpt operates through Ideal Gymnasium Pvt. Ltd. under the banner of the Ideal Group. The Ideal Group has slowly and steadily carved the name of Ideal Gymnasium Pvt. Ltd. in the Kolkata market and built a reputation to reckon with. Skulpt started under the brand name of Gold’s Gym in 2005, when the first Gold’s Gym branch was set up in India. After the completion of 10 glorious years, on 15th December 2014, they gave to this city, their own new brand, SKULPT.
The initial period- the challenges & the ecstasy of quick wins!
The initial period was mainly very exciting. It was a new experience for me to open doors of such a large gym in Kolkata. 12 years down the line we didn’t have that many well known large gyms so there was a huge rush of energy in the entire city and that charged the entire team too.
Challenges come with every business. The initial ones were harder to overcome as the smallest thing used to make us feel that our world has come to an end but slowly with time we learnt that the only way to handle such situations was to be calm and only concentrate on the benefit of the members and the organization. Similarly, in time we also realised that the excitement of new wins was temporary so tackling each issue – good or bad – became an everyday situation.
The journey so far!
It’s been almost 12 years in this industry for me. At the time, this city did not have any facility / gym of international standards, and being the first ever franchise of Gold’s Gym, an international brand, we opened our gates to a city which was just warming up to the idea of fitness. Because of Gold’s Gym training, putting systems into place was easy. This time around, 10 years later, when we launched Skulpt, the city had not only become a lot more health conscious, but also aware of the importance of fitness. With the continuous support of our patrons, we have been going strong even on this venture.
Strategic Alliances & Partnerships
Currently we do not have any partnerships per se but we are currently looking at giving out sub franchisees to tier 2 and tier 3 cities.
The future, as you see, 3 years from now in terms of scope & scale of your business enterprise
With the way, the fitness industry is going it just seems that things are going to get from big to bigger. But the only key element that will differentiate one from the other will be the “services” provided and not the size and scale of the gyms. Basic things like- knowing members’ names, wishing them on their birthdays, keeping their needs in mind within the gym, play a very important role.
Key moments of reckoning in business life
It is very hard to pin point an incident as this industry truly teaches you every single day. But yes, when we hear our members saying that their lives have changed because of us, when we see them climbing mountains, when we see patients being cured from diseases like diabetes, blood pressure etc it gives us immense pleasure and drives us to work even harder.
The feelings on getting the first big order / contract for your company
Overall, we run it as a passion and not a business so everything good gives joy and everything bad gives us sorrow.
