“Nobody can Stop You from Achieving Your Goals If you have Set Your Eyes On it,” Dr Mohit Lalvani, Founder, Captain Zack and Coccoon

Coccoon and Zack – How the ventures started

Captain Zack started out of sheer love and passion for animals. Dr. Mohit Lalvani is an ardent animal lover. He has been working towards creating a safe space for animals for a long time now. Captain Zack was founded with a vision to become a one shop stop for pet’s care.  They have a range of pet grooming products, expanding to nutrition, habitat, more focus on cat related products. As a brand, Captain Zack believes pets are our babies and should be given the best and safest products keeping in mind and considering the sensitivity of their skin. Captain Zack products are paraben free, pH balanced to suit the sensitive skin of our beloved furry friends. The range is infused with the goodness of natural actives and essential oils with absolutely no harmful chemicals or substances to ensure happy, shiny, and well-groomed pets. Most importantly, all products are clinically tested on sensitive human skin. Their vision is to provide the safest care for our four-legged babies.

Coccoon brand by EM & EM Personal Care is devoted to protection, pampering and nourishment with products in the skin and hair care category for men and women. Dr. Mohit Lalvani is a serial entrepreneur, his ventures are focused on solving problems in the beauty and personal care industry.  With a passion for formulation, knowledge, and resources from having years of experience in the industry, he established a personal care brand, Coccoon, in 2017, to stir the entire beauty industry. Coccoon delivers customers with products that are paraben-free, devoid of any harmful chemicals and developed from a composition of ingredients that include natural actives obtained from natural sources across the globe.

Both Coccoon and Captain Zack were started in 2017. Dr Lalvani won the ‘Best Distributor Award’ for a decade in a row when he was in the distribution business working with Dow Corning from 2006-2015.  ‘Best Pet Brand’ was also given to  Captain Zack for 2 years awarded by IIPTF. Dr Lalvani received the Best Entrepreneur of the year for 2 years.

 Challenges Faced

With the ladder to D2C becoming more disruptive and engaging the digitisation of the sector, an extremely potent way to reach out to a wider consumer base and audience and build community driven brands that cater specifically to their patron programs. However, considering that the sector is still in a nascent stage in India, the lack of legal compliances has made it easy for anyone and everyone to enter the domain. This is due to lack of larger awareness on pet care. Captain Zack as a brand is aiming to solve through educational programs and organised patronship programs like with the University of Berkeley. They aim to empower not only our consumers but also educate the industry on being organized and compassion driven in order to deliver the best possible service.

His background and other interests

Dr Mohit Lalvani’s professional journey began in 1989. After completing his graduation in Commerce from HR College of Commerce and Economics, Churchgate, Mumbai, he started working for Mascot Universal, a family-owned company, experiencing business processes management. The journey started with learning about distribution business in chemicals, which was imported from the US and supplied to the pharmaceutical factories for companies in India. After acquiring sufficient knowledge and experience in the chemical distribution business till 1995, Mohit expanded his focus to Research and Development. This move led to starting the R&D division of Mascot Universal in 2002, responsible for product formulation and development in the later years.

With Mohit’s expertise in skin and hair formulations, he developed a keen interest in developing successful skincare and hair care products that provided an excellent overall consumer experience. The passion he has for gaining knowledge has lasted throughout the last 30 years, resulting in formulation and creation of top-notch skin and hair care product ranges of international standards. With starting of the clinical trials and testing division at Mascot Spincontrol in 2010, Dr Lalvani’s desire further intensified, paving way for the formation of Coccoon, the brand that offered skin and hair care products for women and men. What followed soon after was a pet health business called Captain Zack, born out of sheer love and passion for animals.

Always a knowledge seeker, Mohit Lalvani was granted the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in recognition on October 2021.  He is a people’s person, with his talent and innovative knowledge application through three decades of experiencing business excellence across diverse fields.

His Other Foundations

Dr. Mohit Lalvani also has a foundation called ‘WeLove Animals Foundation’ which works towards feeding over 1500 strays and conducts education programs for kids to sensitize them with strays. The foundation has adopted a shelter with over 100 animals. Some Captain Zack proceeds goes towards this endeavour. Both Coccoon and Captain Zack were started in 2017.

The Future Plans

The company is witnessing a strong y-o-y growth and is projecting a turnover of Rs 100 cr by 2025. Captain Zack’s mission is to augment the pet care industry by introducing highest quality products and ensuring pets are treated no less than humans. They are committed to keeping pets healthy and happy.  They stand true to their ethos of ‘’behind every healthy pet is a proud parent’’! Captain Zack is always quick to introspect and innovate for the future. The brand stands for the ideology of empowering pet parents to make conscious decisions for their pets.

Advice to Entrepreneurs

“A formal education, whilst important, might not be the only criteria that defines your success in any field. It has always been the application of knowledge to action that matters, and almost everything can be learnt if you are willing to put in the effort. You need to be on fire if you want to achieve something in life. Nobody can stop you from doing something if you have set yourself to do it,” emphasizes Dr Lalvani. Perhaps that is why, so many of the most successful businesses of our country are run by individuals who come from families that might not have been as privileged as you and me today.

“There are no excuses to not doing something in life. Ever. There can be delays and detours on the way, but never an excuse to give up. The only reason that you can fail is if you choose to.” concludes Dr Lalvani.