“Prevention is better than cure” is a pearl of (the age-old) wisdom that has been given a new lease of life after COVID. There has never been a timelier reminder for us to start building up our immunity and to work on staying healthy.

However, the process of maintaining a healthy lifestyle and incorporating wellness into our every day, can be confusing and misleading especially when it involves supplements. Many people know they need supplements but are often greeted with the same dilemma – "which supplements will work best for me?" Retail shelves are stocked with the same generic products, with minimal education on what the ingredients contain, whether they are in their most bioavailable form, and ultimately if they will truly be what you need! The founders of Moom set out to take the guesswork out of finding high-quality, effective, and tailor-made natural remedies for every stage of womanhood.

Moom was born from a personal need

Moom was founded in Singapore by sister duo Mili and Maya Kale in 2021. Their vision is to create natural remedies for the modern Asian woman with a personalised, convenient, and transparent supplement purchasing experience. Mili has a background in education policy from Columbia University and has spent the last decade building an education consultancy start-up in India. Maya has a background in international relations and women’s health, and she brought that knowledge to work at a start-up in NYC and for WeWork in Singapore, focusing a lot on building a community and how to integrate that into a brand’s identity. She was also the Global Education Manager with Smile Makers, a well-being brand that supportssexual empowerment.

Moom was born out of a personal need for more relevant and researched natural remedies to pressing women’s health issues. Both sisters have experienced frustrations while navigating through their personal wellness journeys. Mili battled with hormonal acne at 27 and was prescribed Roaccutane, while Maya has been diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) since 15 and was prescribed the birth control pill. After multiple side effects from these ‘blanket prescriptions’, the sisters decided to look for alternative medicine and eventually discovered a holistic set of supplements for themselves, as well as slight lifestyle and dietary modifications to help with their individual issues! But this came after spending countless hours on research and significant money on numerous unsuccessful alternatives.

Wishing that they had easier, fit-for-purpose options available to them then, they created Moom.

Building a community championing transparency and education of women’s health products

The brand has adopted a community-driven approach focusing on championing transparency and education of women’s health products. Consumers can also get up close and personal with the experts on Instagram via “Meet the Experts” and “Tuesday Talks”, a channel for the community to ask questions directly to Moom. Moom’s Instagram page (@moomhealth) has a large following of about 7,000 with very high engagementwhich is a testament to how consumers resonate with the brand’s purpose.

Moom’s approach is designed around the fact that every individual’s health issues stem from multiple root causes. While existing methods try to solve all or most of these issues with a one-size-fits-all solution, Moom creates personalised, expert-recommended, high-quality offerings as part of an individual’s modern-day ritual that is suited to their unique needs.

This is how it works!

Start your “ritual” by taking an online quiz. Questions include your use of birth control, diet, exercise routine, prior health concerns, and targeted issues. Their expert-backed recommendation logic will generate a set result based on what you have inputted and upon checkout will all be packed into a monthly box with 30 daily, biodegradable sachets.

If you would rather not take the quiz, they also have expert-curated packs for easy shopping, as well as a line of fast-acting natural remedies to perfectly complement your daily ritual! What better way to start on a health “ritual” with such a fuss-free and curated experience?

Expertly curated, consumer-forward products

Moom’s products are formulated with the promise that the modern Asian woman should have access to natural, clean, and transparent remedies.

Moom prides itself on being transparent with each aspect of its supplements, including maintaining health and safety standards that go beyond government regulations. The brand’s vitamins, minerals, and herbs are ethically sourced from around the world, and grown on trusted farms. Moom also sources organic ingredients whenever possible, and patented extracts when available. Above all, supplements are free from synthetic fillers, preservatives, colorants, stearate, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), soy, and gluten. All products are also vegan and Halal-certified, and third-party tested by one of the largest labs in the world.

In addition to using only the best ingredients, Moom’s products are innovative and expert-backed, formulated with women in mind. Moom has formed a holistic advisory board of multiple experts in the field of women’s health, composed of naturopaths, nutritionists, gynecologists, dermatologists, and ayurvedic specialists. The brand works closely with them on product development, recommendation logic, and R&D, supporting its “expert-formulated, research-backed” product claims. Consumers can also get up close and personal with the experts on Instagram via “Meet the Experts” and “Tuesday Talks”, a channel for the community to ask questions directly to Moom.

Environmentally sustainable and socially responsible

At DSGCP, we are advocates of brands being forward thinking on Environment, Social, and Corporate Governance practices and we use the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Framework (SDG Framework) as our benchmark. We are proud that Moom champions several environmental and social goals: Good Health & Wellbeing, Gender Equality, and Responsible Consumption & Production.

Moom was created to focus on and bring more awareness to Women’s Health as both co-founders were given one-size-fits-all solutions to a host of personal concerns and struggled to find remedies that were targeted specifically to each woman in a unique way.

While the products themselves can be used by men and women alike, the brand has a strong “Made for Women, by Women” mandate.

Macro tailwinds in the supplements market

The brand’s personalised packs are also made from biodegradable plastic, specifically by the Reverte® additive. The daily sachets comply with FDA, EU, and CFIA regulations which ensures that the supplements are protected and stay fresh. The outer box packaging is made from FSC 100% recycled paper while all the wood or paper in the product comes from reclaimed (reused) material.

The global Vitamins and Dietary Supplements Market grew at 6.3% from the year before and was valued at US$126B. The Asia Pacific market continues to account for by far the largest regional sales, making up 48% of global retail value at US$60B and reflecting a +9.1% increase versus the previous year (Source: Euromonitor). Vitamins and minerals make up the largest proportion of the industry and there was a boom in the intersection of personalization and direct-to-consumer (D2C) sales channels. Moving forward, the region is projected to register one of the stronger regional growth rates from 2021 to 2026 and is expected to account for more than two-thirds of new global sales in this period.

There’s more! The supplements industry continues to attract attention as consumers become increasingly invested in their health and wellness especially considering the COVID-19 pandemic. Major FMCG and Consumer Healthcare players such as Nestle, Unilever, and Bayer, are looking to improve their market presence through acquisitions as they look to expand their supplements offerings relating to consumer health and wellness.

The unique opportunities offered by Asia Pacific

The Asia Pacific region naturally anchors demand for herbal/traditional products, given their long-established popularity and heavy cultural influence. The APAC region currently makes up 59% of the global market value for these natural products with increasing traction and adoption amongst the younger demographic groups.

Ownership and individuality have become influential trends within consumer health, in part due to growing awareness and demand for efficacious consumer health solutions. This has garnered renewed interest in personalized health and wellness offerings, a concept that was previously attracting only premium nutritional consumers. Additionally, a rising prevalence of women-centric health conditions has led to an acceleration of female-focused wellness solutions.

The pursuit of natural remedies is also driven by the overall trend on holistic health and wellbeing, encouraging consumers to re-engage in natural practices related to consumer health such as herbalism, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), and Ayurveda.

Particularly in India, the Ayurvedic category offers strong potential for growth as the country sees a trend towards self-care and preventive healthcare as consumers are beginning to be more mindful of their intake of artificial chemical compounds.

DSGCP and Moom in 2022 andbeyond

At DSGCP, we are thrilled to be partnering with Moom for the next phase of their growth. Between the unique value and benefits of the brand’s products, to the end-consumer engagement that Moom offers, to the macro tailwinds in the Asia-Pacific supplements market, we can’t wait to see the great things that Mili and Maya will achieve with Moom in 2022 and beyond.