Andrea Sgarbi is a pharmacist and also an entrepreneur. After working at the first pharmacy to sell nutritional supplements at home and in a laboratory, he created his own formulas and developed products designed especially for women. that’s how he was born Innera brand that went on the market in the midst of a pandemic, began with online sales, today it reaches pharmacies throughout the country and is close to being exported.
Inner has products to strengthen hair, joints, nails, skin and increase defenses. But now the entrepreneur has a new challenge: to develop a supplement designed to mitigate the effects of menopause.
He was introduced to the world of nutritional supplements in 2004, a time when these products could only be sold in pharmacies. He began to investigate the subject and after working in a pharmaceutical laboratory he wanted to undertake.
“The bug of having something of my own began to bite me”counted Coffee and Businessremembering how he founded Nutrition House, a place that sold nutritional supplements.
The challenge of starting
Contact with customers, mostly women, led her to learn not only the market but also the needs of those who were users of this type of product. This, together with her personal experience, made her see that there were several common factors among female users. : skin or hair conditions, stomach problems or fatigue from a lot of work. “There I began to think that a line of nutritional supplements designed for women was missing.“, said.
With all the challenges involved in undertaking, own financing, knowledge on the subject and a lot of desire, she was encouraged to create her own line of supplements.
In a period of two years, he developed the formulas together with a technical team of professionals, produced in the laboratory where he had worked, and obtained authorization from the Ministry of Public Health (MSP) for his first products, powder and capsule supplements.
As he declared, starting a pharmaceutical business in Uruguay “is quite complex”, especially the regulatory part, because it requires many certifications. Nutritional supplements must be registered with the Department of Food, Cosmetics, Household and Others of the MSP.
Andrea was clear that she wanted not only to produce supplements, but also to give her clients professional advice., “because that was missing in the world of supplementation.” The closeness with the users and the round trip, a conversation, was part of the experience that she wanted to live and offer. “I knew I wanted that mix (product plus advice) that I didn’t see anywhere,” she said.
Inner
Before developing her own brand, Andrea opened a store selling nutritional supplements
The innovative component
When he created the formulas, he did them with an idea: to have in them a “innovative component”.
Hyaluronic acid, for example, was chosen for the Hyaluronic Collagen Booster, a formula that combines this component with hydrolyzed collagen and vitamin C, and which has the novelty of having a high dose of hyaluronic acid (100 mg), which in other components offered on the market, is at “very low” levels, he explained. “The nutrient does not matter, but what dose you put it in,” he said and explained that, from the feedback from his clients, who “are very loyal to the brand,” he was able to know that these high doses generate a good effect, including strengthening nails , hair and joints.
On the other hand, The Antioxidant Formula is a composition of vitamins, antioxidant minerals, N Acetyl Cysteine and green tea, which, according to the entrepreneur, “results in a powerful formula antiaging fighting oxidative stress and increasing the body’s defenses”.
All Inner formulas are gluten-free, so they are suitable for coeliacs, they do not have preservatives, additives, fats or carbohydrates. They are also suitable for diabetics.
According to the entrepreneur, in Uruguay there is a culture of using nutritional supplements, but more associated with sports, such as proteins that are used before or after exercising. “With Inner I wanted to make a difference, to make it understood that supplements go far beyond providing sports performance, they provide quality of life“, he stressed, adding that it must always be taken into account that supplements are complementary to nutrition, not substitutes.”
Export and create new products
“No one teaches you to undertake”he said, and assured that some of the challenges he faces in his path of entrepreneurship are combining all the areas and being in constant research to always be one step ahead.
“The entrepreneur has the challenge of covering all areas with the few resources he has”commented and added that in entrepreneurship “one day is never the same as the previous one, and I like that a lot”. Adaptability is what stands out the most from those who dare to undertake. “It’s good but it’s super challenging.”
Andrea approached the Sowing Program, in which it was a very positive experience, he said. Within this framework, she got in touch with her mentors, who helped her, among other things, to begin an expansion process in the region. She is about to close a deal to export the supplements to Paraguay, while she analyzes the markets of Brazil, Bolivia and Peru.
But also, through Sembrando, he contacted the National Agency for Research and Innovation (ANII) in which he competed for some funds and won funding for a new project: developing “very innovative menopause” formulas. According to her, there are no compound formulas that help treat the symptoms of menopause, but there are supplements to treat the different effects in isolation, and that also have contraindications.
His idea is to develop a supplement with several nutrients that does not have medical contraindications. And he is already working on the formulas.
He sees a promising future ahead. He has plans to create new products and his “formula booklet” is a reliable witness of that work. “What I really want is to develop as many innovative formulas as possible to improve women’s quality of life,” she concluded.
