India Chief Mentor: Where are the Entrepreneurs in Yoga and Ayurveda?

My latest piece, published in the Wall Street Journal. Read below for the full text.

Ever since the microfinance investment story began in India, investors have been scouting the “next big ‘social’ thing.” One category has been overlooked—affordable wellness. India has cultural assets—yoga and ayurveda—that, if harnessed effectively, could create tremendous value for communities and the economy.

But without social entrepreneurs and investors willing to take on the work of professionalizing these assets, we may never know their true worth.

Case in point: yoga. Pick any major city in the world—London, Paris, New York, San Francisco, Singapore, Bangkok—and you will find a great studio and a menu of yoga options. Try to find the same thing in Delhi, Mumbai or Calcutta, and you’ll have a difficult time.

With the exception of a bright spot or two in Mysore, Pune, and Rishikesh, practicing yoga in its birthplace is either exceedingly dull or completely bastardized (“power yoga” does not a yogi make). Yes, there are plenty of spots for “yogations” (yoga vacations) but they cater almost entirely to tourists and are often taught by tourists. Why come to India to be taught by a German instructor? Where are the great Indian teachers and the great Indian studios?

Having practiced yoga in India on and off for the last few years, I have found a handful of good teachers. But I’m told that the job usually doesn’t pay well and therefore is not a top choice for recent grads. Quite a perverse system of incentives, though: We encourage India’s youth to pursue monotonous low-paying work in call centers when they could study and/or promote some of India’s finest assets.

These assets — yoga and ayurveda — are not yet fully valued in the market. If they were, it might be a more sustainable approach to improving the long-term wellness of India’s middle-income population. (It should be noted that the “unaffordable wellness” market has plenty of capital behind it and a growing number of people who can and will pay for it.)

Many Indians haven’t adopted India’s healing sciences as part of their lifestyles—they are a bit esoteric, they say. With the exception of the buyers of the odd Bollywood starlet yoga DVD, practicing yoga is largely reserved for sweet old aunts and pot-bellied uncles. And the “practice” here is generally limited to pranayama (breathing) in the wee hours of the morning, often with the guidance of self-appointed guru Baba Ramdev on the TV in the living room.

As for ayurveda, a medical science that originated 5,000 years ago, the natural cosmetics industry in India is big business; 18% of all cosmetics in India are “ayurvedic.” But affordable preventative medicine through ayurveda still has untapped potential.

In the West, entrepreneurs, athletes, and the media have built an empire around yoga. The 2008 “Yoga in America” study, released by Yoga Journal, a magazine devoted to the practice, showed that yoga is a US$5.7 billion a year industry.

So, why don’t we see more enterprise activity in this area? Part of the barrier is that these assets are so integral to Indian life as aspects of personal spirituality and/or community heritage that professionalizing them is not seen as an opportunity. Patent offices in the U.S. and Europe have run into trouble quite a few times when they were found to be patenting yoga poses and formulas that use natural plant products as if they were new inventions.

It’s something that India never thought to do – until now. The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research has prepared patent formats for nearly 900 yoga asanas to prevent European and American companies from claiming them as their own, according to this article in the Hindustan Times.

Practicing yoga and encouraging less pill-popping and more naturopathy are two affordable ways to maintain a healthy lifestyle. There’s no doubt about the need: India has the second highest incidence of diabetes in the world and over 20% of urban Indians are obese, according to the National Family Health Survey. As India’s middle class grows, their waistlines will no doubt expand, too.

There must be a way to provide more value to communities, bringing a social return, while also making a financial return by injecting more energy, clinical R&D, and capital into these assets. If an entrepreneur took on the job of spreading yoga in a way that retained allegiance to the philosophy and enabled practitioners to enjoy its health benefits, perhaps we’d see fewer patients end up in hospitals in the long run.

Imagine if “school entrepreneurs”— the pioneers who run affordable private schools — started incorporating yoga into their programming. Or, what if the Department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy worked with a private company to incorporate 20 minutes of yoga in all public school curricula? Or, what if companies offered a mid-day yoga break?

Imagine the jobs that could be created through the spread of yoga—yoga instructors, yoga camps, the production of yoga products. It’s bound to be healthier and more interesting than doing data entry! It all seems like an investment well-spent.

Social entrepreneurs are starting to see the potential. Swas Healthcare, a chain of naturopathy clinics and hospitals is expanding in cities across Gujarat. The company provides treatments for chronic diseases and at an all inclusive price as low as 300 rupees per day, making it affordable to many. Last year, Aavishkaar Micro Venture Fund invested in it. Another affordable hospital focused on providing access to preventative healthcare to rural markets is the hospital network Vaatsalya. SEED Fund and Aavishkaar are both investors.

No word yet on any yogapreneurs dedicated to bringing wellness to the masses। Until then, we will likely continue to see the West (and Mr. Ramdev) take on first-mover status when it comes to adopting and transforming some of India’s best exports.