The Sweet, transformative story of Pranay Jain

A common theme throughout the fit and determined Pranay Jain’s life has been his love and ability to excel at sports. But life hasn’t always been a bed of roses for this young entrepreneur. From gobbling half a kg of sugar loaded chocolate spread every single night during his college days to giving up sugar in every form, Pranay has an important message for all, told through his metamorphosis.

Pranay was sent to boarding school at the age of 12 and he decided to make the most of this opportunity by excelling at sports in general and table tennis in particular. The precociousness was palpable and he soon won fame not just in his school but across rival schools, winning several inter-school table tennis championships. winning streak expanded to other sports such as 200 metre races and various athletic feats. Soon, Pranay became a talk of the town and a stalwart in table tennis. He represented not just his school but the entire district, continuing to win many major tournaments. He was an inspiration to his peers and gained popularity. He clearly stood head and shoulders above most kids of his age, when it came to his sporting and athletic skills.

The not-so-sweet encounter with Sugar

Despite being an excellent sportsman, Pranay deftly balanced his academic pursuits and got admitted to one of the top engineering colleges in the county. In many ways, this was to be his darkest phase when his sweet addiction got accelerated.

At nights, while preparing for his engineering degree, Pranay would end up devouring an entire jar of sugar loaded chocolate spread and move on to have many more other forms of sugar. The story repeated, night in and night out. The amount of sugar he consumed, created havoc in Pranay’ life – socially and physically. The once famed sportsman fell into a vicious loop of sugar craving and consumption. His confidence sunk with every other bite of sugar. He soon became an overweight kid who was body shamed and had a stigma attached around him.

The moment of epiphany and the journey beyond

When all seemed lost and his confidence was at rock bottom, it was sports and the passion for fitness that pulled Pranay out of the trenches. The moment came when he was introduced to the world of Mixed Martial Arts in 2012-2013. Pranay realised the importance of not only physical fitness, but also the role a healthy diet plays in one's lives, a diet without this drug like substance called Sugar. Soon enough, with incredible grit, passion and determination, Pranay transformed flabs to abs while acing his Chemical Engineering degree – a rare twin of transformation and achievement. The metamorphosis continued with his Mixed Martial Arts training for 4 years. He resurrected as a fitter and healthier individual regaining his passion and vigour – virtues he had lost due to the sugar addiction.

A fitter mind and body also nurtured his Marwadi-Jain family genes. Taking destiny head on, Pranay wanted to share the message of fitness to the masses and build a brand. He had grown up watching commercials of Uncles Chips and Parle-G and envisioned a brand that would resonate in the customer’s minds like these legendary brands. But he knew he had to become capable of doing this and thus, completed his MBA from NMIMS in Mumbai.

Armed with a personal journey of transformation and skills gained during his MBA, Pranay founded a wellness brand, BodyFirst® with the credo of spreading true wellness and health. It was a huge leap of faith for him, as he was against Nutritional supplements. However, he was introduced to some very effective nutritional supplements by his father, Mr. Anil Jain, who runs a successful chemical empire in the name of Gangwal Chemicals. 

Pranay has been clear from day one to lay the foundation of his brand on health through diet and wellness. The product range of BodyFirst® stands testimony to this ethos. He has relentlessly pursued innovation to challenge set norms, debunk industry malpractices and campaign for true wellness. Pranay is a staunch advocate of clinically-researched and globally-accredited products. His ambition is to create superior nutrition and wellness products for the millions of Indians. In this no-sugar, fitter India revolution, Pranay has been ably supported by his wife Ravina Jain (Pranay Jain’s wife), herself an accomplished woman entrepreneur. Together, they nurtured the brand and she continues to participate in many aspects of the business.

Pranay vision is to be a pioneer of a No-Sugar diet moment. He snaps at processed sugar whenever he sees friends or family injudiciously consuming it. This is because he has learnt the hard way, the disadvantages of refined sugar consumption. 

An excellent orator and a Subject Matter Expert, Pranay has hosted several webinars in the domain of Sugar Addiction and better alternatives to it. It is his way of spreading the message and building a revolution, one speech, one product, one business at a time.

Pranay is today healthy, fit, successful and an inspiring entrepreneur who is out to fulfil his brand story of healthy, balanced living.

Disclaimer: The views, suggestions and opinions expressed here are the sole responsibility of the experts. No Forbes India journalist was involved in the writing and production of this article.