Jain Spirit 2003 12 No 17

Author(s): Jain Spirit UK
Publisher: UK Young Jains

Page 50

WORKPLACE
WORK, REST AND PLAY
Aidan Rankin discovers a new fragrance in business
TY TE ARE NOT A JAIN BUSINESS AS SUCH,"
explained Nemish Mehta, co-founder of HealthQuest
Ltd and co-creator of the exciting and beautifully packaged Organic Blue range of nutritional and body care products. This is one of the first such ranges to be accredited under the prestigious Soil Association Health and Beauty Standard. A thoughtful man, Nemish chose his words with great care and delicacy. "We are not defined solely by our Jainism," he continued, "but Jain ethics inform everything that we do and all the decisions we make."
This discussion highlights many of the dilemmas faced by Jains in Britain, the young generation in particular, both as professionals and as citizens within the Jain culture and in the context of the wider Indian community. For Jain values need not remain frozen in time and place. They may evolve with the generations, accommodate changed circumstances and address new ethical questions. One of the great strengths of the Jains, after all, has been their way of combining intellectual rigour with practical wisdom. Together these characteristics have enabled Jainism to survive as a minority culture in India and in many other parts of the world. They have enabled Jains to succeed and innovate in areas like science, technology and medicine whilst being guided by an ancient tradition. Yet the question that remains for high-profile Jains like Nemish and his brothers is the extent to which they wish to be identified by their Jainism, or whether being Jain is merely a part of their experience, an interesting biographical detail.
In the case of HealthQuest, the answer is probably a combination of both. This is, one might say, a typical Jain answer in the spirit of anekantvada, by which a question is viewed through multiple facets, each of which can reflect an underlying truth. For HealthQuest, Jainism is not the be-alland-end-all. Instead, it acts as a backdrop, a moral compass for the company's activities. It was founded in the mid-90s by the four Mehta brothers: Nemish, 39, Kamal, 37, Ashwin, 35 and Ravin, 32. Ravin's wife, Komal, a solicitor and yoga teacher, is the striking standard bearer for the whole Organic Blue range. When I visited the company, I talked mainly to Nemish and Ashwin, and Kamal joined us at a local eatery specialising in Chinese-influenced Indian vegetarian cuisine that was
"Combining business and spirituality
can be rewarding'
delightful and exhilaratingly spicy.
The Mehtas came to London from Uganda as young boys, were schooled here and are equally at home and confident in 'mainstream' Britain and the Jain community. They were active in the Young Jains, took an interest in the Institute of Jainology and the 200 pupil Veerayatan school in North London, founded by the Jain Nun Sadhvi Shilapi, and through which Jain history and culture are transmitted to a younger, British-born generation. Nemish and Ashwin both recall a time in the recent past when British society was less attuned to cultural variety and spoke of the struggle to get vegetarian food accepted as part of the school menu. Those days might now seem far off, but they underscore the brothers' determination to succeed in the mainstream and not be restricted or pigeonholed in any respect.
The Health Quest headquarters is in a tidy 1930s suburban house in the Kingsbury area of North-West London. As a setting, it symbolises the blend of aspiration
and human scale values at the heart of the Organic Blue project. Health Quest, which promotes
Vitality for Body and Mind' was started by the Mehtas in 1998 after the sale of the family's electronics business, Technomatic Ltd, to Microwarehouse. Technomatic Ltd had been formed by older members of the family in the early 1970s. This was the time when the brothers came to the UK from Uganda, fleeing Idi Amin's
persecution of Asian communities. Technomatic Ltd was a successful business, and it still exists as a brand name. For the young men it has therefore been an inspiration, although their interests are very different. This was the cultural and social context on which HealthQuest was launched as a mail order business. Its catalogue, elegant and concise, consisted of keep-fit products, vitamin and mineral supplements and unwinding mood music CDs. The HealthQuest catalogue was very innovative in its day, being the first of its kind. Although popular, as Nemish explains, alternative health was "a fragmented industry. In 1997, we were the only cataloguebased business offering a whole range of brand products in this area." However, these were other people's products, aimed at the notoriously fickle health-conscious consumer.
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Jain Spirit December 2003 - February 2004