Entrepreneurs - East Day Spa

Ina Bajaj

Ina Bajaj, a Kenyan immigrant of Indian descent, has opened two extremely successful businesses in Wellington.

She and her family came to New Zealand in 1971. They were searching for education after deciding not to follow the well-worn path of generations of Kenyans educated in London.

“I was the only dark-skinned girl at school. It was a good test for life, but I love New Zealand. Wellington is my home and always will be home,” she says. She was also driven by determination to succeed, which she puts down to being an immigrant.

Her first business, the Curry Club, began with the worst Indian meal she’d ever had in 1988. She realised she could do much better and started her own restaurant shortly after, running it with her brother Sanj for ten years. During a period of travelling that followed, Ina went back to India and visited spas in Bali and Thailand.

“Whenever I went back to India, I always got my nails done and did the whole beauty thing. I always thought Wellington couldn’t match it.” Ina decided to open a beauty spa.

After four months, 26 sites and three plans, Ina opened East Day Spa on Thorndon Quay. She now has employed 11 staff. The spa offers a variety of natural, holistic and organic treatments and therapies. It is the only spa in New Zealand offering ayurvedic massages and imports ayurvedic oils directly from India.

Facial treatment

The spa has now been operating for three years, and Ina thinks she has the best job in the world. “It’s a great working environment, the satisfaction of seeing your clients walking out the door feeling relaxed and happy is fantastic.”

The two businesses are very different, but not for Ina - her talent is running them. “After 10 years working in a restaurant I still can’t boil an egg, so it doesn’t really matter that I can’t give treatments.”

Challenges remain – 95 percent of Ina’s clients are corporate, but only 25 percent are male. She’s trying to convince the average New Zealander that a spa is a unisex environment. Based on past history she’s bound to succeed. In early 2005 she opened an even bigger and more beautiful spa in Auckland’s SkyCity Grand Hotel.

Related Links

• East Day Spa

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