Bio

 HOW KAPRA WAS BORN

When Rakesh “Rocky” was in eighth grade, his school conducted an aptitude test in which he found his strength to be in business/commerce. However his home country of India, where he grew up, requires students to choose between studying science, arts, or literature in ninth grade. He chose to study science and in 1968 received his Master of Science degree in Organic Chemistry.

After receiving a Master of Science degree in 1968 he Joined Modipon as a junior scientist, (a Rohm & Hass collaboration in India). While working at Modipon, he learned the complexities of the polymerization process and after working there for three years, came to the USA to further educate himself in polymer chemistry. Wanting to continue his education, but not having the funds to do so, he started his first job at Minnetonka Labs as a chemist. Today this company is globally known as the creator of SOFT SOAP. He was their first full time chemist, so therefore had to learn everything by himself. Being on his own, he learned the dos and don’ts in personal care very fast.

 After working as a chemist for four years, he changed industries and moved to medical diagnostic research. Medical research was an eye-opener for him. He learned how a billionth of a gram of a substance can leave an effect on our body, and sometimes the impact can be everlasting. While working with several drugs and hormones, he realized that we need to be very selective in choosing what we eat, drink and apply to our body. Every chemical we apply on our skin, whether organic or synthetic, can be absorbed by our body and can impact our lives. After working in the medical field, he returned to personal care and became very conscientious in selecting the ingredients he uses.

One day in 1991, he left his position as Vice President of R&D of a division of the Gillette Company and returned to the Twin Cities to join Tiro Industries as the Technical Director. He became a partner within two years. His relationship with Tiro Industries lasted only five months, as the company ran into financial problems and he was forced to leave. 

It turned out to be a turning point in his life. Not wanting to move his family from the Twin Cities, he decided to start his own business. It was always his deepest desire to have his own business where he was in full control on the quality, service and cost to customers. And so KAPRA COSMETICS was born. The name was suggested by one of his daughters because the word KAPRA had the first letter of each family member’s name in it. This was very symbolic to him as he had so much support from his family throughout the years.

 

A NOTE FROM ROCKY

“Though many people think I am the boss, I in fact believe that our customers are the boss. They give us the opportunity to serve and they pay our salaries. At Kapra, we listen to our customers very carefully and always serve them to the best of our ability because we firmly believe that if we provide quality, service and the best price, our customer would not look for another manufacturer. Thank you for your interest in Kapra Cosmetics.”