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Couple get sweet scent of success
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Wed, Oct 08, 2008
New Straits Times
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>KOTA KINABALU, MALAYSIA - Their house once caught fire in the pursuit of their dream, but hopes of starting a business never burned out. They continued to conduct trial-and-error experiments to create their own brand of cosmetic products. Today, Anita Fragrance Cosmetics Laboratories is certainly "looking good". The couple became the first recipients in Sabah and Sarawak of the Health Ministry's Good Manufacturing Practice label.
Anita Mohamad ditched her job as an accountant, and her husband, Fazli Abdullah, gave up a lucrative career as an engineer to venture into manufacturing their own line of soaps, lotions and shampoos. The move certainly paid off.
"It was not easy when we first started. People told us that we were crazy to give up our professions just to make soap, but we went ahead.
"Our first laboratory was at home and we did not get much sleep mixing different products to create soap. Once our house almost caught fire.
"Some people we approached to become our partners did not even want to part with RM2,000 for capital, so we went ahead with our own money. We have no regrets," Fazli said.
With a grant from the SME Bank about two years ago, Fazli and Anita moved their laboratory to the bank's factory zone in Lok Kawi, about 25km from the city.
Today, they have 20 full-time workers. When production goes into full steam, another 10 part-time employees come in to help out.
The two-storey factory has a capacity to manufacture 16,000 pieces of soap a day. At the moment, Anita Fragrance Cosmetics Laboratories turns out 1,500 bars.
Anita, who manages the day-to-day operations, said the company's own line of cosmetics, called Anita Fragrance, included 38 types of soap which catered to a range of skin types. It includes the ever-popular goat's milk soap.
"We have also come up with a soap for people with sinus problems. We consulted elderly people with knowledge on types of herbs used to treat sinusitis and created our own soap bar. It is now one of our best-sellers.
"We aim to be different and are now exploring other types of herbs and plants which can be turned into soaps and creams. This will take some time and funding to do, but we believe in creating a niche in the market.
"Sabah is blessed with herbs and fruits and we also have an abundance of palm oil which is used in making soap. So there was no reason for us to not enter this business," Anita said.
Some of the company's products are already on sale in Singapore, Japan and South Korea. Anita now aims to break into the Middle Eastern market, which requires halal cosmetics.
The company also takes orders from those who want to create their own brand of soap, but do not own a production factory as part of efforts to diversify its business base.
Fired up from the potential of using natural products, Anita and Fazli are now planning to enter the lucrative health food market.
"We are looking at setting up another factory, this one will manufacture health food such as coffee with collagen," Anita said.
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