To satisfy the rising demand for resistance F&B in the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, the CEO of ISITO has hastened analysis to efficiently produce new natural drink traces.
After two days of trial gross sales on Fb, Hetox branded natural drinks, produced by ISITO, have been overloaded with orders. The product launch of the essence of lettuce and noni juice introduced Truong The Tien, CEO of ISITO, and his colleagues an income of VND200 million, a payoff for a lot of ups and downs.
Begin from scratch
Whereas learning at Saigon University, Tien realized his strengths, alongside along with his ardor for agriculture and high-end manufacturing processes associated with medicinal herbs. Nevertheless, after commencement, the 8x businessman entered a technological firm to start his profession.
With effort, Tien was promoted to deputy director, however, that was not the trail he wished to take. The concept of beginning an enterprise was at all times in his thoughts.
In early 2011, Tien and two buddies constructed their very own enterprise by promoting stevia for Hue royal tea and shortly turned the suppliers for a lot of companions. The three associates determined to give up their jobs and went again to their hometown to develop the uncooked materials space regardless of disapproval from their households. They offered all their furnishings to afford to rent land, seeds, and tools for computerized irrigation.
In 2014, after three years of planting, a space of fifty hectares lined in medicinal herbs was bought struck by a historic flood in Thanh Hoa shut to reap time.
“I used to be broke and confronted with huge stress. I noticed a complete space of uncooked supplies being submerged in water. Although sturdy, I could not maintain again the tears. I used to be 27 that yr, having to bear a debt of greater than VND7 billion,” the CEO recalled.
The farmers, however, helped him get well by actively decreasing the lease and never receiving wages. Dutch and Chinese companions shared his difficulties by liquidating the contract, and never accumulating the practically VND3 billion capital that they sponsored. After this failure, Tien and his colleagues moved to Ho Chi Minh City to restart their careers.
Turning dangers into alternatives
After many failures, Tien endured in pursuing his chosen path whereas his two buddies returned to their hometowns. Achievement lastly got here to him in 2018, when ISITO Food Co., Ltd was established. Explaining the identify ISITO, Tien stated it means “love smoothies”, as a result of the corporate focuses on producing fruit and vegetable powders.
The primary product that hit the market was the eco-friendly straw model Vistraws.
Not like plastic straws, vegetable straws soften after about half-hour in heat water, however retain their construction and hardness for use for the subsequent 2-6 hours. The product solely dissolves when it’s constantly immersed in water after 30 hours.
Every straw is used as soon as, has a shelf life as much as 18 months from the date of manufacture, and is simple to decompose with no dangerous influence on the setting. This line of straws has been requested by 38 nations and territories for commerce and cooperation, and initially exported throughout the European market (the Netherlands and U.Okay.).
Nevertheless, at the peak of its growth, the European market was closed as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak. The undertaking was briefly placed on maintaining.
With each home and worldwide market fluctuating in the course of the pandemic, Tien pressured himself to discover an option to flip the dangers into alternatives. Realizing the necessity for healthcare merchandise, the CEO of ISITO centered on analysis on a one hundred pc natural drink line.
“I attempted many instances and failed for 11 years,” he stated. Nevertheless, a powerful perception of success stored him going. He believed this can be a breakthrough for companies to dominate the home market and shortly export a big amount.
Within the final six years, by doing analysis, manufacturing, and commercialization of merchandise from noni fruit, Tien found natural acid compounds in noni fruit not solely create a scrumptious bitter style but additionally create a setting that protects the product from being broken by microorganisms and mildew. These helpful acids forestall the absorption of sugar within the physique, reducing the danger of weight problems, diabetes, and a few abdomen illnesses.
“I selected two substances for manufacturing, together with noni fruit and lettuce essences. The aim is for individuals to quickly have extra alternatives to enhance their resistance by “Made in Vietnam” merchandise.
Tien has a 15-hectare uncooked materials plot of Noni licensed natural by the USDA and EU, and 5 hectares of lettuce, plus pure supplies from the northwest mountains, providing the highest quality merchandise.
Following dietary traits, weight reduction, and diabetes sufferers’ wants, he blended the scrumptious sourness from the essence of noni fruit and lettuce with the sweetness from the essence of stevia. Hetox branded drink additionally characteristic the pure aroma from high-grade fruit essences imported from a good manufacturing unit in France.
Proper after profitable manufacturing, Tien despatched 500 items of gratitude to buddies and clients via his private Facebook page. After solely two days, clients had positioned orders of over VND200 million. The CEO additionally acquired dozens of provides for unique processing, re-transfer of the manufacturing course with a price of tens of billions of dong, however, he refused.
ISITO’s ingesting water output at the moment reaches 1,800 x 50ml bins per day, with a most complete income of VND7.5 billion per 30 days. Tien can be making use of digital transformation to his enterprise mannequin in the course of the pandemic. “I decided to rework my enterprise mannequin from conventional offline gross sales to online. I constructed a devoted gross sales cell app for collaborators via the type of dropship. This helps management stock, exploiting extraordinarily massive human assets on social networks like KOLs, group admins, and college students,” he stated.
After three years of steady funding in analysis, development of farms and factories, ISITO operates a 15-hectare noni natural farm, a five-hectare lettuce farm, and two factories in Ho Chi Minh Metropolis with a complete space of greater than 3,000 sq. meters; with 45 staff. Whole income in 2020 reached greater than VND30 billion with typical product traces like kale noodles, celery powder, lettuce powder, and Vistraws.
Within the subsequent three years, Tien hopes Hetox natural essence manufacturers, together with: Lettuce essence, Noni fruit essence, natural coffee essence, every essence, and natural hair care essence would enter over 1 million customers within the home market.
The CEO will open branches in developed nations like Singapore, South Korea, Germany, and the U.S., affirming the sustainable worth of Vietnamese herbs within the worldwide market.
Lately, ISITO contributed 10,000 bins of vegetable powder with a price of VND1.5 billion and a couple of,000 bins of Hetox natural essence to the Covid entrance traces, valued at VND320 million. The corporate additionally donated meals to the poor with a complete help bundle of VND1.9 billion.