Borneo toiletries highlight Sarawak’s natural heritage

KUCHING: Sarawak is blessed with fertile soil, vast rainforests, temperate weather, high mountain ranges and long wide rivers.

The Sarawak state government’s flora and fauna R&D arm Agriculture Research Centre (ARC) has over the years amassed a wealth of knowledge on the natural assets from its jungles that can contribute to mankind’s well-being.

A local company Borneo to the World Sdn Bhd is now working closely with ARC to market and highlight the minerals and plant elements that can benefit mankind.

Through research and creativity, this is how the Bario Rice rich in mineral and nutrient growing 3,500 feet above sea level has found its way into toiletries.

Consumers will not only come across the Beras Bario Facial Bar soap, but also a line of premium cosmetics and toiletries made from a mix of goat milk and the natural treasures of rainforests and mountains of Sarawak.

The others in the Borneo Soap line include Dabai Sarawak and Sago Mukah (facial soap bar); Barli Sarawak, Lada Sarawak with Luffa, Beras Bario, Sago Mukah, Madu and Gandum Borneo (body bath lotion).

“From the very beginning we positioned ours as premium product, we can never be a mass market brand as we do not have have enough supply of the raw materials.

“For example Bario Rice is harvested once a year, while the native fruit Dabai can only be found in the heart of Sarawak’s rainforests during year-end fruiting season,” said Borneo to the World’s executive director Amin Aznizan.

It is crucial to ensure that all ingredients used are organic, 100 percent natural, taken straight from its source in the heart of the jungle, or mountain.

For example, Dabai can only be found in the central region of Sarawak in places like Sibu, Song, Kapit, Sarikei and Bintangor, while Bario Rice grows 3,500 feet above sea level in Bario, the land of the Kelabits.

He said during fruit season they would usually go deep inside the jungle in Upper Rajang River and negotiate mostly with the Ibans to procure the Dabai, that is also known as the ‘wild black olive’.

“And we pay them at market price, we are not squeezing them in any way, its our way of giving back to the community. We buy in hundreds of kilos, what you pay here in Kuching is the same amount we pay the Ibans over there.

Then we carry the supply back to Kuching, and store it in deep freeze facilities provided by ARC,” he said.

High in antioxidants, the exotic fruit Dabai (canarium odontophyllum) produces the black wild olive oil proven to be rich in protein, potassium, calcium, magnesium and vitamin E.

“We categorise our products as all natural handmade premium soap and of course some of them are rather unique, for example, has anyone heard of pepper soap body bath?” he asked.

He said here lies their advantage, as the product with little competitor has the great potential to flourish in the market.

However, at the same time it also comes with a big challenge for them to educate consumers to see the wonders of the natural products from Sarawak.

He said ARC with its large information on Sarawak’s flora and fauna is assisting interested companies in commercialising the natural elements.

The Centre’s study was crucial in helping entrepreneurs like Amin market the products made from local natural resources commercially, and ARC’s deep-freeze storage facility helps Borneo to the World to store hundreds of tonnes of Dabai fruit for long periods of time.

Incorporated in 2011, Amin described the initial phase of the company’s development as “a very steep learning curve”, which began with the concept of introducing ‘Borneo to the World’ around 2011.

Amin said they opened a retail space at Kuching International Airport in 2011, featuring a variety of goods that explored the concept of ‘Borneo’, before making a study on what the people understood about Borneo.

This is where the company started zooming into ‘Borneo soap’.

“Of course initially we faced big challenges. Most consumers use toiletries they are comfortable with and we have come up with something totally new,” he said.

It is a re-educating process, we need to educate consumers on the importance of the nutrients and natural elements in Borneo Soap, he added.

Amin pointed out that some 70 to 80 per cent of their consumers who use these products would come back to get more supplies from them.

And they are the ones who usually buy the Borneo Soap product online.

Apart being sold online, at the moment the company also has two stores – in Midvalley Megamall in Kuala lumpur and in Metrojaya City–One, here.

“Our production at the moment is not at full capacity. We are still working to create a strong following for our products. Response is encouraging. We will introduce membership cards to reward regular customers, besides coming up with many other exciting programmes to ensure their continued support,” he said.

Apart from the local market, the company is discussing with overseas distributors, particularly in the Arab and Europe markets that were known to be very receptive to products with ‘Borneo’ brand.

“From day one our mission is to introduce Borneo to the World, everything Borneo. Outsiders are mesmerised by this branding, some even see Borneo as a mystical place. We can see the potential here.

“We are networking with distributors in these two regions. They are still doing market research, studying the acceptability issue, interested parties, most suitable place to market, level of acceptability and so forth,” he said.

Amin, who studied International Business in France, with working experience in Japan and the United Kingdom, said most of the people he met overseas were very interested and excited when he spoke about Borneo.

“Thus we have to step up on our promotions.

In Sarawak, everyone knows what Dabai is, but not outside the state.

By the same token, many know the benefits of olive but not many know that Dabai is far superior in terms of mineral sources and other nutrients,” he said. — Bernama