Malaysian Women and Children Personal Care Social Enterprise – Wired PR Lifestyle Story
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Over the years, my preferences for scented candles and soaps have shifted from sweet dessert scents to soft floral scents such as lavender and citrus. The latter seems to me to have a calming effect, which helps to calm the day.
Dato ‘Kathleen Chew’s idea behind the creation of personal care products for her social enterprise, Mangosteen it comes from a similar place, along with promoting the scents of the fruits and flowers of Southeast Asia.
“The idea behind the products was that there is no range of personal care that uses SEA fruit and flower scents. Think grapefruit smell or Karea (kaffir lima) so wonderful and yet little known outside of this region, ”he told the Vulcan Post.
“Mangoes, in particular, are little known, although they have tremendous antioxidant properties and are absolutely delicious.” Hence the brand name and the use of fruit extract in its products to repair skin tissue from free radicals and provide soothing benefits.
That’s on the mango skin. But remove the layers of this brand and you will discover its philanthropic mission: to help fund organizations that do important work in sustaining or launching their solidarity projects.
That’s why 100% of Mangosteen’s product profits go to empowering SEA women and children.
For children
Dato ‘Kathleen has been involved in providing education to children through various charitable foundations. It includes one of them Dignity for Children which establishes community education centers for the poorest and poorest children in the city.
As the Group’s Legal Counsel and as the YTL Group’s Senior Management Team, she also holds the title of YTL Foundation Program Director, awarding scholarships to deserving students for what the group founded in 1997.
Overall, Dato ‘Kathleen has been working to help improve the country’s education. “I believe that every child should have an equitable opportunity for good health and education. Also, making sure that women are empowered is generally better for their children, ”she shared.
“The idea behind Mangosteen was to create a business that could fund charities that help women and children in a sustainable way, and ultimately provide employment for women in greatest need.”
Employment of their beneficiaries
Founded in 2013, Mangosteen started out as a provider of hotel amenities for some of Malaysia’s most popular resorts, including YTL Hotel subsidiaries.
It was only in 2019 that he started to explore the brand in the B2C market as his 4 teams saw it as a way to expand its reach and social impact.
But due to blockages, what was intended to be launched in April 2020 was delayed until the end of 2020.
Meanwhile, Mangosteen began producing hand sanitizers, with the participation of Orang Asli’s mother. Asli Co. to assist in production.
Mangosteen also began producing face masks, working with an organization that trained refugee women to sew products. “We were able to make a living for these women during last Christmas’s pandemic and made donations to various children’s homes,” Dato ‘Kathleen shared the results of their pivot.
Make sense of smells
MCO also delayed the release of Mangosteen’s latest product line, From Skin To Soul. Now, once again in full swing, you will see that the products below this line are 100% vegan, free of cruelty and parabens, phthalates (used to make plastics more durable) and mineral oils, to name a few.
Despite the competitive market for brands that produce vegan skin care products and scented candles, Dato ‘Kathleen is not overly concerned. In his view, different brands are recognized for their odor profiles.
So it can be said that Mangosteen has found ways to stand out in this field. Personally, I noticed that the brand has some interesting scents, such as Lichia and Black Tea Candle (RM69), Cucumber + Mint Shampoo (RM59) or Pink Guava and Camellia Body Wash (RM89).
The brainstorming of these scents is usually driven by the individual tastes and preferences of the people who develop the products. In the case of mangosteen, the group prefers fresher and spicier notes.
But it is also one of their biggest challenges, as lighter and fresher notes tend to change during the formulation process.
In our interview, Dato ‘Kathleen recalled an exciting time when she received samples of pure natural watermelon, cucumber and banana extract that had a true natural fruit scent.
To his dismay, some of these natural scents were mixed with the rest of the product, and the group was unable to use those scents.
Therefore, their main challenge is the time required to develop a new product, as odors react differently to the different components of each product, requiring stability tests.
Looking for supportive clients
In addition to highlighting through its odor profiles, Dato ‘Kathleen is confident that the social role of Mangosteen is a feature that is of increasing concern to consumers.
In line with this expectation, most customers of Mangostten also appreciate products made in a place of good quality by customers concerned throughout Malaysian society.
“I think we attract young women workers in general, but surprisingly, we’ve also seen quite a few purchases from men,” says Dato ‘Kathleen,’ adding that hand sanitizers are universally attractive and one of the best-selling in Mangosteen.
To date, Mangosteen has donated more than RM 130,000 to Dignity For Children and has sponsored women’s leadership events such as Lean In 2018.
This year, he is working with Mangosteen Women’s Aid Organization (WAO) to raise money for women who have survived abuse and for their children’s homes.
Dato ‘Kathleen’s plans for Mangosteen’s future are to provide more opportunities for customers by expanding their range of scents and products. “I would also like to develop a range of childcare, but that will take time, as it is important that the product is suitable for babies and young children,” he added.
In terms of geographical spread, it has no plans to do so, as Mangosteen is already able to distribute its products nationwide. Instead, its brand of success is the impact that branding can have on its beneficiaries.
Our real achievement will be when we can see the impact on the lives of women and children who support and support even more charities. In the case of the Dignity for Children Foundation, we supported a group of children for 5 years throughout the school and the goal was to see them continue and grow in education.
Dato ‘Kathleen Chew, founder of Mangosteen
Featured Image Credit: Dato ‘Kathleen Chew, Founder of Mangosteen
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