Sunday May 31, 2009
Grooming Empro and Malaysian women
By ELAINE DONG
A local entrepreneur finds out that hard work and determination bring big rewards.
HE has sold everything from stereos and cars to undergarments. A self professed spendthrift, he admits to having frittered away a substantial amount of money in his heyday on designer clothes, cars, and the like.
Coco Alex, 33, has a distinct air of confidence that could be mistaken for showiness. He is candid about the error of his past ways, though. “I made a lot of money, yes, but I also spent it all.”
Though he is a lot more careful nowadays, the salesman in him is still after the next big thing, and right now that is Empro, his little beauty company that he is hoping to groom into an empire.
Empro founder Coco Alex is planning to take his company global. – Photos by AZMAN GHANI / The Star Why beauty, I ask? Alex thinks Malaysian women are beautiful, but don’t know how to groom themselves.
“You walk down the streets in Korea and Japan, and the women are always well turned out. They may not be so pretty, but you will take a second look at them because they are so well groomed. I want Malaysian women to achieve that too,” he says.
And then there’s his history: his mother owned a beauty salon when he was young, and he often used to help out there, and chat with her customers.
Empro started four years ago as a brow specialist, offering eyebrow and lip micro-pigmentation. In the beginning, Alex hired brow experts for his business, but it didn’t work out – “I had one girl walk out on me in the middle of a trade show just because I chided her for something. I was left high and dry,” he recalls with a grimace.
He decided he needed to learn the skill himself if he hoped to grow his business. He went to countries like Japan and Korea, which are both renowned in the beauty field, to train with the best teachers he could find.
With his wife – who goes by just Leevon, 35 – at his side, he toiled day and night to perfect their technique. It turned out that Alex was a natural at brow shaping and embroidery. After he completed the training, he started offering eyebrow shaping and embroidery services at his shop.
To reach more customers, he designed a triangular eyebrow pencil to complement the brow service his company offers. The pencil’s unique shape allows the user to manipulate the brow line better and produce a more realistic-looking brow.
He launched it last July and since then, Alex has worked tirelessly to get it into the right stores. He has participated in roadshows and set up mini booths in department stores, and cold-called retailers to persuade them to carry his product.
“When you’re nobody, no one is willing to give you a chance. I’ve had phones slammed down before I could finish giving the name of my company,” he says. “But now, Empro is one of the top 10 suppliers to (local beauty store) Sasa.”
Alex’s outlet at KL’s Mid Valley Megamall is popular with customers, especially on weekends, he says. In the four year since he started, he has wanted to give up countless times. Even during the interview, he talks about how much he misses his three kids, who are in Penang with his parents.
“I haven’t seen them in a month! My youngest is not even two, and she is always asking for my wife and me,” he says.
But he forges on. He is opening a beauty academy in Jakarta in July.
“We have a four-storey building,” he says with pride. “We will have a face art service centre that offers embroidery services, a face art academy, our offices and staff quarters within the building.”
He is also negotiating product placement in Sasa Singapore and is planning to penetrate the Hong Kong market soon.
By 2011, he hopes to break out of Asia, although that may happen sooner, as he hopes to participate in a beauty fair in Paris in September. If that goes well, he could make the first inroads into the European market by this year.
Beauty is a fast-paced, cut-throat business, and if he doesn’t move fast, Alex fears the ground will be swept from right under his feet.
He just launched his eyeliner last month and will be launching a mascara next month.
“I have to get them out into the market. I have had people try to contact the factory I use in Korea and try to steal my design! And these people can order bigger volumes than I can ...,” he says worriedly.
Despite these roadblocks, Empro is thriving. In Kuala Lumpur, it has a presence in Mid Valley Megamall and Desa Sri Hartamas (where its headquarters are), and an outlet will open in Sungei Wang Plaza next month. It is available in Ipoh Jaya Jusco and by December, it’ll also be in Malacca, though the exact location has not been determined yet.
Empro offers eyebrow embroidery services, with prices ranging from RM199 to RM3,000, based on a personal consultation. The Empro eyebrow pencil is RM38.80; the eyeliner is RM48.80. Call 1-300-80 1300 or visitempro.my for more information.
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