Nata Food managing director Loh Kin Hoo (left) at the Export Excellence Awards 2022 Gala Night at M Resort & Hotel, Kuala Lumpur.
NATA Food Manufacturing Sdn Bhd had just begun operations in 2019 when the Covid-19 pandemic hit a year later.
It was a challenging start for the producer and supplier of household favourite nata de coco, as it was unable to generate revenue for months.
But grit, hard work and relentless marketing delivered its first deal in November 2020.
In the same month, the company created a new revenue stream by exporting its goods, which resulted in its first-ever six-figure export deal.
Its secret ingredient
The 2022 Star Media Group Export Excellence Awards (EEA) winner in the Rising Star category attributes its breakthrough to the leveraging “of what the majority would have deemed as a negative event”.
“We turned it into an opportunity for us to regroup and perfect our business development plan.
“Despite having faced many challenges starting a business amidst a global pandemic, we gave our all and were truly fortunate to reach the end of the tunnel with an extremely promising future ahead of us,” said Nata Food Manufacturing.
Staying ahead of the pack
Being one of the manufacturers of nata de coco in Malaysia and a rising star in the export industry, Nata Food Manufacturing is aware of the tide that it is up against – competition.
According to the company, how it differentiates itself from the more established players in the industry is through the quality of its products with the tagline “quality is our priority”.
“We also made sure to build a close relationship with our customers as well as our competitors who would also seek to buy from us during shortages or peak periods.”
Nevertheless, the company assures that it continues to remain positive and focused on the execution of what it had planned.
This is also how it overcomes obstacles to achieve its goals.
“We believe that it is important to have clear directions so all the planning and solutions can be aligned,” added Nata Food Manufacturing.
Apart from the worldwide lockdown and global recession that affected sales and income, the company also faced the issue of sustaining and ensuring that its workers had a job and salary despite low productivity and demand.
There was also a global rise in the cost of raw materials; as such, “the management made a call to take a bold move by renegotiating with the suppliers for a special bulk purchase discount. As a result, we did not have to lay off workers or shut down our production.”
This win-win situation has helped Nata Food Manufacturing build relationships as well as show support for its suppliers during tough times; but more than that, it could lower its costs and its employees were able to keep their jobs.
The company’s end goal: When the market reopens, it will be the first, and ever ready to supply to its customers and business partners.
What lies ahead
One of the most important lessons, as Nata Food Manufacturing recalls, during its exporting journey is to continue to persevere and not give up when things are against it.
While 2023 has been slow for the company due to the softening of the global market, it will continue to carry out its plans and most importantly remain optimistic and focused to see this year through.
Its growth strategy for the upcoming years will mainly focus on continuing to explore the versatility of nata de coco as a form of raw material beyond the food market – a vision that has lasted till today when it was first founded by a mother-son duo.
For example, its discovery of manufacturing beauty masks and packaging materials from nata de coco has opened up many opportunities for the company in this multi-billion dollar industry.
Moving forward, “we are confident that nata de coco can be essentially utilised further with the increasing demand for health-conscious living as well as an effort to improve environmental conditions,” said Nata Food Manufacturing.
Submissions for the EEA 2023 are now open, with nominations set to close on Oct 19.
The EEA 2023 is organised by Star Media Group in partnership with Standard Chartered Malaysia, and PKT Logistics Group Sdn Bhd as a co-sponsor and Malaysia External Trade Development Corp as patron. It is audited by BDO.
For more information on EEA 2023, go to exportawards.com.my or email eea@thestar.com.my
