By Myrna R. Co, SERDEF Media Bureau
Business is sometimes chided for creating insatiable wants rather than satisfying real needs. It is held responsible for goods that are new, innovative, faddish and … often unnecessary if not dangerous.
The US-produced documentary “Consuming Kids” calls attention to the “commercialization of childhood.” It indicts a market machine that churns out a myriad of goods, from junk food to violent video games to gadgets, endangering kids’ physical and psychological well-being.
Especially in third world countries like the Philippines, youth malnutrition is a serious concern.
Long Live Pharma, a small company based in Santa Barbara, Pangasinan, started last May to produce high-nutrition products for infants and children, under the RIMO (Rice-Mongo) brand.
There is the instant rice mongo blend, nutritious enough to provide 16.7 and 28.6 per cent respectively of recommended energy and protein intake for babies, six to 23 months old.
The other product is rice-mongo curls, said to meet 12.1 and 14.3 per cent respectively of energy and protein needs of children, two to five years old.
Long Live Pharma sales manager Rascal Doctor cites two Millennium Development Goals– battling hunger and decreasing child mortality – to explain why the company diversified into complimentary food production.
There are children who go to bed hungry, wake up sick, and are prone to early death, he rues.
The company’s history shows a track record of selling and producing products that promote health and well-being.
History of doing good
The company began as Jann Distributors, a toll manufacturer of pharmaceutical products, in 1989. It was founded by Rascal’s older brother, Racky Doctor.
In 2004, Long Live Pharma was born, which, until recently, was dedicated to the manufacture of one product – hyposol.
Hyposol answers the need for safe drinking water urgently felt in many urban- and rural-poor communities. It renders any type of water – tap, rain or deep-well – safe to drink. “Simply add 3 ml hyposol to 20 liters water, allow for 30 minutes’ disinfection time, aerate for 15. Even babies, can then drink the disinfected water,” says Rascal.
Hyposol is doing well, being produced at a volume of 300,000 bottles yearly and sold through a distribution network nationwide.
It is the only player in its market niche — not that others haven’t tried to enter. But, as Rascal explains, “We’re the only company that has perfected the solution through our own R&D, using base guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO) and Department of Health (DOH).” The DOH itself is one of its biggest institutional buyers, using hyposol for health emergencies that can occur anytime anywhere in the country.
DOST challenge
The company’s entry into food production is a response to the Department of Science and Technology’s call for adopters of the rice-mongo blend technology developed by its Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI).
Racky was only too glad to accept the challenge thrown to the business community to help wage the war against hunger and malnutrition.
Three months into production, RIMO products have been well received in Pangasinan and adjacent provinces. Their next move is to enter markets in Metro Manila, Visayas and Mindanao.
Seek and you shall find
Long Live Pharma’s growth is a testimonial not only to the Doctors’ enterprising spirit but also to the advantages of asking help where help is available.
It was DOH and WHO partnership that helped the company formulate, market and promote hyposol.
The DOST was instrumental not only for the mongo-rice formulation but also for financial and technical help in fully automating production. “We now have the facility to answer every demand of the market. We benchmark with international standards. We adopted HACCP.” We are also compliant with Clean and Green Manufacturing Practices, including 5S housekeeping.
“My brother Racky and I got most of our runong and dunong from the UP Institute for Small-Scale Industries (UP ISSI).” Runong is knowledge; dunong is knowing how to apply the knowledge to improve the company, Rascal clarifies.
Between the two of them, they took courses in starting a business, marketing strategies, lean technology, planning for expansion as well as ISSI’s Manager’s Course, touted as a mini-MBA.
ISSI Director Nestor Raneses gave hands-on help. He reviewed plant proposals, suggested improved process flow, and connected them with potential institutional markets. He also provided a satellite office for them within the ISSI complex in Diliman.
The latest training they took was on food industry competitiveness, which covers the full aspect of food industry standards.
It allowed the brothers to be a certified trainers themselves.
One lesson both are happy to pass on to other entrepreneurs is not to hesitate to approach sources of assistance. Another is that it pays to be a “do-good” business.
First published in the Philippine Online Chronicles