Enticing Westerners to look East
Martha Tilaar, founder and chairperson of Martha Tilaar Group, a leading name in traditional cosmetics and beauty care in the region, shares her business philosophy in the third part of this special weekly series. The following is an excerpt of a recent interview, prepared with the help of marketing expert Hermawan Kartajaya, by The Jakarta Post reporter K. Basrie.
During her childhood, she was a tomboy and expert in climbing trees. She was only introduced to cosmetics when, as a young teacher, her mother told her to dress up so she would look like the other female teachers in front of her elementary class.
Like many other kids in her hometown in Kebumen, Central Java, little Martha liked snacks very much. After being spotted by her trader mother for taking money without permission, Martha got her first free lesson in entrepreneurship.
Her mom asked her to earn money on her own by selling snacks. Each piece was divided into three small pieces for a quick turnover. Later, she also sold fruit collected from her family' garden.
Martha, just like many newcomers, felt slightly awkward in the first few days. "I once hastily climbed a tree when I saw my teacher pass in front of my house where I was selling my goods. I was really embarrassed," she recalled.
At a later stage, she made and sold several handicrafts, such as traditional necklaces and bracelets. And all the money she earned was used to purchase her favorite snacks.
"It was my parents who taught me how problems solve problems," said Martha, now 65 and a leading name in the beauty care industry.
Since then beauty became her top priority in life which she developed in her business by focusing on endless innovation in every aspect of the process: from research, technology, quality (products and human resources), marketing, promotion and efficiency.
According to Martha, entrepreneurship can be developed by anyone. An entrepreneur has to have the capability to see the future in his or her vision.
Three decades ago, when she started the business, Martha firmly believed that rich natural plants and herbs plus the eastern values were something that could be sold to both locals and Westerners. Today, her products and services, such as the spa using products and treatments made from aromatic plants, are available in several Asian countries, the Middle East, the Netherlands and North America. She and her corporation has received numerous local and international awards.
As for globalization, Indonesia, she said, has greater opportunities to succeed over other rivals. According to her, local entrepreneurs should be defenders in the war against foreign rivals.
"We're so rich in natural resources that need to be developed. Instead of being just farmers and selling commodities at low prices, we actually could develop the commodities into something that could further boost their prices," Martha said.
Several years ago, her group used to import whitening materials for her products from abroad at US$200 per kilogram.
"But now we can produce our own by using local materials at the price of $6 per kilogram," said Martha, whose name was attributed by Leiden University in the Netherlands to a Kalimantan orchid species, Coelogyne marthae, which was developed at the university's botanical garden.
For 16 years, MTG has promoted the vast cultures and natural resources of 12 provinces of Indonesia through fashion and cosmetics to revive locals' pride so that they are finally willing to buy.
So even while most Indonesian women are still enticed by imported beauty care products and services, Martha has managed to steal the hearts of many local girls, career women and ladies to use her beauty products and services.
And the Martha Tilaar Group will continue develop such emotional branding to grab the promising domestic market and to expand its overseas market as well.
Customers in the West have started to turn their eyes to beauty products and services from the East, she says. For her group, the global trend is being treated as a gold mine.
And nothing in this world could stop her and her dreams for endless invention to become the 'queen' in 'her' own homeland.
"I will stop only when God calls me," she said, adding that her organization would soon branch into the manufacturing of batik and other Indonesian traditional fashion accessories.
A graduate of IKIP Jakarta, Martha studied at the Academy of Beauty Culture at Bloomington, Indiana, in the U.S. from 1967 to 1969 and took part in the Leadership and Business Entrepreneurship Training at Harvard University in 1997 and several beauty courses in the world's major fashion centers like Paris, London, Tokyo and New York.
In 1984, the World University of Tucson in Arizona awarded her an honorary doctorate in fashion and artistry.