The younger beauty business queen
The younger beauty business queen
JAKARTA (JP): Once upon a time Mooryati Soedibyo and Martha
Tilaar, founder of Martina Berto, were friends. In fact they did
business together.
Today the bitterness between two of the most prominent houses
of cosmetics has become talk of the town. Martina Berto has been
sued by Mustika Ratu for violating intellectual property rights
for allegedly trying to use Taman Sari, a brand name belonging to
the latter's exotic spa. However, Martha claims that many brands
under the word Sari are registered by her, from Sari Ayu to
Cempaka Sari.
Martha, the younger beauty business queen, started with a
salon at home where she tried out cosmetics she called Sari Ayu,
mainly on friends. As more and more women left home
to work, their desire to look more modern and presentable also
grew. Many of them consulted Martha on how to look their best,
making the housewife's business expand unbelievably. And in 1981
Martha finally founded Martina Berto along with the
pharmaceutical company Kalbe Farma.
Although born in a family of professionals, Martha worked for
years as a teacher before her fascination with the philosophy of
the rulers of Java, of beauty from within and without, got the
better of her and she branched out into the beauty business. But
combined with the sprawling business is also a mission to spread
the total beauty concept to as many women as possible.
She is also enchanted with the wealth of information about
Nature that lies deep in the different corners of this island
country. Having traveled the length and breadth of Indonesia in
search of the hidden wisdom among its ancient people, Martha is a
virtual store house of knowledge today.
In Jakarta she tirelessly tries to combine all the information
about traditional cosmetics and herbs with modern technology. And
it is the generous investment that she pours into continuous
research and development that make her products popular, not just
for being environment friendly but also for being the most
effective.