Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry - Herbanext News

Pioneer Filipino herbal company eyes export markets in Japan, EU

webmaster — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 05:19:36 +0000

By Melody M. Aguiba
Published: May 21, 2013

A pioneer Filipino herbal firm is exploring exports to Japan and European Union for its “ unique” natural health products like “Roselle Fiber Strips” as it had established more than 20 hectares of herbal farm in Negros Occidental.

Herbanext Laboratories, Inc. (HLI) has tapped consolidator Brandexport Phils. - Inc. to market abroad its products which have already created raving markets in the Philippines. It has 16 plus distribution centers mostly in Visayas at present.

It is a pioneer and perhaps the only company manufacturing Roselle products in the Philippines.

The company, started by 2005 TOYM (Ten Outstanding Young Men) awardee Philip S. Cruz, has an existing 13-hectare herbal farm in Bago City (Negros Occidental) and another 10 hectare-farm five kilometers away from Bago City. Its processing plant is also in Bago City.

“We are positioning ourselves for export under Brandexport. There’s a very good demand in the market in Europe and Japan because our product is new, and they’re always looking for new products,” said Lope Adrean Gutierrez of HLI in an interview at the International Food Exhibition.

Top among its products is Roselle, a plant with deep red flowers belonging to the Gumamela (Hibiscus) family but one that is edible. It is highly nutritious with rich antioxidant content. HLI has seven other Roselle products aside from fiber strips — syrup, preserves, sweet chips, tea, jam, herb cooler, and slimming drink.

HLI had a boost in its entrepreneurial effort when it obtained a loan from Department of Science and Technology’s SETUP (Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program).

SETUP loan usually involves P1 million. The company’s spray dryers, encapsulators, boilers, and other laboratory equipment were acquired through SETUP.

For its farm, it has three potential expansion areas — one south and one north of Negros Occidental and another farm in Davao. It has at least a 10-hectare standby area for Roselle.

HLI has succeeded marketing under the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-registered Daily Apple brand. It also has organic certification from France-based ECOCERT.

Unfortunately, it goes through delays in FDA registration.

“Right now we’re in talks with distributors in supermarkets. There are just delays in FDA release of CPR (certificate of product registration). We encounter some delays because FDA is undermanned. FDA regulates too much the registered ones, but they don’t regulate the unregistered. There’s not much monitoring of the imported,” Gutierrez said.

Roselle has South American roots, but it is grown extensively for tea in Malaysia. It is a good food coloring agent with very bright dark red color that is an excellent substitute to FC Red, a chemical compound for food coloring.

The company has other herbal products (mostly tea) from Lagundi, Ginger Salabat, Tsaang Gubat, Ampalaya, Cat’s Whisker or Balbas Pusa, Banaba, Centella/Gotu Kola, Lemongrass, Moringa or Malunggay, Graviola or Guyabano, Holy Basil, Pecah Beling, Mugwort, and Mint.

Best performing businesses to get awards

webmaster — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 06:31:31 +0000

By Teresa Ellera-Dulla
Friday, September 2, 2011

THE Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBCCI) will recognize and reward the best performing businesses in Negros Occidental during the 20th Visayas Area Business Conference and Expo from September 16-17.

MBCCI president Frank Carbon said the award will also celebrate the success and acknowledge the vital role of awardees in the development of the economy in the province.

The awards will be given in three categories: the Exemplary Award, Model Entrepreneur Award and the New Investor Award.

Those who will be honored for their exemplary contributions to the Negros economy include: Atty. Simplicio Palanca, president of the Bacolod Real Estate and Development Corporation (Bredco) for providing the gateway to Bacolod City and the province as well through the reclamation project which he started in 1961.

Despite the controversies, Palanca succeeded to reclaim 250 that now housed a wharf and port facilities for local and international vessels.

Dr. Ricardo B. Yanson Sr. is also one of the exemplary awardees.

The business acumen of spouses, Ricardo and Olivia, realized the emergence from one jeepney unit to what is now The Yanson Group of Bus Companies (YGBC) – traversing the routes of Visayas, Mindanao and a part of Luzon, comprising more than 9,000 employees and featuring the best facilities for bus maintenance and manufacturing.

Emulating the footsteps of their parents, the children have also been successful in the respective businesses they are engaged in.

The families of the late governor Alfredo Montelibano Sr., late Benjamin Lopue Sr., late Fernando Gonzaga, late Dr. Antonio Lizares, late Don Generoso Villanueva will also get awards.

The model entrepreneur award, meanwhile, will be given to Herbanext president Paul Felipe Cruz; CM and Sons Food Products (Merci Bakeshop) president Jonathan Lo; Bacolod Capitol Hill Land Devt. Corp. (888 Chinatown Square) president William Ong; Bongbong Villan Corp. president Reynaldo Villan and Lourdes C Group of Companies president Roseller Ciocon.

The new investor award will be given to Alliance Call Center, PanAsiatic Call Centers Inc., Teletech Holdings Inc., Shorecloud Corp., Convergys Philippines Corp., Teleperformance-Bacolod and Transcom Worldwide Philippines Inc.

A special citation, on the other hand, will be handed to the Negros Japan Human Resource Exchange Association Inc.

Published in the Sun.Star Bacolod newspaper on September 02, 2011.

NEGRENSE COMPANY BAGS SECOND PLACE AT IFEX

webmaster — Mon, 30 May 2011 01:17:28 +0000

Herbanext Laboratories, Inc., a Negros-based company manufacturing health food products and herbal supplements under the Daily Apple brand won second place in the Trendy Awards at the 8th International Food Exhibition (IFEX) of the Department of Trade and Industry – Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions. Held from May 12 – 14, 2011 at the SMX, the IFEX is the country’s premier annual showcase of Philippine food and beverages. Competing among 22 nominees, Herbanext’s Sweet Roselle Chips impressed a panel of judges that included culinary greats and well-known celebrities such as Nancy Reyes-Lumen, editor in chief of leading culinary publication Cook Magazine; Glenda Barreto of Via Mare; Claude Tayag of Bale Dutung; Margarita Fores of CIBO; Ige Ramos, food writer and designer; Cecil Zamora-Van Straten, lifestyle columnist of the Philippine Star; Raul Virtudazo, news anchor of DZBB; and Nora Daza, national culinary icon.

Accepting the Trendy trophy at the awarding ceremony is Ms. Ruby Cruz, managing director of Daily Apple Store, distributor of Herbanext products, flanked by Ms. Rosvi Gaetos (left), Executive Director of CITEM, organizer of the IFEX, and Felicitas Agoncillo-Reyes BOI Director (right).

The annual Trendy Awards is a search for local innovations in content and packaging of new food products and applications, as well as those that exemplify successful adaptation to consumer lifestyle and preferences, and readiness for global market requirements. Dubbed “flower power” at the award, Herbanext’s Sweet Roselle Chips is a healthy snack made from the calyxes of the Roselle plant, a member of the hibiscus family popularly used in traditional folk medicine in many countries for its very rich content of anthocyanins and health-benefitting phytochemicals. Sweet Roselle Chips is part of Daily Apple’s health food line that includes Roselle Tea, Red Roselle Juice Concentrate, and Hydrolean Slimming Drink. With its unique cranberry-like flavor and intense red color, Roselle presents interesting potential for expansion in culinary and confectionary uses. Another product from Herbanext, the Lemon Grass Herb Cooler, made it as semi-finalist, while its turmeric-flavored Banana Chips was a nominee.

Sweet Roselle and other Herbanext products are available at all outlets of the Daily Apple Store, a chain of stores selling health food and supplements with outlets in major malls. In Bacolod, Sweet Roselle may be found at the Daily Apple Store along Magsaysay Avenue and at the ANP Showroom. For more info, please call 4322234 or visit www.dailyapplestore.com