Packed with a healthy punch

A TROPICAL plant native to a large part of Asia and Africa, Moringa oleifera (Moringa oleifera Lam.) has earned the nickname “miracle tree” for many reasons, the most important being its exceptional  nutritional profile and medicinal value.  The leaves are packed with a very nourishing and powerful punch, but other parts such as the bark, seeds, flowers, roots, and immature pods are equally effective in the prevention and treatment of disease and physical conditions.

 

TMTM Vietnam develops and manufactures a variety of products fortified with moringa oleifera grown in its own farms.  In this interview, CEO Phan Thi Tuyet Mai talks to correspondent Anthony Evans about the business and shares what she believes will be the future of Moringa in the local market.

 

 

 

What inspired you to start growing and manufacturing Moringa?

I guess you could say it started through my involvement with the Saigon Entrepreneurs Association and the charity work we do here in Viet Nam. I am vice president of the Association and over the years we have been involved in a number of projects designed to help some of the more disadvantaged people here in Viet Nam. 

 

To date we have built over 300 houses and completed a host of other initiatives designed to improve the quality of life for people here in Viet Nam. It was during this time working with the Association that I became aware of the marvellous health benefits of Moringa and the plant’s potency with vitamins, amino acids, protein, calcium, potassium, magnesium, and the list goes on. We started to encourage the poorer rural sectors here in Viet Nam to start growing Moringa as a way of improving their health and quality of life, and provided them with seeds and growing advice, and I guess it was at this point that I realised that by developing a Moringa product range I could take Moringa’s health benefits to the broader Vietnamese population. 

 

It’s important to understand that the motivation behind TMTM business efforts is not only to be a profitable business enterprise but also to incorporate a great deal of social entrepreneurial activities focusing on improving the health of the broader Vietnamese community.

 

So that was how TMTM came to be. When was the company established and what brands and products are currently on offer?

TMTM started its Moringa farming production around 2006, so we’ve been in operation for eight years now. We expanded on our agricultural production of moringa and established a tea production facility a little over four years ago and from there we started adding on other product lines. 

 

At present, TMTM has four major brands offering a large array of products which comprises our main brand MORI, which produces Moringa Noodles, Moringa Porridge, Moringa Cookies, Moringa Crackers, Moringa Cake and Moringa Nutrition Powder. It also produces teas made from the pure moringa plant, as well as moringa leaves blended with other herbal ingredients such as jasmine, green tea, ginseng, ginger, artichoke, reishi mushroom and lotus. All of these ingredients are extracted from natural materials which we produce ourselves. 

 

 

Then we have the health supplement Brand LIGATONIC, which is made from Folium Moringa combined with other herbals such as cynarae folium, flos Chrysanthemum, flos Lonicerae, Herba Stevia. It is a wonderful tonic for detoxification, choleretics, and improvement of immune system. 

 

And then there’s THE GIFT FARM brand which produces a large range of healthy products such as Pure Honey, Fruit Jams, Soft Dried Fruit, and even Fresh Fruit. The Gift Farm also produces a range of SOC TRANG RICE such as white rice, red brown and purple brown rice. I should also mention that all of our farm produce are grown organically and under the strictest international GAP (Good Agricultural Practices) standards.  And we also have the TARA Cosmetic brand, which is our Moringa skin care range. 

 

TMTM has quite a wide product range. Are your brands predominantly focused on the Vietnamese market? 

Presently the Vietnamese domestic market is our primary focus, although we do export to Western Europe, and within the Asian region to countries like Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan and Laos. Previously we had received interest from a large tea brand in America, but they were only interested in purchasing the product and putting their own brand name to it. We considered their offer but decided not to go with it as it wouldn’t really benefit us in the long run, particularly as we wouldn’t have any real control over the quality of the finished product, and quality assurance is such a big part of our corporate philosophy. We don’t see any great need at the moment to jump into the export markets in a big way, and we are more than content to grow our exports when the opportunities arise. We strongly believe that when the broader international community understands more about the true health benefits and quality of our products, more export market opportunities will start to appear. 

 

It seems that TMTM has complete control over your supply chain, from growing to manufacturing, and packaging. How about distribution to the market and the end user?

It would be nice to have control over distribution; however, this area requires a whole other strategy and network to be successful so it’s better for us to develop partnerships with established distributors rather than going out there and re-inventing the wheel so to speak.  Saying that, however, we do put a lot of time, money and effort in promoting our products, particularly through direct marketing and getting our brand name out there. So we assist our distributors a lot with promotional support, which makes their lives easier with moving our product onto the consumer.

 

 

How would you describe the market you operate? Would you say that you operate in a competitive market?

To be honest, competition is not an area of business I concern myself with a great deal, as I always work with a philosophy of being creative rather than competitive. A great deal of our success is built on our commitment to the quality of our raw material production, our control over the supply chain, and the quality of our finished product. I would imagine that even if a company started now with a big investment, it would probably take them about five years to even come close to where we are now. So I really don’t waste any time looking over my shoulder for potential competitive threats, and focus instead on our commitment to continuous improvement.

 

Quite a number of locally based companies have been increasing their investment in technology. Has this been part of TMTM strategy?

Being a qualified chemical engineer and operating a successful seafood export company (Tai Nguyen Seafood) for almost 20 years prior to starting TMTM, I have always been aware of the need to invest in technology, particularly when we talk about producing consistent product quality, production efficiency and export potential. However there seems to be a growing belief these days in Viet Nam that by simply investing in technology, success will be assured. This is a belief I don’t share. Investing in technology here in Viet Nam tends to become a priority when a company has developed their initial production capabilities, their network, and their customer base, and when they feel confident their investment will yield a sufficient return. The experience I gained setting up an operating (and still operating) Tai Nguyen Seafood was priceless, but we still followed a cautious start-up strategy when it came to our initial investment in technology for TMTM.

 

How do you envision TMTM’s growth over the next five years? 

Well, this year our products have been available on shelves of several shops at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City, and by 2020 we are hoping to replicate this in airports throughout South East Asia, including Singapore and Hong Kong. But if I considered my real future desire for TMTM, I would have to say that it is making a significant contribution to improving the health of this and future generations of Vietnamese people through the distribution and consumption of this amazing plant, Moringa.