MALAYSIA'S potential of turning into a preferred export site for hand-made soaps is being explored by an expatriate couple who are tapping into home-grown resources like coconut and palm oil for their natural and chemical-free products. Penang-based Indochine Natural Sdn Bhd, which is operating under Fair Trade principles, has also been helping low-income suppliers in Penang achieve a sustainable livelihood. (Fair trade is a social movement that helps marginalised producers in developing countries sell their product to an international market without getting exploited by ruthless middlemen.

Fair Trade proponents help these producers and workers to achieve greater control over the marketing and pricing of their products, thus leading to stable and self-sufficient businesses) Indochine was first set up in Hanoi, Vietnam, in 2006 from where its soaps were being exported to markets like the US. The company relocated its operations to Malaysia last year with RM500,000 in paid up capital for the business. "We moved to Penang because there are good port facilities here and after finding that it is not difficult to deal with agencies like the Malaysian Industrial Development Authority to do business here," managing director Dr Mike Thair told Business Times in Penang recently. "We found it fairly difficult to export our soaps from Vietnam owing to the distance to container ports and the cost to ship the goods to overseas markets was quite high," he added, saying that the climate in Penang is suitable for soapmakers. Thair, who is trained in biological sciences, served as a university lecturer and also adviser to the World Bank and Asian Development Bank in the region, is the force behind the recipes of the soaps.

They are processed in Penang in a environmentally-friendly setting, where no waste products, noise, fumes or odours are found. Its other range of products include essential oils, dishwash soap, shower gel and loofah products. "As our aim as fair trade company is to provide opportunities for the marginalised, we have got a couple to develop a plot of land to grow loofah for us in Balik Pulau, which are then made into loofah products for export," Indochine executive director Le Thank Thuy said.

Loofah seeds from Vietnam are given to the couple, she explained, and the company provides training to the farmers, along with advance payment for the crop by negotiating on prices in advance. Another fair trade activity of Indochine, says Le, is to work with intellectually-disabled people in Balik Pulau who collect used cooking oil for recycling. "We turn this into environmentally-friendly dish washing soap which has already made its debut this year at the New York International Gift Fair in the US," she said, adding that new products are being developed and they included shampoos and body lotions. While the US had been the main export market for Indochine, orders had also been secured from Japan, Thair said. Indochine had also received enquiries from Dubai. "We are also exploring markets like France," he added.

While the essential oils for Indochine's products are sourced from overseas, its owners purchase herbs and spices from local traders and handcrafts its soaps from home-grown coconut and palm oil suppliers on mainland Penang. "Our other vendors such as printers, chemical and bottle suppliers are all from Malaysia," Thair said, adding that a diving resort in Terengganu catering to foreigners and interested in promoting green tourism is one of local customers. Apart from a shopping mall where Indochine products are currently marketed and via the Internet, certain tourist spots like the award-winning Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion and Peranakan Mansion in George Town are also stocking the soaps. The company also operates an e-commerce website to cater to orders from the US, with stocks being placed in Seattle. "We have just concluded negotiations with natural organic store chain 'Justlife', which has outlets throughout Malaysia. They will be stocking our soap products. We remain on the lookout for more distributors," he added.

For more information about Handmade Natural Soap please visit www.indochinenatural.com