TAIPEI, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Eleven years ago, suffering from extreme stress, Stephanie Chan quit the electronics business and ventured into a new area: fragrant herbs.
"I had been working in the electronics field for more than 20 years and was ready for a change," said Chan, 52, from Taiwan.
Now, her company, Blueseeds, has become one of the most successful in Taiwan, making natural products such as essential oils, shampoo, body washes, toothpaste, etc. The company, with farms in Taiwan and on the Chinese mainland, will be listed next year.
"I have always adored fragrancies, and that's why I decided to pursue this business," she said.
But her success took great efforts.
Stephanie spent much time looking for the perfect places to grow the herbs.
"The soil and the weather must be ideal," she said. "But more importantly, we must not use pesticide."
She found several farms in Hualien and Taichung in Taiwan, and hired local farmers.
"I signed contracts with the farmers," she said. "They grow and harvest the herbs, and we pay them more than the market average."
At first, some of the seedlings did not grow well due to a lack of pesticides.
"We just let the herbs adjust to the environment," said one of the farmers. "Some died, and we continued to grow, until they completely adapted to a pesticide-free environment."
They also let the herbs grow together with wild grass, which helped retain water in the soil and shelter the herbs from sunlight.
From 2006 to 2015, Chan spent close to 1.5 million U.S. dollars on the farms and technology.
In 2015, her company was established, focusing on natural fragrant products, but consumers did not buy into the idea at first.
"Consumers were suspicious and there were many people attacking us on the Internet," she said. "So I decided to go on roadshows and make speeches instead of using commercials to promote our products."
She also gave free samples to customers. The face-to-face communication eased public doubts, and sales gradually increased.
In 2016, the company's sales revenue stood only at 94,100 U.S. dollars. Only a year later, the number jumped to about 400,000 U.S. dollars. This year, revenue is expected to reach about 2 million U.S. dollars. The company's market also extended from Taiwan to Canada and the Chinese mainland.
"Fragrant herbs have huge potential," Chan said. "In Taiwan alone, it is a 3.8-billion-dollar market."
"I hope that the future will be better, and that we will be able to provide more natural products for society," she said.
