Best World Lifesyle (BWL) founder and chief executive Dora Hoan said the company’s operations in the Philippines is part of its regional expansion activities.
BWL, which was founded in Singapore in 1990, currently has operations in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Brunei, Australia and China. It has also started operations in Korea earlier this year.
Ms. Hoan said the Philippines is a “missing link” in the company’s operations in the region. “We are very aware how big is the direct-selling business here in the Philippines. We know that there is a lot of opportunities here,” Ms. Hoan told BusinessWorld in an interview last week.
The company officially opened its offices at the Robinsons Equitable Tower in Ortigas Center last Saturday. BWL’s parent firm, Best World International, is listed as the only direct-selling company on the Singapore Stock Exchange since 2004.
BWL sells all-natural skin care and personal care products, health care equipment like water and air purifiers, and plant-based nutritional supplements, among others.
In March last year, Best World International disclosed to the Singapore Stock Exchange that it has established a joint-venture company in the Philippines called BWL Health & Sciences, Inc. for its direct- selling operations in the country.
Best World International owns 80% of the joint venture, while the remaining 20% is held by Bestworld Capital Ventures Corp., a private limited company incorporated in the Philippines.
The joint vernture was incorporated with an initial paid-up capital of P11.7 million.
Ms. Hoan, who is currently the chairperson of the Association Services Committee for the World Federation of Direct Selling Association, said BWL is looking at having 3,000 sales agents in the Philippines in the coming months.
These agents will bring BWL’s products closer to consumers. “We are confident that our products will find their markets here in the Philippines,” Ms. Hoan said.
For its initial rollout in the Philippines, BWL will be selling its Avance line of nutrional supplements, the Optrimax brand of slimming products, and the Aestier and Dr’s Secret skin care brands.
Ms. Hoan said the company will bring in more of its products in the coming months, as Filipinos become more aware of BWL.
2011年11月21日星期一
It took me two years to quit smoking
My relationship with cigarettes began long before I adopted the habit. I was born in the eighties, when the restrictions on tobacco that we see today were merely a gleam in the Surgeon General’s eye, and all over town people were lighting up in eateries and indoor shopping centres.
My mother told me smoking was a “filthy habit” but I found it glamorous and grown-up. I used to mimic the adults I saw in restaurants. In between sips of imaginary wine, I’d bring a white Popeye cigarette candy to my lips and pretend to inhale, feeling like a very sophisticated six-year-old.
It was inevitable that I would try smoking – I just needed an opportunity. When I was in Grade 8, I got my chance. My best friend’s mother was a heavy smoker and left cigarettes around her house in various drawers. Our curiosity got the better of us and we borrowed a few from a pack we found in the living room. Which led to borrowing more. Regularly.
When I was 14, most of my evenings were spent in my friend’s smoke-filled bathroom. With an open window and a towel under the door, we’d watch ourselves in the mirror, perfecting our technique. We spoke with elaborate hand gestures, enjoying the added drama of holding a cigarette. We practised blowing Os. At 10 p.m., I would drown myself in perfume and walk home with my secret safely masked under a barrier of coconut and floral aromas. The whole thing felt taboo.
Smoking was my first act of teenage rebellion. It brought excitement into my otherwise mundane, predrinking-age life. It was the nineties and the health implications of tobacco use had become apparent. But the well-meaning anti-smoking campaigns aimed at young people inadvertently sensationalized the habit. Smoking was now legitimately “bad,” and it had never been cooler. My friends and I would unapologetically light up in the bus station, in doorways and right outside the movie theatre.
Like a burning ember that retreats into the soggy end of a filter, the shock value eventually fizzled out. I was aware that my smoking habit had become more of a necessity than a novelty, but I truly believed I could stop any time I wanted. I based this on an inflated sense of self-control and the fact that I had never pictured myself as an adult smoker. The millennium celebration came and went and I resolved to work out more and eat less pizza. I puffed away in my party dress and sparkly gold New Year’s tiara, unaware of the changes to come.
Smoking bans were introduced and even in bars and nightclubs, smokers were forced outdoors. There was nothing glamorous about sucking down a cigarette through chattering teeth on a below-freezing winter night. But still this did not dissuade me. I began chain-smoking at home, which turned my one-bedroom condo into an interior disaster.
My countertops were cluttered with overflowing ashtrays. Small round burns dotted the couch and carpet. The stench of hundreds of cigarettes stubbornly clung to the walls, despite my air purifier and ornamental potpourri. I was disgusted by these conditions and too ashamed of the mess to invite people over. My once social habit was ostracizing me, yet I lived like this for several years.
Over time I began to see smoking for what it really was: a pointless habit that was ruining my health and draining my finances. All the things that had initially drawn me to it were childish notions, adolescent fantasies. The honeymoon was over. I wanted out.
My mother told me smoking was a “filthy habit” but I found it glamorous and grown-up. I used to mimic the adults I saw in restaurants. In between sips of imaginary wine, I’d bring a white Popeye cigarette candy to my lips and pretend to inhale, feeling like a very sophisticated six-year-old.
It was inevitable that I would try smoking – I just needed an opportunity. When I was in Grade 8, I got my chance. My best friend’s mother was a heavy smoker and left cigarettes around her house in various drawers. Our curiosity got the better of us and we borrowed a few from a pack we found in the living room. Which led to borrowing more. Regularly.
When I was 14, most of my evenings were spent in my friend’s smoke-filled bathroom. With an open window and a towel under the door, we’d watch ourselves in the mirror, perfecting our technique. We spoke with elaborate hand gestures, enjoying the added drama of holding a cigarette. We practised blowing Os. At 10 p.m., I would drown myself in perfume and walk home with my secret safely masked under a barrier of coconut and floral aromas. The whole thing felt taboo.
Smoking was my first act of teenage rebellion. It brought excitement into my otherwise mundane, predrinking-age life. It was the nineties and the health implications of tobacco use had become apparent. But the well-meaning anti-smoking campaigns aimed at young people inadvertently sensationalized the habit. Smoking was now legitimately “bad,” and it had never been cooler. My friends and I would unapologetically light up in the bus station, in doorways and right outside the movie theatre.
Like a burning ember that retreats into the soggy end of a filter, the shock value eventually fizzled out. I was aware that my smoking habit had become more of a necessity than a novelty, but I truly believed I could stop any time I wanted. I based this on an inflated sense of self-control and the fact that I had never pictured myself as an adult smoker. The millennium celebration came and went and I resolved to work out more and eat less pizza. I puffed away in my party dress and sparkly gold New Year’s tiara, unaware of the changes to come.
Smoking bans were introduced and even in bars and nightclubs, smokers were forced outdoors. There was nothing glamorous about sucking down a cigarette through chattering teeth on a below-freezing winter night. But still this did not dissuade me. I began chain-smoking at home, which turned my one-bedroom condo into an interior disaster.
My countertops were cluttered with overflowing ashtrays. Small round burns dotted the couch and carpet. The stench of hundreds of cigarettes stubbornly clung to the walls, despite my air purifier and ornamental potpourri. I was disgusted by these conditions and too ashamed of the mess to invite people over. My once social habit was ostracizing me, yet I lived like this for several years.
Over time I began to see smoking for what it really was: a pointless habit that was ruining my health and draining my finances. All the things that had initially drawn me to it were childish notions, adolescent fantasies. The honeymoon was over. I wanted out.
2011年4月11日星期一
Brace yourself for yellow dust this spring!
While the troubles at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant continue Over here in Korea, the direction of the winds is drawing public attention as the the winds blowing form Japan may contain raioactive materials.
And although the concentration level of radioactive materials in the air is highly likely to be almost negligible, this does not stop concerning Koreans who are already about to weclome another unexpected visitor around this time of the year.
That's right. It's this time of the year when Korea suffers from a massive yellow dust storm blowing from China, and this year one of the worst in the decades is expected to hit Korea this April.
And to tell us more on the yellow storm dust that is about to blanket the whole peninsula, Arirang Today's Park Hee-ju joins us now in the studio. Hello there.
[Reporter : ] Hi guys. A major concern over this year's yellow dust is that it can also be a vehicle for radioactive materials from nuclear reactors in neighboring countries
Yellow dust storm is always an unpleasant surprise during springtime, especially when the warm weather always lures us to take outdoor activities.
And it seems like Korea needs to be prepared for this year's more extreme level of yellow dust than previous years, as China is facing one of the worst droughts in decades This fear over severe yellow storm which may contain metal particles or other pollutants that can affect your health conditions is expected to hit the Korean peninsula soon. Let's take a look.
And although the concentration level of radioactive materials in the air is highly likely to be almost negligible, this does not stop concerning Koreans who are already about to weclome another unexpected visitor around this time of the year.
That's right. It's this time of the year when Korea suffers from a massive yellow dust storm blowing from China, and this year one of the worst in the decades is expected to hit Korea this April.
And to tell us more on the yellow storm dust that is about to blanket the whole peninsula, Arirang Today's Park Hee-ju joins us now in the studio. Hello there.
[Reporter : ] Hi guys. A major concern over this year's yellow dust is that it can also be a vehicle for radioactive materials from nuclear reactors in neighboring countries
Yellow dust storm is always an unpleasant surprise during springtime, especially when the warm weather always lures us to take outdoor activities.
And it seems like Korea needs to be prepared for this year's more extreme level of yellow dust than previous years, as China is facing one of the worst droughts in decades This fear over severe yellow storm which may contain metal particles or other pollutants that can affect your health conditions is expected to hit the Korean peninsula soon. Let's take a look.
订阅：
博文 (Atom)