STARTED WITH SMALL BUSINESS, KUDAT-BORN NORCY NOW AMONG SABAH'S MOST SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS

9 JAN 2021

By Marryan Razan

STARTED with a small homemade skincare products business and RM200 in 2017, and with hard work over the years, a Rungus descent woman from Matunggong, Kudat is now dubbed as one of Sabah's most successful female entrepreneurs today.

Managing Director of Norcy Beautylab, 33-year-old Norsiah Ahiddin or better known as Norcy now has her own cosmetic product processing lab in Matunggong which is sponsored by the State Ministry of Rural Development in 2019.

Apart from manufacturing Prebiotic Skincare brand product, she also lends a helping hand to several local entrepreneurs to produce their own products with their own brands.

Norcy

"If anybody out there wishes to produce their own brand product, they need to first understand the production process of a cosmetic product.

"At Norcy Beautylab, among the services we offer are the production of beauty products, cosmetic classes, lab testing, the Ministry of Health (MoH) certification, selling raw cosmetic material, product marketing classes, and packaging design.

"The difference between this lab and the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) factory is that our lab is a place to produce the R&D formula of a cosmetic product.

“Meanwhile, OEM is a factory that produces repacked products. Tokens (R&D cosmetic formula) obtained from the MoH can be sent to any OEM factories for product production and repacking," she told Nabalu News, recently.

Once invited to as a "Young Entrepreneur" entrepreneurial forum panel during the Unipreneur Fiesta in November 2019, Norcy said she had not only dreamed of becoming a successful entrepreneur and having her own brand product but also to change the fate of herself and her family's.

"Therefore, before starting my own business, I took part in the Tunas Usahawan Bumiputera (TUBE) course organised by Smecorp Malaysia to learn more about the ins and outs of business as I and my whole family had never been exposed to the world of business," she mentioned.

Norcy presents a souvenir to then Rural Development Minister Datuk Ewon Benedick during his visit in 2019.

According to Norcy, after participating in several entrepreneurship courses, she managed to set up her own beauty product factory in 2019.

"Apart from operating Norcy Beautylab's beauty product factory, our company will expand its wing by opening a jewellery store business - Norcy Gold and Jewels - in Kota Kinabalu, this year," she revealed.

Norcy graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Clinical Laboratory Science from Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) and worked as a medical laboratory technologist in KPJ Hospital for several years before entering the business world.

A visit by former Minister of Rural Development Minister Datuk Ewon Benedick in 2019.

“I decided to quit my job and began exploring the business world because I wanted to change the life and fate of my family for the better.

"Before this, my family fed on a mindset of only being employed that one can secure his or her future, but I wanted to change that mindset - that doing business can also bring success if it is on the right track," said the Founder of Norcy Cosmetic.

Norcy said, she holds a goal of wanting to develop the economy in Matunggong and provide job opportunities to more youths in the area.

Among the products manufactured from Norcy's factory.

"I am determined to also develop Matunggong. I believe through business, I can provide more job opportunities to those in need. This indirectly can improve the economy in this area," she said.

The recipient of Sabah Entrepreneur Award and the "100 Sabah's Most Outstanding Entrepreneur" organised by the Ministry of Trade and Industry in 2019 said, after three years in business, among the main challenges is to convince a customer.

"The biggest challenge in business is to convince a customer with our products because the competition in the business world is too strong and customers are laid with so many options.

"However, all the challenges have never broken my spirit to move forward, instead it motivates me to remain competitive and consistent.

Among the products manufactured from Norcy's factory.

"I turn all these challenges to motivate me to further improve the service from time to time to convince my customers," she said.

Norcy Beautylab also offered High Impact Course to the Community starting early last year before the implementation of movement control order (MCO). Among the courses was Processing of Various Types of Soap.

"I hope one day the participants would also become entrepreneurs and have their own cosmetic product brand.

"Norcy Beautylab isn't just an R&D Cosmetic Manufacturer and Laboratory to formulate own product brand, but we are also a certified trained for the production of factory method cosmetic products and cosmetic labs.

"We hope more individuals would want to learn the process of cosmetic products before producing their own brand product," she expressed.

"Norcy Beautylab Sdn Bhd was among the local companies selected by Sabah Ministry of Rural Development to take part in the Karnival Usahawan Desa (KUD) exhibition in Putrajaya, in October 2019.