Penang sisters find success with Himalayan fruit
Lay Kim Onn, said the venture into the health and beauty business was a coincidence, as four of the sisters had travelled to the Himalayas in 2012 in search of a Buddhist monk who was carrying out social work and helping a rural community there.
'We all grew up in an average family in Penang where we were trained from young to give a portion of our earnings to help the poor.
'All six sisters were graduates holding important positions in healthcare and the corporate world.
'So we wanted to donate the RM10,000 we had collected to this charity organisation in the Himalayas,' said Lay Kim, who is the second child in the family.
She said that during their visit, they discovered a fruit known as the Himalayan Apricot, which grows at about 4,500m above sea level.
'This hardy plant is harvested by the women in the villages, who then turn the fruit into oil that is applied on the skin daily,' she said, adding that they noticed the villagers had good skin complexions despite not using any sunscreen, even with the high levels of ultraviolet (UV) rays due to the altitude.
She said most of the villagers were very poor, and excess apricots were used to feed livestock.
'We realised its medicinal potential, and in 2013, I decided to carry out more research, including enrolling in a four-year course in organic cosmetic science,' she said, adding that in 2015, they all chipped in some capital and decided to start their company, Onn Natural Enterprise Sdn Bhd (Idemo).
She said that the sisters, who started off working part-time in Idemo, took up different roles in the company, and she was in charge of research and development.
'We continued purchasing apricot kernels from the villages for our research, and in fact, we only started marketing our product this year after obtaining all the necessary certifications.
'Earlier, we were carrying out research, and for three years during the Covid-19 pandemic, we had to stop to care for our ailing mother,' she said, adding that their skin cream helped with their mother's bedsores and promoted a healthy complexion.
Lay Kim said they now have a factory in Penang and have diversified from one product to seven, comprising oils, creams, and gels.
'This year, we also won two awards, – Best Vegan Natural Skincare Brand 2025 and the Beauty Shortlist Awards 2025 – Britain,' she said.
Their products are currently being exported to the Middle East, Europe, and Indonesia and they now plan to attract more investors to expand production and market their products in China and across Malaysia.
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