Before K-beauty reached its pinnacle of fame in the Philippine beauty scene today, a young visionary named Darrell Sia had already foreseen it. In 2011, he brought one of the first Korean skincare and makeup brands in the Philippines—Nature Republic, and opened its first store in SM North EDSA.
This beauty brand is home to some of the best-selling products such as the Soothing & Moisture Aloe Vera gel, the Original Power ampoule, and Collagen BB Cream. With more than a decade of history in the local market, fans have witnessed the various Hallyu idols that endorsed the brand including actor Jang Keun-suk, Girls Generation’s Taeyeon, and NCT 127.
In an interview with Manila Bulletin Lifestyle, Darrell talked about his venture in the beauty business as a male businessman and consumers' shifting behavior when it comes to beauty products.
What inspired you to bring a Korean beauty brand here in the Philippines?
In 2011, globalization was just starting, and the quality of the available brands was not as strong in quality as today across most industries, so this equation presented general gaps in the industry to address. During that time, the Korean wave, or “hallyu,” was in its early stages, and Korea was slowly starting to become the new beauty capital of the world. But we foresaw that this could be the next big opportunity in terms of where the market was headed. We saw signs that the beauty industry in the Philippines would also start to pick up. Social media was beginning to become popular during the time, and people were more exposed to international trends, especially Asian trends (before, Western trends largely dictated the market).
The most important thing we observed was that the available brands mostly catered to Western beauty needs and standards and not Asians. All these factors combined made us choose to go into the Korean beauty industry as a start, which led to us being one of the pioneers in the market.
Why Nature Republic?
We envisioned that consumers, aside from looking for good quality beauty products, would also shift toward a sustainable lifestyle and look for environmentally friendly brands. We trusted Nature Republic Korea’s vision and direction in terms of the products, research, and development, and that’s why we decided to take the risk with them. After a few years of signing with them, the brand had grown tremendously in Korea and has overtaken almost all other beauty brands at the top, staying there even until now. A lot of brands have come and gone. Nature Republic Philippines has also grown to more than 30 stores nationwide and is located in every major city from Luzon to Mindanao. We have expanded digitally with our strong social media and e-commerce presence.
You talked about sustainability. What are brand’s sustainability initiatives and social responsibility programs?
Use of natural ingredients: The brand prioritizes and has pioneered the use of natural and organic ingredients, reducing its environmental impact.
Packaging reduction: It aims to minimize waste by using recyclable and biodegradable materials in our packaging.
Eco-initiatives: Nature Republic Philippines has implemented a recycling program in partnership with PLAF (The Plastic Flamingo) where customers can bring back their empty products to the store in exchange for a tote bag. The collected items will be recycled into a range of sustainable construction materials.
What is your message for male businessmen who want to delve into the beauty business?
My advice is to just go for it! To be honest, all the industries that I am in right now: beauty, fashion, k-pop, and food, I really didn’t have any experience and knew nothing about before starting them and making them grow. The key really is foresight. If it’s the right opportunity, it’s scalable, and it’s sustainable, then don’t be afraid to jump into it even if you’re not fully ready as opportunities can pass you by fast.
I believe in the saying “Ready, Fire, Aim.” Once you’ve done enough research, then it’s time to “fire”, and then you learn along the way and improve by “aiming” more. Your planning doesn’t need to be perfect; it just needs to be good enough. But once you start, you must make sure to really learn the ins and outs of the industry that you’re in.
It might be much more difficult if you’re a male like me but it is definitely learnable. Everything is. It’s part of an entrepreneur's DNA, doing everything you can to succeed and make it work. That includes going outside of your comfort zone or learning new industries and markets from scratch. With this said, I believe that a great entrepreneur should be able to adapt to any circumstance and industry that they go into.
Besides Nature Republic, Darrell is also the CEO of lifestyle brand N.Cat and a Korean restaurant in BGC Goobne.