Entrepreneurial student turns waste rubber into ‘smart’ pillows and cushions
YOSITA CHEN, 18, who recycles her family business’ waste from the manufacture of rubber bedding, turning it into natural latex foam pillows and cushions for health-conscious consumers, heads up an operation that already generates sales of around Bt100,000
Moreover, she is one of five young business-plan finalists in an awards competition run by the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Bank of Thailand (SME Bank).
“I saw the amount of rubber waste from the process of producing bedding toppers at my family’s manufacturing business, and I thought to myself that the waste could be used to make something that was needed in the market,” said Yosita, who is still a student at Bodindecha (Sing Singhaseni) School in Bangkok.
Inspired to take the idea further, she tested various potential end-uses for the waste rubber over a period of more than three months, and finally decided upon making rubber-foam pillows – as well as cushions – for health.
The waste rubber from the family bedding-topper business is recycled into grain latex foam, by cutting the rubber into small pieces, then mixing them together into a foam.
This results in material for a pillow that is good for one’s health, because 100 per cent natural latex foam conforms to the contours of the head, neck and spine for optimal orthopaedic support, she explained.
“Our first products were tested by members of the family, and my mother and father said they were better for them than normal pillows and cushions, so we decided to produce them for sale via my family’s distribution channel,” she said.
Meanwhile, she created her own brand – Mama Nata – for the product range. The brand name is taken from her mother’s name, Natakrita Ooyaree.
Yosita then wrote a business plan and submitted it to SME Bank for consideration under its “Young Business Plan Award” scheme, which commenced in the final quarter of last year.
She has since been named one of the five finalists under the programme, which means a further presentation will be made to the awards committee, before the overall winner is announced by the middle of the year.
Besides producing the business plan on her own, she plans to train more people living in the vicinity of her family manufacturing plant in the making of the Mama Nata pillows, she said. “We want to make our products as community products, creating more jobs and income for people living around our plant,” she added.
At present, she provides such employment to 10 families living close to the facility.
She also collaborates closely with the family rubber-bedding business in the distribution of her products via their own distribution channel.
Yosita’s business strategy has to date enabled her to sell an average of around Bt100,000 worth of her “smart” pillows and “smart” cushions domestically and abroad.
“The key to our success is the quality of our products, which meet our customers’ demand,” she said.
