Sweet scent of success for Zen Zest owner

MANILA, Philippines -  Zen Zest body care and fragrances owner Michelle Asence-Fontelera believes in having a vision and staying focused on achieving this, when starting and managing a business. After almost 10 years and more than 100 outlets today, she continues to dream big and aim high for Zen Zest. She is exploring new ingredients to create more product lines and hopes to penetrate the overseas market.

Zen Zest started franchising in 2003 and these make up 40 percent of the outlets. By 2005, some foreigners noticed her products and made wholesale purchases where these were retailed overseas. Her products are currently being sold in Bahrain, Brunei and Japan.

Fontelera has set her sights on taking Zen Zest abroad and going mainstream in the US. She is also working on a new product line strictly for export. This is how she envisions the future of Zen Zest, making her a real Globe Negostar that inspires other Filipino entrepreneurs to pursue their dreams.   

Fragrances are Fontelera’s first love as she fancies perfumes since she was young. With her strong entrepreneurial spirit, she started a business venture when she was in college and even as she tried working for other companies when she graduated she found herself selling all sorts of things at weekend bazaars. It was during these times when selling body care products crossed her mind and she gave birth to Zen Zest.

“My neighbor in a bazaar in Valle Verde was selling natural soaps. I really liked the soaps that I asked him if I could consign. So I consigned the soaps, I joined a bazaar in Alabang and I sold all the soaps. That’s when I had the idea that local body care products can do very well,” she said. 

Zen Zest had humble beginnings as Fontelera manufactured the products herself in her room. She didn’t want to have big overhead costs so she insisted on mixing the soap herself using readily available stuff from the kitchen. A chemist Rafael Ibarra taught her how to make lotions, body scrubs and colognes in February 2001 and by May 1, fueled with borrowed initial capital from the family, she opened her first cart in SM Megamall and earned P4,178 on day one. She also personally delivered the stocks by taking a cab until they were able to buy a pick up six months after. A year later the business grew that production filled the house and she was able to develop new product lines.

Aside from her body care products and fragrances, she added massage and room fragrance oils as well as linen and room fragrances to her roster of offerings at Zen Zest outlets. She even introduced another line using local virgin coconut oil that she called Coconut Collection.

Zen Zest continued to grow through the years and production was subcontracted to other companies. However, Fontelera stays on top of product development and gets to pick the scents, concepts and product names. She also oversees the business with the help of communication solutions that Globe Business provides.

To widely market the various Zen Zest products both in the Philippines and abroad, Fontelera relies on her broadband connection powered by Globe Business that she needs to manage her website. At the same time, her Globe mobile helps her stay in touch with her franchisees and Zen Zest outlets on a regular basis as she receives their product orders mainly through text messages. These business tools have helped her manage and grow the business further today.