Former Clinique Exec Turns Focus Inward

LOHAS companies used to be seen as granola-loving fringe enterprises, but more and more seasoned business execs are getting in on the action.

After 20+ the Estee Lauder group, Sue Ong is now heading Himilaya Herbal Healthcare, an HBA company selling products formulated according to Ayurvedic principles.

A mountain worth climbing: "Seeing that her staff have their hands full, Sue Ong steps in to help. The CEO of the company that retails the Indian-made, Ayurvedic-formulated health and body products is certainly the perfect advertisement for the brand. She’s dressed in a white kurta top and Indian drainpipe trousers, and as she flits among the customers, she is the picture of health and calm – ethereal-looking almost.

Sue Ong believes it was karma that led her to Himalaya and its business philosophy – a healthy lifestyle which everyone can afford.
She speaks softly and precisely, and is engaging as well as convincing when it comes to her favourite subject.

“Try this chilli and spearmint ointment,’’ she tells one Omani who complained of a pulled muscle as she hands him a box of Muscle and Joint Rub. Then she turns to his friend who is looking for a pick-me-up.

“Ashvaganda is a stress reliever and will help you sleep better and give you more energy,’’ she says. “Or Guduchi, which can help with your immunity?.’’

She spouts the Sanskrit names her products bear so effortlessly that anyone would think she’s being doing this forever. But up to a year ago, Ong was more familiar with the latest Western manufactured beauty products than difficult-to-pronounce ancient remedies.

The company's founder kept his Ayurvedic formulas on recipe cards, which offer invaluable information to the research team today.
She retired last August after 22 years as head of the Clinique brand of skincare and cosmetics that comes under the vast umbrella of the US Estee Lauder Group.

So what made her swap hats and transfer her passion from an American prestige brand to a back-to-basics range from India?

“Call it karma ? I feel that this is something I was destined to do,’’ offers Ong, 50, the daughter of a tin merchant from Taiping who admits to always dreaming big dreams for herself. “Before I was painting faces, but now I am painting the insides,'' she says, referring to the natural goodness of Himalaya's extensive line of pharmaceuticals and consumer health products derived from herbs. "