Gogy, M’sian oral care brand with natural toothpaste & tooth polish

Ida Farini Binti Othman isn’t any stranger to entrepreneurship.

Apart from 15 years of expertise in advertising and promotions throughout the media and broadcasting trade, the girl additionally boasts 10 years of expertise as a enterprise proprietor of a number of sorts of companies.

This features a well being and wellness spa by the title of Jentayu Spa by Sheila Majid, an internet well being meals supply referred to as Good Grub, a child’s get together planning model named Marvel Manufacturing facility, and Kudsia + Co, a coaching firm.

“I’ve at all times had the will to personal my very own enterprise,” Ida stated to Vulcan Put up. “I knew from early on I used to be not meant to have a profession within the company world.”

Ida took cues from her household as effectively—each her dad and mom have been enterprise homeowners, and so are her siblings.

In reality, Ida is operating a enterprise along with a kind of siblings, her sister Dilla. Particularly, they’re operating a toothpaste enterprise collectively by the title of Gogy Pure (Gogy), although some readers is likely to be extra accustomed to their earlier title, Chacology.

It began with one good product

Earlier than Chacology although, there was an excellent earlier iteration of the title—CHACO. The title was a portmanteau of two key elements within the product it offered, which was charcoal and coconut oil.

The product was a robust, concentrated paste that acted like a masks or scrub to take away cussed stains on the enamel, designed for use three to 4 instances per week, which Ida launched in 2017.

The inspiration from the product stemmed from Ida’s personal experiences. In her 40s, she started feeling anxious and embarrassed about her enamel, which had change into yellow through the years. She needed an answer, however one which wasn’t chemical-based, so she created a paste herself.   

In these early days, Ida packed the product in tubs as a result of it had the bottom minimal order amount (MOQ) of 100 items.

“If it have been packed in a tube, the MOQ was 5,000 items which I couldn’t afford,” she elaborated.

However after a 12 months of promoting her scrub at weekend bazaars round Klang Valley, she was in a position to change from her tub packaging to a tube format. At this level, she needed to change her model title from CHACO because it had been trademarked by a flipflop enterprise in Brazil, and switched to Chacology.

“Once more, had no ahead fascinated with model progress,” she commented with fun concerning the title, referring to the truth that it restricted her model being related to charcoal-based merchandise solely.

Having seen success with bazaars, she continued with these efforts, bringing Chacology to markets across the Klang Valley in addition to Penang and Singapore.

By early 2020, she determined to show her consideration to ecommerce and on-line advertising, which proved to be an amazing choice contemplating the MCOs that ensued.

“By FYE 2020, secure to say we have been worthwhile promoting only one good product,” Ida shared.  

With the success of stated product, Ida determined to create two new ones in 2021.

Rebranding to develop the enterprise

In between MCO restrictions, Ida developed two new toothpastes beneath the Chacology model. These have been created with suggestions from her pool of consumers, who shared they needed extra merchandise to assist with their oral care issues.

With how effectively they appeared to be doing, it is likely to be puzzling that Chacology was Gogy in 2023.  

The rationale for this, which was foreshadowed earlier, was as a result of Ida needed the model to be greater than only a charcoal-based toothpaste model. Since they’d created new charcoal-less merchandise, it made sense to alter the model title.

Nevertheless, Ida shared that regardless of Gogy’s advertisements, emails, and posts on Instagram, many shoppers are nonetheless unaware that Gogy and Chacology are the identical folks with the identical merchandise.

“It’s like beginning a brand-building train from scratch,” she shared. “However we needed to re-brand. After six years, the model wanted a refresh and [we had to look] on the greater image, so as to scale.”

Multi-step oral care

Right this moment, Gogy provides 4 merchandise that declare to not solely assist whiten enamel naturally, but in addition to assist with different mouth points. This consists of two tooth polishes and two toothpastes.

The way in which Gogy approaches oral care is akin to how some could method skincare. For instance, for the “morning cleanse”, Gogy recommends its No Ache toothpaste that reduces plaque build-up.

As for the evening cleanse, that’s taken care of by the No Stain toothpaste that’s designed to take away meals colouring stains and unhealthy breath micro organism.

For use thrice per week, the “evening exfoliate” (tooth polish) will assist take away powerful stains from espresso, tea, or tobacco for a brighter smile. There are two variations of the polish, a daily one and one for delicate enamel.

The toothpastes are RM28 every, whereas the polish is RM50. Gogy additionally provides bundles and kits at discounted costs.  

In comparison with your common toothpaste manufacturers, Gogy’s merchandise actually appear to be dearer.   

Nevertheless, Ida stated she doesn’t actually have a look at competitors, particularly the massive manufacturers.

“I see them in a unique class,” she stated.

She identified, “A few of these massive manufacturers nonetheless use dangerous chemical substances within the merchandise like Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) which is a standard foaming agent that has been recognized to be dangerous to our physique and banned in some nations. However as a result of it’s the most affordable foaming agent, it’s nonetheless getting used it of their merchandise.”

So, though she believes that competitors will at all times be there, she’s not too anxious.

“My focus is creating high-quality merchandise and ensuring that the elements used are pure, secure, food-grade with efficient outcomes after all.”

However how secure is her secure?

As an oral care product, Ida needed to register her merchandise with the Ministry of Well being (MOH), which she stated was fairly a simple and simple course of contemplating all her elements have been pure, clear, and secure.

She additionally shared that her producer is licensed and registered with MOH.

Past that, Ida additionally received dentists to strive the merchandise, reaching out to family and friends members who have been dentists or knew dentists.

“They tried it, appreciated/authorised it and even advisable to their clients to strive,” she stated.

Apart from whitening, the merchandise additionally assist deal with bleeding gums and mouth ulcers. Different therapeutic elements like clove oil, vitamin C, natural propolis, miswak (Kayu Sugi) are added to advertise gum care.

Whereas some elements are sourced globally, Gogy’s oral care merchandise are Malaysian-crafted, which means they’re formulated and manufactured domestically.

A small staff with massive plans

Regardless of having grown and sustained the Gogy model, Ida retains her inhouse staff fairly small with simply her formulating merchandise and doing enterprise improvement, alongside together with her sister Dilla, who left her full-time job in 2021. Dilla now designs the emblem and packaging for Gogy, in addition to handles branding and social media.

Transferring ahead, Ida hopes to alter the best way folks have a look at oral care. With that, she goals to ascertain Gogy as a life-style model. That’s why you’ll discover that her merchandise function elegant and aesthetically pleasing packaging.

With a gradual buyer base in Malaysia and Singapore, Ida’s subsequent purpose is to change into internationally identified and recognised as a reliable homegrown model for revolutionary and, extra importantly, efficient pure oral care merchandise.

Be taught extra about Gogy Pure right here.
Learn different articles we’ve written about Malaysian startups right here.

Featured Picture Credit score: Gogy Pure