BALI – Bali Alus is now successful with its beauty products. Ni Kadek Eka Citrawati is the figure behind the success of Bali Alus. Ni Kadek Eka Citrawati, the founder of Bali Alus, who develops natural-based beauty products from Balinese recipes.
Bali Alus was founded in 1999. Initially, Ni Kadek was inspired to see one of the crops in his village, namely aloe vera, which is abundant, but only as an export commodity. According to him, this aloe vera will be more useful if it is processed and used alone.
From there, he began to try to mix skin care products with recipes or ways of making that have been passed down from generation to generation by his family traditionally. The results he made was only given to friends, family, and neighbors. However, over time Ni Kadek saw great potential in this passion.
On June 1, 2021, Mr. Agus Sumiwang Kartasasmita, the Indonesian Minister of Industry, visited the Bali Alus production room and gave a positive impression that the Bali Alus factory was very clean and hygienic.
Ni Kadek Eka Citrawati, the founder of Bali Alus
Now, Bali Alus has launched more than 200 products. Ni Kadek continues to innovate to make products from organic materials that are durable and good for the skin. Its products range from a wide range of body care products, bath and hand washing soaps, essential oils, to a range of products for spas. Even during the Covid-19 pandemic, Ni Kadek also innovated to create daily necessities to maintain health, such as hand sanitizers and cloth masks.
Behind this success, Ni Kadek has also succeeded in empowering the women around him. He invites housewives who are active in Banjar to join in advancing Bali Alus. Their involvement starts from production to take part in marketing activities.
He paved the way for mothers to still have time to carry out their activities as mothers, while helping the family economy. The time they worked did not interfere with the social activities they had previously participated in.
“There are also here, for example, their children go to school with my son and I continue to know him there, then (he) has economic difficulties, so I work in Bali Alus,” said Ni Kadek.
She is happy to be able to help and, of course, the women around her are helped in her efforts. At the beginning of Bali Alus, there were only three employees, now there are 100 workers.
The development of Bali Alus is also unique in terms of promotion. Since its inception, Ni Kadek has never used large-scale advertising media. Thanks to the loyalty of the women who are consumers, Bali Alus products can be known more widely by the public.
“The strength is in the product, yes, we also don’t have the initial budget for promotion. So, it is still through word of mouth and we are greatly helped by the loyalty of the women who use Bali Alus who promote it,” he said.
This experience then made Ni Kadek learn that when women help each other’s work, there is mutual success that can be achieved.
“As an Indonesian woman, I love domestic products more. We have thousands of Indonesian women. So if they love domestic products, they also love their friends’ products,” said Ni Kadek.
Since the 2020 pandemic, Ni Kadek and the women of Bali Alus have been more active in developing their business. He is aggressively empowering his employees to transform digitally, moving his business from offline to online.
Ni Kadek focuses on moving marketing activities online. Employees who were previously active in selling in branch stores, were directed and given learning to sell through social media, websites or domestic marketplaces.
They also learn to adapt to online promotional activities, place digital advertisements, to publish more activities for activities on social media. All for the sake of reaching new markets and attracting wider buyers in the digital world.
“Like it or not, their knowledge has been upgraded. They have to be able, well, in order to survive in the current condition. So I assign them online,” he said.
Bali Alus has built an Instagram account @balialus.id, a website www.balialus.com, and various online shops under the name Bali Alus Official. So far, the market has reached the islands of Java and Sulawesi. Internationally, Bali Alus products are also exported to South Korea.
In the future, she hopes that her products will be more loved by women as well as men. After all, taking care of the skin also means taking care of the health of the body as a whole. Looks healthy on the outside and healthy on the inside.
Ni Kadek also hopes that things will get better in the future. Vaccinations can run smoothly and the handling of the pandemic is getting better, so the impact will end quickly. So, his business can revive offline stores, then combined with online businesses that have been formed during the pandemic.
Inspired by women
In addition to being an inspiration for Indonesian women, Ni Kadek also inspired his journey to be inspired by Indonesian women. Despite the wide market, Bali Alus products were developed with the initial aim of providing access to natural and organic skin care for women.
“Actually, natural products are affordable for all people, and everyone can use them. Because natural products are good products, so this is a treatment to treat the skin so that the skin is healthier, “said Ni Kadek.
Her passion for running a business is also inspired by the women around her and the characters with success stories that she learns from her experiences. One of the figures who became his inspiration he met at the Bali Bangkit 2 IKM Exhibition.
At that time, he met with the Speaker of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Puan Maharani, who was on a working visit in Bali to review the acceleration of vaccinations and the economic development of the Island of the Gods.
He was inspired because Puan is a woman who has multi-ability, can be a housewife as well as have an extraordinary career.
When they met, Ni Kadek did not expect that Puan was a sociable and friendly person. In fact, he is the one who asks a lot of questions and pays attention to his products. Puan did visit the Bali Alus stand at the exhibition.
“He is the one who tries to communicate with us a lot. So I feel really, it feels comfortable like that. Forgot if this is the same Mrs. Puan who is the chairman of the DPR RI. I feel like both women, you know,” he said.
Their meeting, according to Ni Kadek, was very open. Puan asked a lot of questions about Balinese women and their condition during the pandemic. Puan also asked about the conditions that occurred in Bali’s business actors and their economy after the corona virus.
“He also supports how women can unite. (For example) we shop with our friends, sell with our friends, so we support each other among women in Indonesia,” said Ni Kadek.
In addition, he continued, regardless of regional background, whether Balinese women, Javanese women, and so on, all must help each other. “Personally, it was opened once, we are women, we must support fellow women. That’s extraordinary power, “continued Ni Kadek.
He agreed with the views of the Speaker of the DPR that were shared with him that day, if women supported each other, there would be many benefits.
“As an Indonesian woman, she (preferably) loves domestic products more. We have thousands of Indonesian women. So if they love domestic products, they also love their friends’ products,” he said.
In the future, Ni Kadek hopes that Indonesian women can be more advanced, open their horizons, and can filter the information obtained. Women have a very big opportunity if they move smartly and creatively.
Women can play a role anywhere, be it in the household, career, or in the wider environment. “Indonesian women are very smart, strong too. Here (Indonesia) everything is determined by women, yes, “said Ni Kadek.
Author: Anya Putri – One Indonesian Women’s Movement
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