“Innovation is a non-stop process. As the market leader in the edible
bird’s nest industry, one has to constantly pioneer new initiatives and
break new grounds to overcome any crisis that comes along. The only way
is to think forward and constantly innovate,” inspired Group Managing
Director of Swiftlet Eco Park and Royal Bird’s Nest Group of Companies
Dato’ Loke Yeu Loong at the recently held entrepreneurial talk that was
jointly organised by UTAR Entrepreneurship Society, Faculty of Business
and Finance (FBF) and Department of Consultancy and Commercialisation
(DCC) at Kampar Campus on 25 October 2017.
Dato’ Loke inspiring the students by sharing his journey of success
Attended by more than 150 students, the talk titled “The
Agro-Entrepreneurship of Edible Bird’s Nest Industry” was focused on
Dato’ Loke’s valuable experiences and extensive knowledge of the edible
bird’s nest industry, particularly in Malaysia. His two-hour talk was
part of DCC’s entrepreneurial talk series and was aimed to enlighten
students on business and the qualities of a successful entrepreneur.
Also attending the talk were UTAR FBF Dean Dr Au Yong Hui Nee, Head of
Postgraduate Programmes of the Faculty of Medicine and Health
Sciences-cum-Chairperson of Centre for Cancer Research Prof Dr Lim Yang
Mooi, DCC’s Assistant Manager Esther Thien Pik Kim, UTAR staff and
students.
Dato’ Loke is an entrepreneur who believed that challenges were merely
opportunities in disguise. According to him, Swiftlet farming in
Malaysia was started in the 1990s when Indonesia faced forest fires,
which drove millions of swiftlets to migrate to Malaysia.
Dato’ Loke shared, “What appeared as a challenge to one country became
an opportunity for another. With a global production of RM15billion
worth of raw edible bird’s nest, and a major portion of it coming from
Indonesia (60%), Malaysia (25%) and Thailand (10%), it is truly a golden
opportunity. I have always had a keen interest in the bird’s nest
industry, to the extent of even going to Indonesia to learn the most
effective techniques in swiftlet farming.”
He added, “At that time, swiftlets were building their nests in towns
and cities, which become a health threat and public frustration to
residents. This challenge paved us the opportunity to come up with the
fresh idea of developing an eco-park for swiftlet ranching away from
these residential and commercial areas, which not only addresses the
health hazard issue but is also a sustainable source of revenue.” The
Group now has close to 100 eco-friendly swiftlet houses and an
integrated procession plant to clean the raw edible bird’s nests.
Remarkably, the Group is the first and only industry player to have a
complete upstream and downstream value chain, and responsible for
overseeing the production of edible bird’s nest from farming to
production to research and distribution. With that, Dato’ Loke said,
“This has raised the barriers to entry so high that we have no
equivalent competitors in the industry. To survive and thrive in
business today, one has to constantly innovate and be a few steps ahead
of the curve. Challenges can come from anywhere and no one is spared
from them. To succeed, we must seek out the opportunity that lies
beneath these challenges and capitalise on them.”
Viewing every crisis as an opportunity, he steered the Group to expand
their version far beyond. The Group launched a few initiatives
concurrently as the crisis required a multi-pronged approach. First,
they started Research and Development (R&D) collaborations with local
universities, research institutes and medical centres on the bird’s nest
nutrition, beauty and medicinal values. He enthused, “Although the
benefits of bird’s nest have been inscribed for centuries, not much
scientific research has been done on it. We are the first and only
industry player in Malaysia who embarked on this R&D effort as our new
markets wanted scientific evidence of the benefits of bird’s nest, and
not text gleaned from the Chinese ancient books. We now have scientific
proof that bird’s nest is a rich source of amino acids and mineral
salts.”
The extensive R&D efforts also led the Group to discover an optimal way
to extract the essence of bird’s nests, which led to the development of
other bird’s nest-related products, such as the functional food, health
supplement, cosmetic, skin and beauty care, marketed under the Royal
Bird’s Nest brand. These value-added products not only fetch a better
margin compared to raw bird’s nest, but also open up new territorial
markets for him.
He added, “To effectively market the Royal Bird’s Nest products, the
Group has set up a network marketing company in 2013 which received a
splendid response from the Malay market, a non-traditional market of
edible bird’s nest. Many people are scepticalabout selling bird’s nest
to this market segment but our value-added products have successfully
paved the way and currently, 60% of our customers based are Malays.”
Last but not least, Dato’ Loke enthused, “In the next five years, the
company envisions stepping up on its R&D efforts to transform the Edible
Bird’s Nest from its traditional use as a food or supplement to be a
powerhouse in medicinal drugs, especially in the area of diabetes,
cancer, anti-aging, and a host of inflammatory and neurological
diseases.”
UTAR and Royal Bird's Nest Sdn Bhd (RBN) signed a memorandum of
understanding on 3 December 2012 to collaborate on research and
development in the fields of medical, health and agricultural science
and engineering, especially areas that are related to health supplement
products such as edible bird's nest. UTAR officially received RM30,000
grant for research in edible bird's nest from its corporate partner RBN,
the research arm of Swiftlet Eco Park Group of Companies, at a ceremony
on 23 June 2013.
Dr Au Yong (right) presenting a token of appreciation to Dato’ Loke