2021 AusMumpreneur Awards – Elaine Tang, Melvory Australia

I’m Elaine Tang, CEO and founder of Melvory Australia. Melvory started from humble beginnings while I was on maternity leave with my second baby, after feeling frustrated watching my children suffer with eczema. As a qualified Pharmacist, I decided to formulate a range of natural skincare products to help my children recover. The results were amazing! From baby balms, I then developed skincare products for mums, including mineral make-up. We now have over 50 different types of products in our store.

From the early days of selling my products at local markets, Melvory is now a global brand with over thousands of customers and multiple stockists world-wide. I wanted to do more than just sell products; I want to help those most in need. So, with every order that Melvory receives, food is donated to starving children in Kenya. Over 300,000 meals have been donated to these precious children.

When did you start your business?

2017.

What was the inspiration behind starting this business?

Melvory was founded with one clear vision in mind; to transform people’s skin and bring newfound confidence using high quality ingredients sourced from nature.

We believe in high-performance natural skincare that’s packed full of superfoods and skin goodness to keep your skin clear, hydrated and healthy.

We believe in formulating products that do what they say they do and deliver real results for better skin.

We believe in doing good for the environment and giving back to humankind at the same time by donating food to villages who need it most.

What are you most excited about in your business?

The most exciting thing about my business is receiving wonderful feedback from our customers that their lives have been transformed after using our Melvory products. We’ve seen babies being healed from eczema, teens no longer suffer from acne and mums finding their confidence back and truly loving the skin they are in.

What has been the most challenging thing about starting your business?

When Covid hit, things went chaotic. However, Covid didn’t affect our sales. The drive to online shopping actually helped grow our business. But unfortunately, since the beginning of Covid, there’s been some anti-China racism going around and an Australian/Asian woman like myself has been caught in the cross-fire.

We get comments like “Your products are Australian made but YOU are made in China”. I was not born in China nor do I have family there. Sadly, to the trolls, we are all the same. This anti-China racism is hurting a lot of people, including me.

The internet has facilitated great things but it has also opened up a new channel for abuse and bullying. As much as it hurts, I won’t let it affect my business and I will continue to show up on social media. We rise above them by raising our positive vibes through gratitude and the amazing humanitarian achievements through Melvory.

What advice would you give to other women thinking about starting a business?

1. Be a Solution

With a great idea or product to sell, think about what it will solve. It is easier to gain a solid customer base when your business is fixing a problem. Your service or product should fill a hole in a certain market or niche.

2. Keep it Simple

Be careful not to let your concept snowball into something complicated and costly. Start small and narrow your focus. A successful business idea should fulfill its promises to customers and exceed expectations.

3. Balance passion with wisdom

Passion will consistently drive you to improve your processes so your business grows. Wisdom will push you to conduct effective market research to find out your business’s potential and to minimize risks.

Why did you enter the AusMumpreneur Awards?

I built Melvory Skincare from the ground up and have made tremendous achievements. We are now a 7-figure business with over 50 stockists in Australia and with more than 20 stockists in other countries such as New Zealand, Singapore, China and Japan. Melvory has donated 155,710 meals to poor children in Kenya, and our donations have also helped to build schools and toilets.

We provide flexible employment to mums and we are a multi-cultural team with our staff members originally from Scotland, Thailand, Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia and local Australians. We also provide employment to people with disability for simple tasks such as sticking labels onto our products.

While pregnant with my 3^rd baby last year, I suffered from hyperemesis gravidarum for months but despite that, I was still able to keep Melvory alive and thriving, grew my team and expanded globally.

Winning such a prestigious award would mean the world to me, to be recognized for my work and to give hope to many other women who are in similar positions.

What did you enjoy the most about being part of the awards?

The best part about the awards was meeting other like-minded AusMumpreneurs. The energy in the room was electrifying. We bonded through the sisterhood of being mums and women in business, sharing our struggles as well as celebrating each other’s wins. I have made life-long friends through the AusMumpreneur Award.

What surprised you most about the awards?

How friendly the judges were! I was honestly very nervous before the interview, I did practice my speech several times but once the interview began, I felt like I was chatting with old friends. I think it’s because they’ve been through a similar journey and I felt like the understood the things I was sharing.

How did the awards help you in your business?

My revenue doubled last year. My customers and followers were stoked to see me get nominated and then won not just 1, but 8 awards. The excitement from the awards was great publicity for my business and we had lots of orders especially during that month when I won the awards. I also made lots of connections with other business women, collaborated with a few and I look forward to uplifting other mumpreneurs and sharing with them my journey and my knowledge of running a business.

What advice would you give to others mums thinking about entering the awards?

Absolutely do it! It was one of the best things that happened to me – both personally and professionally.

What has been the best thing about starting your own business?

I love that I can be creative with the work that I do. I love that the work that I do, impact others’ lives – healing skin concerns, donating food to children living in extreme poverty and giving flexible employment to mums.

What’s happening next in your business?

We are moving into a much bigger premise!! Our head office and warehouse has been growing tremendously every year. We’ve recently outgrown our current property and will be moving into a bigger building by the end of this week.

What are your big plans for the future?

I’d love to launch more products – a deodorant, kids conditioner, teens skincare and a bigger makeup range.

What is your website and/or social media links