Gold in Grass

I met Ms. Lilia Pelayo, finance officer of Gold in Grass Corporation through ANG BAGONG PINOY. We've attended several meetings together. I know she is in the lemon grass business but never really got to know the details. Not until today when I went to Megamall to visit the National Trade Fair.

I am not exactly impressed with the products in this year's fair. Halos pare pareho lang every year. But this lemon grass business, I believe has a potential. Not that I am making sipsip to Lilia because I know her personally but I am truly convinced that I has a huge potential.

I know nothing about essential oils and its product derivatives. What struck me with this product is the technology that they employ. The machine used to extact the oil from lemon grass was invented by Lilia's brother. There are other available equipments that can extract the oil but in terms of efficiency and quality, the machine they use in Gold In Grass is much better. There were email offers coming from other countries to buy the machine but no, they are not selling. I begged Lilia and her brother not to sell the technology if other offers come along and they assured my that they won't sell. Keep it as ours, I pleaded them.

Their main issue right now is expansion. In as much as they would want to extract more oil from lemon grass, they are limited by the fact that the only have one extractor at this time. It costs more that P7M to build one extrator. I am not really sure about the economics of this since its a huge amount on capital outlay for one machine. Maybe Lilia is a better position to explain in terms of ROI.

There must be a huge potential here considering that the lemon grass anywhere where cogon grow. The lemon grass can be harvested within three months with a minimal input. Compared to rice production, there is more to earn in lemon grass. Well, I am speaking from what Lilia told me. But the most important thing here is the technology. The technology is ours. It's something that we should/could capitalize on.