June
28, 2021
10 min read
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Ana Eliza Zaragoza is a woman from Sonora who, since she was a teenager, was interested in the wellness industry on a personal level and then took it to other levels. Graduated from Tec de Monterrey with a degree in Financial Management, in 2013 she founded Clean Brands , a company dedicated to the production of healthy and environmentally friendly products.
In an exclusive interview for Entrepreneur en Español , Ana Eliza tells us about her journey in entrepreneurship, her process to delegate functions and the plans for the future of Clean Brands.
For eight years, the CCO & Founder of Clean Brands , the holding company to which the Green Doctor brand belongs, has had to overcome obstacles, learn to be a leader and be the head of a company in which not everyone believed at first. A woman who has not been stopped by a global pandemic from moving forward and reaching her goals.
Entrepreneur en Español (EN): Why your inclination towards the wellness market?
Ana Eliza Zaragoza (ANAE): I have always been a fairly numerical person. But another of my concerns is that since I was a teenager I was very close to the issue of diets and well-being in general. I was looking to have more energy, so I started going to retreats and the things they recommended didn’t exist in Mexico eight years ago.
Before, to be closer to the wellness world, you asked an uncle who lived on the border to get you coconut oil, liquid Stevia or even smoothies . Since then I thought that it was not possible that these products did not exist in Mexico, that they were so difficult to find and that they had such high prices.
EN: How did your company Clean Brands start?
ANAE: The first product we launched was a coconut oil at Walmart, which they did not want to introduce, but we succeeded and the following year there were already seven more brands on the shelf. This has happened to us the same with other products such as toothpaste.
The parent firm Clean Brands was dividing and becoming more robust with the others, with the idea that it could become a mini Unilever, with many wellness lines but that can be leveraged under a renowned brand. Among them Holiblend (healthy snacks and sweeteners such as liquid Stevia), Monke (sweeteners based on monk fruit), Clean Life (line of proteins and nutritional supplements) and Eza Botanicals (line for facial care). However, the one that took on a lot of relevance, due to the pandemic, was Green Doctor.
EN: How was the process for the launch of the Green Doctor sanitizers?
ANAE: At the time of the pandemic, we already had the development of sanitizers. Green Doctor was well received because the firm already had a good base of loyal customers and the brand’s culture is tied to the issue of wellness, but also ethics.
Since we started looking for alcohol for sanitizers, we had the idea that it would be zero toxic, without methanol, among others. Then the topic of contaminated alcohol began to become popular and our products went up.
Much of our philosophy is to do things well, because we want it to be. Not because the client asks for it or because of regulation, but because it is the standard that all Mexican companies should have in order to truly be at the level of a competition that is global today.
Image: Courtesy Green Doctor
EN: What is your favorite product and what do you recommend?
ANAE: I think there are three. Our liquid organic Stevia, I love it. For me it is a product that is a thousand times better than any imported product. Also, the toothpaste that is 100% organic mint and we are innovating with the packaging that is made of bioplastic, a material obtained from renewable sources such as sugar cane. And the other is the surface disinfectant that is with organic essential oils from Green Doctor.
Financing
When she began to undertake in 2013, for Ana it was not a “problem”. It is relatively easy for her to get an initial loan, but then it is when financing becomes difficult to be able to expand. However, although it is a frustrating topic, for Ana it has not been the biggest challenge at the beginning, but to convince a buyer that people are interested in something different.
EN: How did you do to finance the company?
ANAE: I went to the banks to want greater growth, I taught the flow of sales, who my clients are and they would not lend me if I did not have land or a house. It is as if they said to you ‘you know what, your business is going super well, but I need your dad, your uncle, cousin, grandfather to put his assets.’ If you don’t have that network of contacts, that’s when you start to get into trouble.
EN: What do you consider to have been your biggest challenge when undertaking?
ANAE: My biggest challenge in undertaking is for people to believe that these products were going to be successful in Mexico. Eight years ago they told me that my business idea was not going to sell.
When you are an entrepreneur you are betting on something new. And finding people who trust you is the biggest challenge.
EN: What is it like for you to be an entrepreneur?
ANAE: After an incident, I had to rethink various aspects of the business. Now we have a legal department, which is external and I brought in a CEO with more experience in managing people.
The fact of being an entrepreneur, you do not wake up one day and you are the best boss, the best person to direct the staff and you know how to motivate or you know when a person is wanting to see your face. You have to accept what is and not yours, because some of those topics distract you from your main value, which is to generate business. It is a step that you have to take at some point, because if you don’t, you will start to wear out.
I believe that no entrepreneur can afford to delegate when starting out, but you have to find the right time to do it. Finding someone to lead the troop while I dedicate myself to my thing, which is innovation, gave me a lot of peace of mind.
Image: Courtesy Green Doctor
EN: What has been your experience as a female entrepreneur?
ANAE: In my field, I have never seen a gender difference issue. Maybe it would be different if my industry was petrochemical or agricultural. Because I feel capable as much as I see women 200% capable. It is not a brake on my head, therefore neither is it on my career.
Many times, perhaps, what stops us is not being truly honest with ourselves that we are doing things 100% and giving the extra, that is already a matter of preparation, which I think is very independent of gender. A woman or a man, who prepares, who brings the data and brings a good proposal, I do not see why they should not listen to it.
Much is social conditioning and you bring that doubt and the external. If you sit down, do your job, check and see the facts, you really shouldn’t have to go wrong.
Women are mentally trained, we have that extra that is intuition. It is the moment to leave with drive, honesty, sensitivity to get ahead and be able to tell your story to the world and for people to buy what they have to offer.
EN: How many people did you start with in 2013 and how many are there now?
ANAE: We started three people, an administrator, my sister and me. At first, as an entrepreneur, you don’t want to accept that you need help. I said I could do it. Right now we are 26 in the team.
We have just opened our plant in Naucalpan. Before we had the products made up, but from January 2021 we started to do it. We are in the process of quality certification, gluten-free and organic.
EN: What is the future for Clean Brands?
ANAE: We want to be present in all supermarkets and expand the line. In four or five years we will have to be one of the leading wellness brands in Mexico, having a presence in each of the important categories with at least one line and competitive prices. In addition to export projects to publicize Mexican products as top.
In every place you go you have to find a healthy option for whatever you are looking for. When I talk about accessible, it is not only because of the price, but also because of availability.
Image: Courtesy: Green Doctor
For 8 years, Anae started with a personal dream, which has now become a competitive brand in the wellness industry, which also seeks to reduce CO2 emissions and safely recycle its product packaging.