Hailing from Terengganu, 33-year-old Eriyca Baiduri is already the successful founder of beauty brand NOIR and her company, NOIR Health & Beauty Sdn Bhd, is now one of the most established cosmetic companies in Malaysia. In a recent interview with Top 10 of Malaysia, the young and beautiful Eriyca talks about her inspiring journey from being a housewife to establishing a cosmetic company and earning millions every month.
“I am the second of three children in my family,” says Eriyca Baiduri who graduated with a degree in mass communication. “I grew up in a family where the ladies would have to work hard daily. They earn money and provide for the family to have a better life. My mother was a stage 4 lymphoma cancer survivor with a strong work ethic and she is a great influence on me. I learnt to persevere and never give up when faced with challenges.”
Eriyca started a home-based business when she was a full-time housewife. “My intention was to help my husband and family gain financial stability,” says the founder who has a passion in the beauty line. “I went on Facebook Live daily and consistently shared tips and knowledge about beauty. Thanks to Facebook Live, my online presence became known to many viewers.”
“As the number of my followers grew, I took the opportunity to launch a sale of 1,000 units of NOIR UV White Foundation in 2017. As my audience increased daily, I managed to garner their trust and interest towards NOIR’s products,” says Eriyca. “I am glad that I can help empower women to earn a good income through business. Today, NOIR has assisted over 30,000 women and transitioned them to live a better lifestyle. My goal is to offer a wide range of high-quality, premium, and halal products in the women’s beauty line. We also aim to provide appropriate beauty products for people of all ages and backgrounds.”
When Eriyca first started launching NOIR’s products, she utilised her husband’s office as a temporary working spot before renting a shop when the business started to grow. “We started out in 2017 with just 24 team members and we marketed two products which were NOIR UV White Foundation and Pure White. In 2018, our team grew to 1,500 members and our brand appeared in Buletin Utama. In the subsequent year, we held our first NOIR Gala Night as an appreciation night for all NOIR entrepreneurs. We developed our “Noir Business System” and our brand was on more than 100 billboards. Finally in 2020, with determination to expand my brand’s business and with a total team of 8,463 members, we shifted to our own office building known as Wisma NOIR in Kota Damansara.”
In 2021, NOIR Health & Beauty produced 28 types of beauty products and the company upgraded its ‘Noir Business System’. “This year, we have successfully recruited close to 30,000 entrepreneurs. We held various events for our products such as “NOIR Open Day” and “Madammu Prihatin & Bazar”. In addition, we launched NOIR’s official blog and Madammu’s personal blog at madammu.com,” says Eriyca. “We also increased the frequencies of our advertisements on radio and started to produce NOIR’s combo sets. NOIR had produced varieties of limited-edition gifts or merchandise.”
“Activities that we have carried out included holding a convention for recruiting more employees for the company, organising a NOIR’s road tour around the Peninsula Malaysia, conducting a special campaign for Teacher’s Day and also a lucky draw worth some RM10,000 via ‘NOIR Cantik & Menang’.”
NOIR has now become one of Malaysia’s most successful multi-award-winning skincare brands. “I am blessed to have an amazing team and we were also honoured to get the chance to sponsor Malaysia’s most popular entertainment program, the 36th Anugerah Juara Lagu.”
“NOIR started its sales with 1,000 UV White products and now we produce hundreds of thousands of units per year. Our brand preserves natural elements in all of its product lines,” says Eriyca. “Today, NOIR offers over 20 products from foundation to skincare, cosmetics, health-related products, beauty supplements among many other products. In July 2022, we just launched our new beauty supplement called Super Whitening Skin Peptides. We will be producing more variety of products in the future.”
Despite being a successful business lady, Eriyca says that she has lesser time to spend with her family. “Even when I fall sick, I need to keep working on my business as I am accountable and committed to continue assisting my team at work,” she says. “I had no knowledge in business when I first started my company so I decided to learn more about it. Initially, it was difficult for me but the experience has taught me to constantly strive to improve myself.”
“In making decisions, I am firm and courageous,” says Eriyca. “I manage the company professionally and do not make decisions based on feelings and
emotions. I make it a point to be understanding and engage with my team with empathy. We nurture and guide our entrepreneurs to become millionaires and now NOIR has 100 team members who earn a five-digit salary per month! My dream is that NOIR will have one million customers worldwide and be one of the first Malaysian skincare companies to have an initial public offering.”
“It is impossible for me to achieve a balance between my professional and personal life. To me, there is no ‘perfect’ work-life balance,” shares Eriyca. “At times, my children might need me while I may need to travel for work. However, allowing myself to remain open to redirecting and assessing my needs on any day is key to finding a balance.”
Eriyca truly believes that women must encourage each other to unleash their potential to succeed in life. “When I started down this path, I was passionate about making people feel good, especially women. I am delighted that some of the women entrepreneurs who are housewives, are earning between RM30,000 to hundreds of thousands of ringgit through NOIR. It makes me pleased that I could provide business opportunities to many women.”
“It’s important to find something that really fuels your passion. I had it in my mind about what I could do to make people feel more beautiful and at the same time help women earn a living. That was my calling and I am having fun with what I’m currently doing. I love playing with makeup and beauty stuff so my job is a very fulfilling one,” says Eriyca when asked about her advice to budding entrepreneurs.
Eriyca’s advice for young entrepreneurs who are interested to dive into a career in the beauty industry is to work very hard and have adequate professional beauty knowledge in order to start the business. “Diligence and sufficient knowledge in beauty could help you overcome many challenges such as formulation, products, and questions asked by customers,” she says. “Starting a business is not easy, but your hard work and professional knowledge would make it less difficult and you would feel more confident in dealing with challenges. You must seek knowledge, particularly in the area of business from the experts in the beauty industry. You may start small, but if you dream big, you will be on your way to success!”
