BY ABIDGAIL MERTA GANGGANG
KUCHING: Guided by a passion for natural beauty, 27-year-old Ummu Aqilah Makshut is the founder of ‘Ngegeh’ by ‘When Artisan Meets Beauty Malaysia’ (WAMB Malaysia), a comprehensive range of safe, green and highly effective products for the skin.
Products by Ngegeh are all formulated with natural origin ingredients, created to be safe for consumers and environment.
“I started in 2019, when I have leftovers from my research while doing my Masters in Organic Chemistry in Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS), to make balm from lemongrass.
“I use the leftovers for trial and error at home, then I formulated a balm from ginger,” the chemist told New Sarawak Tribune recently.
Ummu said after a few formulations and changes, she started to sell her first ginger balm products in mid-2020 and WAMB Malaysia was launched in 2021
“When I did the market survey, I found that other brands are more successful because they have one core element that becomes their identity.
WAMB Malaysia incorporated all of the ingredients in Sarawak like Iban ginger, ‘beras huma hitam’ or black rice, ‘engkabang’, chilli, and Bario salt. These are the core elements to make my products.
“From there I came up with the idea of the name ‘Ngegeh’. Sassy, funky and a common word that Sarawakians use in daily conversation,” Ummu said.
Iban ginger, ‘beras huma hitam’ and ‘engkabang’ are something rarely heard by customers so she named her product ‘Ngegeh’, to be recognisable as a Sarawak product.
“My supplies come from local markets like Lundu, Sibu and Mukah. We want to sustain our business by helping others so we did not go directly to the supplier,” she added.
Ummu said all of the stocks are bought in a big quantity from hawkers that get the sources from local farmers to maintain the inventiveness of nutrients while helping to generate income for the villagers.
“For example, we can get cheaper prices for ‘engkabang’ from a direct supplier but we don’t, we get them from another chain because it is like killing two birds with one stone,” she said.
Coming from a background in chemistry, she told New Sarawak Tribune that she made everything from scratch and home-based.
“We do multiple filtration methods to filter oil from ‘engkabang’ to finer and cleaner oil before we use it. At the same time, we wash, clean and dry our gingers and chilli, and turn them into powder,” Ummu said.
Meanwhile, the black rice is fermented and blended to make soap and ‘bedak sejuk’ (cold powder) which is a traditional trade and a trusted beauty secret of our grandmothers.
“Ngegeh’s soap is produced from ‘engkabang’, black rice and Iban ginger. Engkabang is for moisturising our skin, black rice for exfoliating and Iban ginger is good for ageing skin.
“Our butter lip cheeks product is a combination of lip tint and lip balm that changes colour according to skin pH and tone. It can be used to moisturise while blossoming your cheeks and lips.
“We also have balm from ginger, Iban ginger and chilli to replace your typical vicks and it is suitable to apply on your face,” Ummu said.
She also mentioned that Asian people love balm and typical balm found at the shop contained dangerous chemicals, often used by kids, pregnant mothers and old people.
“We formulated balm naturally without petroleum, camphor and methyl salicylate, so you can use it around the face area when people have migraines, sinuses and is kid-friendly,” she said.
The natural products entrepreneur said most children found balm too minty but kids love her balm because of the sweet scents. Parents always buy tube sticks for their kids to bring to school.
“The items are restocked every week because we have a lot of raw ingredients and all ingredients are ready for use,” Ummu added.
“I hope Ngegeh can gain more support from our locals because most of my customers are people from overseas since they fully trust in natural homemade products.
“Our people still do not have the exposure as to how natural products are much better than other conventional products out there,” she added.
Organic products will not exist without people who are concerned about the long term effect of harsh chemicals, she said adding that if anything happened to her customers’ skin after using the products, they could directly go to her.
Ngegeh by WAMB Malaysia can be found online through her website – campsite.bio/wambmy and her Instagram – wamb.malaysia.
