By Kera Alexander
“I believe there is an opportunity for anyone to be an entrepreneur if they are willing to take on the challenge and find the right time, the right industry and the right product,” says Aisha Yang, co-founder and director of Herbaland Naturals.
Co-owner of Canada’s largest manufacturer of gummy vitamins, Aisha was destined to be an entrepreneur with a global impact – it was just a matter of finding the right timing and opportunity.
With a strong interest in international business and entrepreneurship, Aisha learned early on how and when to spot opportunities. “Even before I started my own company, even while I was still an employee, I was looking for opportunities,” she says. “I was actively searching for ideas and waiting for that ‘eureka’ moment to start a business.”
Prior to joining Herbaland Naturals, Aisha worked in the airline industry as a flight attendant in Taiwan. After immigrating to Canada in 2001, she continued working for the same airline, working in a variety of roles from ticketing to customer service, sales and marketing.
These roles not only allowed Aisha to learn new things and work with diverse teams, but also developed transferable skills that she can use in her current business.
“Those diverse jobs gave me the solid foundation to become who I am today,” she says.
In 2009, after the birth of their third child, Aisha and her husband Musharraf felt it was the right time to take the entrepreneurial step and start their own business.
“I wanted to use the 11 months of free time I had while on maternity leave to start my own company and see what would happen.”
Utilizing her 11-year career in aviation and her husband’s experience in the nutritional supplement industry, Herbaland Naturals was born.
Initially, Aisha and her husband purchased their nutritional supplement gummies from a contract manufacturer. “We were buying products from other companies before, and they were like a marketing company,” she says.
When their supplier was bought by an American company in 2013, they were faced with the difficult decision of whether to shut down the business or take matters into their own hands and manufacture the products themselves.
“We decided to take a risk, even though it was out of our comfort zone. We decided to buy machinery, learn how to make gummies and learn how to become a vertically integrated supplier.”
Owning and controlling the various stages of the production process helped Aisha and her husband avoid finding themselves in such a precarious position again. This change was one of the business decisions that propelled the company forward and drove significant growth.
Today, Herbaland Naturals is Canada’s largest manufacturer of gummy vitamins, producing more than 70 million gummies for approximately 40 countries around the world.
With four operations totaling 150,000 square feet, more than 250 employees and a diverse staff from more than 20 countries, Herbaland Naturals produces plant-based gummies that cater to consumers with a variety of dietary needs.
All products are gluten free, low sugar, sugar free, dairy free, soy free, allergy free and nut free – a stark difference from the sugar and gelatin based products that dominated the market when Aisha first started her business.
With a belief in quality and a company philosophy that champions the values of diversity, inclusion and environmental impact, Herbaland is also B Corp Certified, an important designation for companies that meet high standards of social and environmental transparency, accountability and performance.
Operating to high social and environmental standards has enabled Aisha and her team to make decisions that not only benefit Herbaland, but also benefit the wider society, enabling people to live healthier, more conscious lives.
Adaptability is also one of the company’s strengths: Herbaland will eliminate plastic bottles in 2022 and become the first company to use 100% compostable packaging for its products. Aisha says the decision was made to give consumers more freedom while also having a positive impact on the planet.
“Changing our packaging to be compostable is something we are sincerely looking forward to, and we will do everything we can to help consumers understand that there are greener, more sustainable options available to them.”
As an award-winning entrepreneur with a thriving business, Aisha is no stranger to industry recognition, but being nominated and completing her application for the 2023 RBC Canadian Women’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award was a major career highlight for her.
“Women of Influence+ has a really good reputation in the business community,” she says. “Every single question on the application helped me reflect: What am I doing? How can I do it better? It’s not about winning or being a finalist, it’s about the overall experience.”
Aisha was happy just to be nominated, but was surprised when she won in the Excellence Award category.
“The night of the awards was a life-changing night for me. I feel so honoured and humbled to be recognised,” she said.
Aisha went on to point out that her win isn’t just recognition, but also shows that women entrepreneurs can have a greater impact when they work together.
“How can we, as women, come together and make our society, our community, our country better? There are so many great companies that have the potential to grow from small to medium to large one day. They could even become global companies and have an impact. That’s why I’m honored to receive this award.”
