One of our primary products, FuCoyDon UFG®, uses an ingredient called Limu Moui which is a seaweed that grows in the oceans off the coasts of Tonga. Limu Moui has incredible nutritional benefits, more than can be found in any land-based plant, so we invest in harvesting it. We are careful to follow sustainability laws to make sure we do not destroy this resource. We take only the top 75% off the long seaweed at a time, making sure we do not remove the roots. Limu Moui also grows at a rate of up to 2 feet a day which makes this an optimal choice as an ingredient. It is always plentiful if we care for it. The seaweed is cut, frozen, and then shipped to us where we break it down and use it in our products. Because we are a GMP regulated facility, we also have a strict vender certification process for each ingredient or component we use in our formulas that verifies the ingredient’s origin, source, and purity. I personally have been intentionally involved in understanding international policies and trade alliances to make sure all our ingredients are sourced in an ethical and authorized way. How would you describe the company culture at Sisel, and how do you inspire your teams to pursue excellence while maintaining the company’s core values? Sisel is an acronym that stands for our values: Science, Innovation, Success, Energy, and Longevity. We hire quality people who appreciate, respect, and help drive our mission and live our values. It’s like I’m being cloned because they help me do the research and it helps to a large degree. We value each of our employees and their input. Right now, we are in a really fun stage of growth in the company. We have had double-digit growth every year for the last four years. Even when we have seen an economic downturn, Sisel has stayed steady, and this has helped our employees feel like they have hitched their wagon to a company that is reliable and cares about them. This growth has led to the addition of new team members, but we still know each other’s names and celebrate when someone has a birthday. We have an elbow-to-elbow, family-fun mentality in both our corporate teams and within our networks of distributors. I believe that our employees and distributors are most successful at achieving our values when they serve each other. Each year we celebrate a day of service in my father’s memory, whether it is clearing weeds or cleaning beaches, or some other kind of project. Through corporate donations and donations from our distributors, we are able to give back with our SiselNUTRIFY™ Nutritional Meal Supplement, which is a food supplement that provides essential nutrients to undernourished children around the world. Through our partnerships, this product has fortified over 3 million children’s meals in feeding programs across 26 countries. We continue to serve each other in large and small ways throughout the year and it really helps each of us feel like we are contributing to something larger than ourselves. What are the key challenges you’ve faced in leading a global company, and how do you overcome them while maintaining consistent growth? This is a great question after our recent pandemic. We saw unprecedented supply chain issues. We are fortunate to have our own manufacturing facilities, so we control a lot of our destiny. We were able to weather the pandemic so much better than anyone I know of in our industry because of how much control we have. We had to make spur-of-the-moment changes, but because we have an incredible network of people and we have our own facilities, we were able to quickly pivot and adapt, including many instances where we delivered the same great product in different packaging because that’s what was available to us. We also sometimes face issues when it comes to our international markets. We have an office in Tokyo and in Slovakia and service many countries throughout the world. Sisel takes great care to follow international laws, including ingredient requirements. Again, we are lucky to have our own lab and facilities because we can tailor make products for specific regions of the world. We also have to rely on our international offices to help us refine the organoleptic attributes of our products. What works in the US may not always work in other areas of the world and so we have to be flexible. CEO Today Global Awards 2025 - USA - - 30 -
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