Along the way on our Myth journey, we have met so many fascinating entrepreneurs that made a pivotal change in their career in the past few years. They decided to take a sharp turn from their previous career to jump and follow their passion to make a bigger impact.
In Asia we have a saying, that it’s difficult to start a business; but it’s even more difficult to sustain one (創業難 守業更難). Because it takes a lot of persistency to keep striving for excellence; one must be humble enough to keep learning; and being agile enough to keep evolving and staying relevant.
The longer you’re doing something the harder it is to trigger mindset changes, evolve company culture and break things that are working fine, to make them better.
As hard as it may sound, I feel honored to say that it is possible and in Myth, we have the opportunity to meet companies that made it so far without giving up in trying to do more and do better all the time.
Today’s Stellar Natpak, is a company with over 40 years of history that still demonstrates the energy to evolve like a start-up, and constantly looking for ways to contribute back to the world. Natpak has a massive ambition to create a circular supply chain starting from circular raw material all the way down to the design of smart packaging and reusability of the end products.
As a packaging manufacturer, transformation to sustainability is not only an ambition, but a major undertaking that takes the whole company to achieve. To truly reach those objectives, it is not enough for the management to want to make a change. They have to carry the whole team with them in changing the way they work, and fundamentally how they approach each area of work and think about their processes.
With a team of over 50 members in their headquarters and R&D team across two locations, we will see how the journey is like for Natpak!
Hello Kinsen! Tell us a bit about Natpak, what is the brand about, the focus and mission, where are you based?
Natpak provides creative solution for sustainable packaging. We focus on helping luxury consumer brands to create user friendly, sustainable yet beautiful packaging. Our Headquarter is in Hong Kong.
Natpak has been in the packaging industry since 1978, and you have been honored with several awards over the past few years related to social accountability, environment and innovation, to name a few.
Can you tell us how the company evolved over the years and what inspired Natpak to focus on sustainable packaging?
We have been in the packaging industry for 40+ years, as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM).
I’m sorry to say that we have produced goods to the world that we are not very proud of through out these years, so I think it’s time for us to do our part and help fix the problem with consumer packaging.
In 2018, We have pledged to produce 100% sustainable product in 5 years, I’m happy to say that we will be at 80% by the end of 2021. Climate change is real and we all need to do our part now.
As part of your mission to offer sustainable packaging solutions, Natpak has also partnered up with Plasticbank, to introduce Social Plastic into your product range. How did you decide to come up with this partnership?
Maximizing our impact is always our believes as we get to sustainable business. Plastic Bank offers a great system and connection which we can one hand help stopping ocean plastic by using their ocean bounded plastic, and help the societies in need at the other. We also noticed the vision is far beyond as this may also educate less developed countries to reduce plastic pollution.
Check out more details about this collaboration here
“We strive for excellency, and that applies to everything we do, with that mentality from top to bottom within the company, and the collaboration with our customers, together we can create a lot of exciting products that will do good to the world.”
Kinsen Au, Managing Director, Natpak
You offer packaging solutions to luxury brands, which is a very demanding market. Everything from the aesthetics to the quality of the material has to be top-notch so that it levels with the expectation of the product within.
How do you strive the balance between sustainability, design and quality?
We strive for excellency, and that applies to everything we do, with that mentality from top to bottom within the company, and the collaboration with our customers, together we can create a lot of exciting products that will do good to the world.
Natpak has come a long way since its establishment.
Looking back at this journey so far, is there anything you would like to tell your past self that you wish you knew back then?
A tip for all those companies out there that is still thinking if they can really make a change to this world!
To be motivated, you’ve got to love what you do, your passion will drive you to where you want to be, of course, with enough blood, sweat and tears!
Finally, what part of being in the Myth community would you look forward most to?
To be able to learn and share with the like-minded entrepreneurs about all kinds of sustainability challenges is very exciting!
Check out more about Natpak here!
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