An enviable family success story

September 9, 2024 | 12:00am

I met Rhodora “Doyee” Tactacan Tumpalan, CEO/president of the herbal marketing success story that is First Vita Plus, through a mutual friend. I remembered reading about Doyee more than two decades ago, when she and husband Soc Tumpalan introduced the first Filipino MLM (Multi-Level Marketing) company called First Quadrant in 2002.

Because she immediately made an impression when I met her, I asked if she would consent to a feature about her rollercoaster experiences of entrepreneurial ups-and-downs. I was, of course, happy when she said yes to a story about her rise and fall and rise as a businesswoman.    

Doyee’s great, great grandfather Don Laureano Guevarra — more popularly known as Kapitan Moy — is the founder of the Marikina shoe industry. Naturally, the family continued the tradition. She has four siblings (making five girls in total) and her father assigned each of his daughters a business related to the shoe industry. Doyee was tasked to handle the manufacturing side and to offer their shoes to the different department stores.

Unfortunately, by the time this task was turned over to her, made-in-China products were flooding the market because of their low cost, and she could no longer compete with them. When she would bring samples of their shoes to stores, she would be told that the shoes made in China were more than 50 percent cheaper! She had to think of a way to resuscitate their business.

It was her husband Soc who then thought of the MLM scheme which would have them continuing to manufacture shoes and bags, but this time bypassing brick-and-mortar stores. They would instead recruit distributors who would actively promote and sell their products directly to consumers. The successful sellers would then of course receive handsome incentives.

Armed with a mere catalogue of their products and lots of determination and patience, her distributors went around the country going door-to-door to offer nearly 5,000 products, all of them proudly Philippine-made. Doyee likened herself to an aggregator of sorts that collected items for direct selling on behalf of groups of manufacturers.

In First Quadrant’s initial year, they had 10,000 distributors. By their third year, they had a million distributors, a growth that was both exponential and phenomenal. They had the biggest and brightest stars in their catalogue — Kris Aquino, Piolo Pascual, Jericho Rosales and John Lloyd Cruz to name a few. But with its phenomenal success, Doyee’s company was shaken to its core when it was likened to a pyramiding scheme that basically made money based on a fraudulent system of recruiting a number of investors. Helping fan the flames of controversy was the circulation of a video that showed a distributor explaining the business model of First Quadrant. 

Because of this, Doyee’s company was investigated. She reassured all her stakeholders and suppliers that they would be properly compensated. She was vindicated later and proven not to have engaged in pyramiding. Unfortunately, MLM was a very new business then and fly-by-night companies gave it a bad image.

But this setback did not deter her. She still had many loyal dealers and in 2005, formally launched the First Vita Plus Natural Health drink in dalandan. She recalls that the late Senator Juan Flavier was advocating alternative medicine through TAMA (Traditional Alternative Medicine Act). He wanted doctors to also prescribe alternative medicines starting with 20 medicinal herbs. He initially came out with 10 (lagundi, ulasimang bato, bayabas, bawang, yerba buena, sambong, ampalaya, niyug-niyogan, tsaang gubat and akapulko), but was railroaded by giant pharmaceutical companies which preferred western medicines over alternative ones. Sadly, the 10 other herbs were not developed or marketed. 

By this time, Doyee was already thinking of another breakthrough idea since First Quadrant was embroiled in controversy. She wanted a new, fresh product. Back then, the craze was green tea. It got her wondering, what’s so special about green tea and why was it being marketed as a power herb? She then asked herself, what if I came out with my own local power herbs? She consulted with Dr. Galvez Tan, who shared with her the 10 other local herbs that didn’t make it to the initial list of alternative medicines.

From the list she chose five — malunggay, dahon ng sili, talbos ng kamote, uray and talbos ng saluyot — which she bundled together and called “power herbs.” These power herbs are “spray dried” (a process where the juices are extracted and then sprayed to convert them into powder form), becoming the base of all her healthy and nutritious Vita Plus drinks.

In 2005, she formally launched First Vita Plus, which makes “nutraceutical” health drinks using all-natural ingredients that make no approved therapeutic claims and are all FDA-approved. The company started with the Natural Health Drink in Dalandan and has now expanded to melon, pineapple, guyabano, fruits and veggies, and even fruit medley using local fruits.

First Vita Plus is now on its 22nd year and Doyee has 3.6 million distributors. She clarifies, though, that only 10 percent or 360,000 of them are active distributors or foot soldiers that go around the country. These days, she has foregone the use of endorsers and instead uses her family and herself as product endorsers. I saw this for myself when I dropped by her office and saw how the distributors wanted selfies with her. And why not? Not only does she have the looks and aura of an approachable movie star, she has also significantly enriched their lives. And Doyee does love to see how their lives have improved because of the company. And this, for her, is the barometer of success.

Doyee admits that she’s a workaholic. She travels extensively in and out of the Philippines, giving seminars, visiting distributors and checking the latest trends. To destress, she gives in to retail therapy and admits to a weakness for nice shoes, bags and dresses. She also pampers herself occasionally with a nice body massage.

Since she travels a lot for work, she will at times extend her stay in a place by a few days so she can enjoy it with her family. She and her husband have been happily married for 30 years now and were each other’s first love in their college days, she in Miriam college (formerly Maryknoll) while he was in Ateneo. They are blessed with three children — Lance, Patita and Gabbie — who are all active in the business. How’s that for an enviable family success story?