Noni Biotech International Receives
Presidential “E” Award for Exports
May 16, 2011.
World Trade Week ceremonies in Washington DC.
Noni Biotech International today was awarded the Presidential “E” Award for Exports by U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Gary Locke at the Department’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. The “E” Awards are the highest recognition any U.S. entity may receive for making a significant contribution to the expansion of U.S. exports.
U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, Noni Biotech COO Marie-Laure Ankaoua, Noni Biotech CEO David Backstrom, Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Francisco J. Sánchez
“Exporting continues to be the foundation of our sales growth, and we are honored to receive the “E” Award,” said David Backstrom, Noni Biotech International’s President and CEO. “Our Company has grown significantly in the past few years, doubling sales each year through 2009. Over the past 6 years, export sales grew to nearly 60% of our total sales. Since 2006, we focused mainly on international sales. “Today, our Company ships containers of Hawaiian Noni product to countries throughout Europe, Asia and Africa, and in 2010, the Company continued its expansion abroad, by securing customers from some of the most attractive emerging markets like China, Lithuania, Croatia, Israel, Nigeria, and is in negotiation with countries such as Poland, United Arab Emirates, Thailand, and Malaysia” said Scott Owens, Director of Operations.
“Noni Biotech International headquarters and R&D lab are located in Maui, Hawaii and has its manufacturing facility in Hilo, Big Island of Hawaii” added Marie-Laure Ankaoua, the Company’s Chief Operating Officer. “The Hilo manufacturing facility helped to spur economic development in a rural area as the Company created new jobs in its Hilo factory on the Big Island. The Company also provided jobs for over 80 Noni far-mers and their families on the Big Island that are selling daily their fruits to be processed at the factory” said Ankaoua.
“Noni Biotech International provides its consumers with the highest quality all-natural Hawaiian Noni grown in the pristine Hawaiian coastal environment. The products include Noni juice, Noni powder and Noni capsules, Noni puree, and Noni concentrate”.
“The Company also has a subsidiary, Pacific Biotech LLC (PB) that engages in research and development of Noni extracts and other endemic Hawaiian plants. New scientific discoveries will add value to our worldwide product distribution” added Paul Nordone, VP and Director of R&D.
“Exports are a key driver of America’s economic recovery,” said Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke. “President Obama’s National Export Initiative (NEI), which aims to double U.S. exports by 2015 in support of several million American jobs, is a robust, forward-looking trade agenda with an emphasis on domestic job growth. Noni Biotech International is being honored today for making significant contributions toward fulfilling that agenda.”
“I congratulate you on your significant export achievement. It is businesses like yours that will help us meet or exceed the President’s NEI goals. Your firm provides an example we hope more American companies will follow,” Locke added.
A business client of the Department’s U.S. Commercial Service, Noni Biotech International has benefited from export counseling, trade shows, market research, and business matchmaking to greatly expand its export sales. While Europe and Asia represents a significant portion of the company’s foreign market sales, the firm does business in several other regions of the world as well. Noni Biotech International demonstrated a substantial increase in the volume of exports over a four-year period, a major criterion for the award.
U.S. companies are nominated for the “E” Awards through the U.S. Commercial Service office network in 108 U.S. cities and more than 75 countries which helps U.S. companies export. Criteria for the award is based on four years of successive export growth, usually accompanied by a rising percentage of export sales within total sales. An applicant’s demonstration of an innovative international marketing plan that led to the increase in exports is a significant factor in making the award.
“Noni Biotech was nominated for the President’s E-Award by John Holman, Director of the Hawaii Export Assistance Center, a division of the U.S. Department of Commerce. In collaboration with his colleagues at the U.S. Embassies around the globe, Mr. Holman has been helping the Company the past few years to enter new international markets all over the world” said Ankaoua.
All nominations are reviewed by the “E” Award Committee, which is chaired by the Department of Commerce, and includes representatives from ExIm Bank, and the Departments of Labor, State, and Transportation.
President Kennedy revived the World War II “E” symbol of excellence to honor and provide recognition to America’s exporters. Thus, the “E” Award Program was established by Executive Order 10978 on December 5, 1961.
A total of 27 U.S. companies were presented with the “E” Award at the May 16, 2011 World Trade Week ceremonies in Washington DC.
In August 2011, the Company was selected as a finalist for Maui County in the APEC statewide Business Innovation Showcase.
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Contact Information:
Marie Laure Ankaoua, VP – COO
Noni Biotech Int LLC/ Pacific Biotech LLC
Haiku, Hawaii, 96708 USA
Tel: 1 808 575 9100