KUALA LUMPUR: Tea plantations are a familiar sight in Cameron Highlands, and Boh Plantations Sdn Bhd’s Boh Tea Centre in particular is a popular tourist spot.

Boh, the leading tea producer and brand in Malaysia, cultivates a total tea plantation area of 1,200ha in Cameron Highlands with a production capacity approaching 3,000kg per hectare.

Boh, produces four million kg of tea annually, equivalent to 5.5 million cups per day, representing 70% of the local market.

At the helm of Boh is CEO Caroline Russell, a third generation Malaysian of British origin who has spearheaded the growth of Boh since 2003.

She said the Boh Tea Centre aims to give visitors an all-encompassing experience that can be complemented with overnight stays. It is worth noting that more than 100,000 tourists visit the Boh Tea Centre annually.

Since Russell took over the business as CEO, Boh has entered foreign markets and expanded into lowland tea plantations in Malaysia and Australia. She also led the mechanisation of its lowland plantations to almost 100%.

“While tea is not a cutting edge industry where technology impacts operations significantly, automation and leveraging technology can optimise cost,” said Russell.

She said the key challenges facing Boh revolve around cost, productivity and establishing the local brand abroad. Currently, exports to countries including Japan, Thailand and Taiwan make up a mere 3% to 4% of its total revenue.

“While Boh is a household brand in Malaysia, business growth overseas poses challenges in terms of the perception of a Malaysian brand,” she said.

As tea plantation, especially in the highlands, is labour intensive, the recent implementation of the minimum wage affects the plantation industry as results are showing a rise in cost and decline in worker productivity, said Russell.

She said marketing and sustaining the brand is also challenging, especially in an environment where it competes with multinationals with deep pockets.

According to Russell, Boh serves two-thirds of Malaysian households with Lipton coming in a close second.

“However, both companies’ business models are very different — Boh is proudly a plantation company that produces its own tea whereas Lipton now markets tea from various sources,” she said.

She said Boh is one of the few vertically-integrated tea companies in the world, with operations ranging across the entire spectrum of tea manufacture — from cultivation and processing to packaging and marketing of its products.

Boh’s products have evolved from basic black teas to a range of flavoured black teas, herbal and fruit infusions, flavoured iced tea and three-in-one teas sold in individual satchets for people on the go.

Russell is passionate about community service and contributes to the Orang Asli community in Cameron Highlands while participating in environment and wildlife conservation programmes in collaboration with WWF-Malaysia. She is a nominee for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on November 18, 2013.