My friend and Chief Researcher, formulator for Xtend-Life,  Prof. Dr. A Munem Daoud is certainly a remarkable man. However, my meetings with him can be quite frustrating because he has so much to share and I can only absorb and act on so much.  My last full day with him was last Thursday where we discussed some new enhancements we are working on.
 
It would be great to have a ‘magic wand’ which I could wave and ‘presto’ we have a new product which will achieve this or that objective.  I would love to develop all the formulas which Munem conceives but that would be impractical to attempt. He loves working on solutions for health problem by developing special formulas.  The more complex and difficult the problem, the better!

It is my job to assess which ones we give priority to and decide whether we ‘upgrade’ an existing formula or develop a new one due to new scientific evidence.  Wherever possible we endeavor to upgrade existing formulas as that represents the best outcome for our customers not only from an efficacy stand point but also value for money.

I still get excited as Munem explains to me the benefits each ‘adjustment’ brings to the products.  After almost 9 years that level of excitement has not diminished.  In fact, it has increased.  Back in 1999 I would sit down with Munem for a day and be lucky to absorb 5% of what he was saying as it was way over my head.  A lot of it still is, but maybe I am now up around 80% in terms of understanding.  Still learning every day and have a long way to go.

One thing that I have learnt though is the obstacles and time involved on getting a new product to market are always much greater than I anticipate.  There are always problems in sourcing new ingredients of the right quality and potency.  I remember recently that we had to communicate with suppliers of one ingredient in seven countries until we finally secured a supply which was approved by Prof. Munem.

Prof. Munem has to sign off on all ingredients that are selected and it is not his concern about how much they cost.  It never has been and never will be as our brief to him has always been ‘no compromises’.

There are some exciting developments in the pipeline for the next year or two, but I can’t give any details at this stage.  I have been censured so many times by our General Manager Kane Matthews who is also one of my son’s about under-estimating the time and resources required when we do these new developments…so, I will keep quiet and finish this diary entry by saying that our existing products are still more advanced than others in the market place anyway.