Natrol Launches Annasa

CHATSWORTH, Calif.--Natrol Inc. announced the creation of Annasa, a multi-level marketing business unit. The mission statement developed for Annasa is "Empowering people to improve the quality of their lives in today's environment."

The new business unit is a key element of the company's overall growth strategy, according to Elliott Balbert, Natrol's founder, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO). "We spent 22 years developing an important and extremely valuable retail relationship throughout the country, and now we are excited to expand into the world of network marketing," he said. "We will be manufacturing entirely new and different items that will be sold exclusively through authorized distributors who in turn will sell direct to consumers, as well as sponsor and train others to do the same. ... This is a new beginning and so we are going to call the start-up Annasa, a word that means 'breath' or 'new beginnings' in Greek."

Natrol has been developing Annasa for nearly a year, according to a press release from the company (www.natrol.com). Balbert will serve as CEO and president of the new business unit, while the rest of the management team will include Carol Hukari as chief operating officer, Jeff Gaal as vice president of sales, and Debbie Meyer as vice president of operations.

Annasa will launch with four nutritional products catering to cellular renewal and over-all physical well-being. The company will begin shipping to select distributors in the fourth quarter with a full national roll-out in January. Natrol did not project when Annasa would be profitable, but said 2003 will be the "ramp up year," and the following years will be for "building critical mass."