Natrol Launches Annasa 34987

Natrol Launches Annasa

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

The new business unit is a key element of the company's overall growthstrategy, according to Elliott Balbert, Natrol's founder, chairman and chiefexecutive officer (CEO). "We spent 22 years developing an important andextremely valuable retail relationship throughout the country, and now we areexcited to expand into the world of network marketing," he said. "Wewill be manufacturing entirely new and different items that will be soldexclusively through authorized distributors who in turn will sell direct toconsumers, as well as sponsor and train others to do the same. ... This is a newbeginning 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 pressrelease from the company (www.natrol.com).Balbert will serve as CEO and president of the new business unit, while the restof the management team will include Carol Hukari as chief operating officer,Jeff Gaal as vice president of sales, and Debbie Meyer as vice president ofoperations.

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