Local company embarks on R&D

The Splash Research Institute (SRI) established by diversifying beauty and wellness conglomerate Splash Corp. is a showcase of how investments in research, development and innovation (RDI) can make a Filipino homegrown company globally competitive.

Rhodette Gamba, head of Splash Corp.'s Innovations and Corporate Marketing group, said that the conglomerate was proud of having established its SRI in 1997. The facility has served as an R&D hub where Splash successfully develops new products.

“We are the only Filipino company thriving in an industry dominated by multinationals,” Gamba told science and technology reporters in an interview. “We're proud to be a Filipino company that can compete with the multinationals.”

Splash Corp. is the fifth largest personal care products company in the Philippines, next only to the giant multinationals.

The steady investment in research has meant that the SRI has a state-of-the-art laboratory featuring analytical equipment to test products under development and equipment to prototype and test packaging designs.

At any given time SRI has between 15 to 20 scientists – chemists chemical engineers, biochemists, and pharmacists – busy working on R&D on their best-selling beauty and wellness brands, and new product innovations.