Letter Highlights New Business Initiatives with First Product Launch Scheduled for Early Summer 2022
First New Product Represents Large Potential Market Opportunity with Provisional Patent to be Filed in the Next Week
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / June 3, 2022 / Stevia Corp. (OTC PINK:STEV) ("Stevia Corp" or the "Company"), a healthcare company focused on the commercial development of products that support a healthy lifestyle announced today that it has published a letter to shareholders from the Company's Chairman and President Kenneth Maciora.
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Dear Shareholders:
It is with great pleasure and excitement that I am writing to you today in my second shareholder letter as Chairman of Stevia Corp. Some of you have been investors and shareholders in Stevia Corp. for a long time. For your faith and perseverance, you have my deep appreciation. Some of you may have only purchased the stock over the recent year. Thank you for your loyalty, dedication, and interest.
I will begin this second shareholder letter with a brief history of what has been accomplished since I first accepted the responsibility of being Chairman of a company that was deep in debt with no access to OTC Markets to file financial statements, and with no viable strategy to build a promising future for shareholders. Many shareholders have contacted me with questions, some basic and some that required a more detailed response. Among all the inquiries, I have remained steadfast on a few basic values. First, every decision we would make would be in the best interest of shareholders. Second, we would settle all outstanding toxic debt. Third, we would review every opportunity that was presented to us and ask the most important question. Is this the right thing for shareholders? Fourth, any business commitment would not be based on hopes, dreams, or pie in the sky scenarios. All our plans going forward would be based on sound business principles so we could build a promising future for shareholders.
Stevia Corp. was formerly a farm management company. The key product that Stevia Corp. wanted to market and sell was stevia which would be sourced from farms in Asia. Asia is one of the most prolific stevia producing regions in the world. The basic tenet of the business plan was to contract with farmers at predetermined prices and to make a spread between the set prices and the prevailing retail and wholesale prices around the world. Although the former CEO and his team made some progress, the plan never was fully implemented to give the company a competitive advantage in the stevia business and most importantly, a competitive advantage to build a stevia brand.
Since I took over, we have eliminated most of the corporate debt while eliminating all toxic debt. Second, we have paid our transfer agent and even pre-paid some of their fees. Third, we have hired a competent lawyer and accountant who have assisted us in filing all our filings with OTC Markets. We have now achieved Current Information status. Finally, we have reviewed numerous business opportunities and spent hundreds of hours to build value for shareholders. Although our progress might have seemed slow, there was a lot of thought and careful decision making behind the scenes. I and my fellow director Dr. Jerry Smartt Jr. have worked tirelessly to secure your company's future.
Over the past few months, I have reviewed a long list of business opportunities. Over the course of multiple conversations, I have reviewed these opportunities with my fellow director Dr. Jerry Smartt Jr. Dr. Smartt is a board-certified practicing neurologist in Indiana with an impeccable reputation as a medical doctor and as a person. As I previously mentioned in our first shareholder letter, I requested Dr. Smartt's continued presence on our board of directors because of his impeccable reputation and intellect in the healthcare field. I have also traveled multiple times in the middle of a pandemic to conduct due diligence on multiple opportunities. The question I continued to ask after reviewing each opportunity was, "Is it right for shareholders?". Some opportunities required a reverse split which resulted in a resounding no. Others were promising but also required significant money raises which would result in significant dilution to our current shareholders and as a result, we also passed on those opportunities.
On behalf of our entire company and all our valued shareholders, it is with great pleasure that I announce that we have chosen to launch our own branded, select line of dietary supplement and herbal extract products with the first product to be marketed for men's prostate health by the summer of 2022. As some of you may know, the rules regarding the marketing of dietary supplements are clear and concise. Under no circumstance can a product be marketed with unsubstantiated claims. That means that most dietary supplements are marketed with mandatory language on the label which includes these two mandatory sentences: "This statement has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration" and "This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease." Even with all the strict rules and marketing guidelines which are strictly monitored by the United States Food and Drug Administration, the worldwide market for dietary supplements was in excess of $150 billion USD in 2021.
So the question is, how does a company that is small with limited resources now compete in a dietary supplement/herbal extracts marketplace that typically requires multi-million-dollar marketing budgets to realistically compete and build sales in a highly competitive marketplace? The plan is based on 5 key points which will guide our company going forward.
- Carefully choose products by gauging current patient acceptance and reviews of certain dietary supplements and herbal extracts that are achieving that population's desired effect.
- Patent our formulas to create our own proprietary brand because intellectual property is the key strategic advantage in the dietary supplements and herbal extracts market.
- Form an advisory panel consisting of medical and scientific experts to recommend dietary and herbal supplements with favorable patient acceptance rates to guide the rollout of these products.
- Initiate a limited regional rollout to gauge customer reviews before national rollout to conservatively manage corporate spending.
- The key to our marketing plan will be to use customer generated reviews of our products which will be wholly distinctive and separate from any statements our company makes about our own products.
We have identified the key ingredients in our first product which will be marketed to men over 50 for prostate health. Over the next few days, we expect to be able to file a provisional patent for our proprietary formula. We will update shareholders as soon as the provisional patent is filed and as soon as the United States Patent and Trademark Office acknowledges receipt of our filing.
Most importantly, we are not abandoning our former business. To this end, we fully intend to launch our own branded organic stevia line. One of the business trips I had taken was for the sole purpose of sourcing out a quality organic stevia product and we have identified such a product. Although we don't believe the organic stevia product will amount to the same sales as our supplement for men's prostate health, we believe there is a void in the marketplace for a quality organic stevia product and we fully intend to tackle that endeavor and to fill that void. However, it is important that we clearly communicate that our product for men's prostate health has many times the revenue potential of an organic stevia product.
Communicating with shareholders is a vital task for all publicly held companies. We will continue to respond to inquiries in a timely way while preserving the sensitive nature of our plans. We always welcome shareholder inquiries because recently, our share price has suffered as a result of a vacuum of updates as we solidified our plans going forward. We truly believe that our men's prostate health product has a very large market opportunity, but opportunities remain opportunities until they are seized upon and management executes the plan. We are now entering the execution phase and we will regularly update investors on our progress.
When I opened my first company, I built a world class advisory panel to execute a successful business plan. Among the advisory panel members was Chuck House who was the first engineering director for Hewlett Packard and Ted Stanley who founded Utah-based Anesta Corp. which was bought out for $440 million. I personally plan on building the same type of world class advisory panel for our public company to help guide our company's path going forward.
I am certain that most of you want to know whether the parent company will change its name. The answer is ultimately yes but name changes are subject to state and regulatory approvals, and we will begin that process shortly. At the same time, Stevia Corp. will remain part of our assets as a wholly owned subsidiary subject to the approval of the parent company's name change. However, there will be no delay in the execution of our business plan. We do plan on raising a limited amount of capital over the near term to execute our business plan and we expect to be able to provide updates on these plans in the coming months.
On behalf of our entire company, I thank you very much for your continued support and interest in our public company. I hope our performance and stock performance in the year ahead fully justifies your confidence in us. We have great confidence in our plan going forward.
Thank you and respectfully,
/s/ Kenneth Maciora
Kenneth Maciora
Chairman and President
Stevia Corp.
About Stevia Corp.
Stevia Corp. is focused on the development, marketing and sale of carefully selected dietary supplement and herbal extract products for human health. The company markets its products through independent and unbiased customer reviews by real customers who are verified users of the company's products. Stevia Corp is also developing an organic stevia brand.
Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined in Section 27A of the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Statements in this press release, which are not purely historical, are forward-looking statements and include any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. Such factors include, among others, the inherent uncertainties associated with new projects and development stage companies. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and we assume no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Although we believe that any beliefs, plans, expectations and intentions contained in this press release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that any such beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions will prove to be accurate.
Contact:
Kenneth Maciora
President
Stevia Corp.
(917) 670-9541
[email protected]
SOURCE: Stevia Corp.