‘I founded a company because I wanted to re-create the relationship between company and the people around the company.
Relationship between
・Stockholder and the company,
・Employee and the company,
・Outside suppliers and the company,
・Client and the company,
・Customer and the company…’

What made him think in this way, after hopping here and there to totally different types of businesses?

NAKAMORI explained that his father’s influence was behind his vision of how to run a company. Although he had no idea of what kind of business he should run, he decided to work for the National Tax Administration Agency to see how money flows in and out of a company.

— So, will you share with us why you jumped into different fields—-from the Tax Agency to the girls’ fashion industry?
In the Tax Agency, you are able to see the cash flow of any company. Branding Co. Ltd., the company running TGC, was a small company, but had big potential with regard to cash flow, and they were growing. In addition, they run such a big event (TGC). I thought I should see the potential of this company first hand.

Later, I became the CEO of a girls’ apparel company with about 300 staffs. The experience made me see that a company is a living thing. During my time there, I worked on the reconstruction of a brand that was once very famous. I had gone to each employee to hear each one’s stories; I listened to the anxiety that each had. Although the words, expressions and stories differed, the basics were the same. They wanted to make the brand better. I figured that what I was expected to do was to prepare an environment in which they could perform at their best. I could not have found that out if I was at the desk working with the numbers. A company is strong when every member has the same goal.

For an apparel company to be successful, it is often said that it is essential to have good sales staff in the shop. In order to maintain a high motivation among the sales staff, I set up incentive programs, but keeping up good communication with them worked much better. Listening to their stories, worries, and ideas… counting on them and trying with them, and showing that you consider them keeps motivation higher than any incentive program.

— Why did you change your business field from girls’ apparel to cosmetics?
Since I was in the apparel field, I wanted to try something new with cosmetics. The cosmetics business is kind of a “wild” business—you throw in 1 billion JPY and you get back 800 million JPY as revenue. But, when you look into the costs, the materials you need make up only 10% or less of the product; 30% of the cost is marketing. This, I thought, is not really an honest attitude towards customers.

So, I thought it would be quite exciting if I opened up the numbers and said, ‘I sourced materials at this cost, and I used this much money to notify you about our product, and I will get paid this much money for my work, and this much will remain at the company’. And maybe I could make a new wave in the industry.

— How come you decided to import the STOP THE WATER series?
I first found this product when we were doing research on overseas products because we were trying to create our own organic/natural cosmetics collection. When I first saw this, I thought it embodied the new relationship between the consumer and product that I was thinking of. The product was directly giving out the message to the person using it. I thought that it was interesting, so I contacted the founder in August. We really hit it off, and we decided to take the series into Japan by October.

At first, I simply thought the design was nice. But when I took a closer look, it was telling me to turn off the water. I found this method for receiving a message to be very natural and I felt good. You like the design first, and then you find the message. I think this series will be a good entrance to know about the problems that the world connotes such as about environment or poverty.

I didn’t know anything about water issues, such as virtual water, until I found this product. I still sometimes forget to turn off the water when taking a shower even though I use these shampoos and conditioners. People can’t do everything perfectly. People don’t want to look at or talk about what they can’t do. But you’ll find that it’s not as hard as you think if you give it a shot.

I think the world would change if everyone took a small step forward. So I wish for this series to become something that pushes people to step forward. I want to make a product or service that anyone who felt like they want to do something more about it can do something in daily life.

— The Company’s name, BIOTOPE, sounds like various kinds of life living together.
For this company, I want to collaborate with people outside the company in fair relationships. It’s literally a “biotope” with many types of talents.

In my previous job as a CEO, I questioned myself about the ideal form of the relationship between employer/company and employee. Even when the company was satisfying its sales goals, I once had to lay off some employees in order to create more profit, and it was really hard.

Now, I’m satisfied with a small company. But I want to make alliances with many people outside the company in a fair way, and create something new together.
As for the company, I do have my plans and numbers to achieve, but I don’t want to stick to them just to stick to them. I want to be flexible and pursue the ideas that arise between our company and the collaborators.

(Interview Ends)

You can’t achieve perfection by yourself, but if you work with someone else, it increases the possibilities of things that can be done. The possibilities emerge from a person and will spread out and connect with the possibilities of others, creating a new possibility. It’s just like the branches and leaves of trees entwining, and becoming a BIOTOPE that gives birth to new lives. This is what I felt from the name of the company—what NAKAMORI felt about the relationship and communication between the consumer and a company, product and consumer. I wondered how a company could be a fair player among all the other players in the biotope of capitalism.

It will be something really simple with no extra information, design, or ingredients– NAKAMORI comments regarding their original cosmetics collection that is under development.

“Cosmetics tell people how good the ingredients are to make you beautiful, but they only consist of 0.1% or lower of the ingredient. It’s questionable whether it is really working. So I won’t do that kind of extra marketing to make our product look better than it really is. We are hoping to release it by next year, so look forward to it!”