04/03/2025
On the first of March, Integrow Health turned 25 years old!
A lot has happened in a quarter century. For one, we are all a bit older. For another, the tech landscape has changed completely. In 2000, very few South African companies had websites. Many companies still sent faxes instead of emails. Cellphones were commonplace, but they did not look like smartphones at all. They had keypads and small screens that only allowed text messaging. Images had to be composed of letters and numbers (remember those?)
The world's computers had magically survived the Millennium Bug. Most PCs were still running Windows 95 or 98 (shudder).
For better or worse, the tech and the business landscapes are closely intertwined. Drive-through grocery shopping was regarded as "cutting edge". Online shopping was possible (Amazon opened its doors in 1995), but cost a fortune to set up and maintain. Only for the biggest of players.
And then ... on 10 March 2000, the dot-com bubble burst. It affected not only internet businesses, but also offline businesses. Supplements? Most people had their minds elsewhere. Getting off the ground was tough, but Integrow Health was in it for the long haul.
Ironically, the dot-com crash levelled the playing field for tiny players like us.
Google had launched in 1998 (on a server made of Lego).
Facebook only opened doors in 2004.
Apple launched its first iPhone in 2007.
Just as things started going smoothly for online business, the 2008 financial crisis hit. Supplements? Most people had their minds elsewhere. Integrow Health kept marching on.
In 2009, Integrow Health opened its online supplement shop. The cost of setting up and maintaining an online shop had plummeted to a few thousand Rands a month. We could play on the same field as the big companies. South Africa, however, was in the throes of state capture. Supplements? Most people had their minds elsewhere. But Integrow Health kept marching on.
In 2015, we took our next big leap of faith, by going entirely virtual. No more bricks and mortar shop. It was scary at first, but proved to be the right decision time and again (did anyone just say "Covid-19"?).
The roller coaster called "world history" kept twisting and turning. The Dem-panic was but one of many challenges, big and small. Being nimble and innovative kept Integrow Health going when all about were losing their heads.
And here we are, 25 years later, still standing, stronger than ever.
We are very grateful to YOU, our customer, fan and supporter, for sticking with us through thick and thin. A business is only a business if it has customers who support it.
We are also grateful to our amazing staff, who have given loyal support over the decades. Chief of these is Gail, Our Lady Of The Books, who has been here right from the very beginning. Thank you, Gail! And thank you to all the others who helped us get here today.
We are grateful for our manufacturers and suppliers, who helped us produce top notch products for our customers, on time (well, mostly).
We are extremely grateful to Doc Frank's family for sharing him with the rest of the world. They were often the first guinea pigs of his latest inventions (sshhh, don't tell the social worker). And if they survived, unsuspecting friends were often next in line. At least, nothing was ever tested on animals.
Most of all, we are grateful to our Lord and Creator, who made an incredibly rich, complex and diverse world, where there are problems and solutions all mixed together, a world with endless possibilities for good (or evil), a world full of joy (and sorrow). In short, a world where we can make meaningful choices, to live meaningful lives against all the odds. If it were easy, it would be boring.
In such a world, supplements can act as little bridges to help us reach a bit further in and higher up, to touch a few more lives with good, to dry a few more tears, to bring a few more smiles. A supplement on its own cannot bring fulfilment, but when it empowers the user to achieve a dream, it has served its purpose.
We are living in an exciting age, if only we choose to see it. If, in 2000, you had to predict what the world would look like in 2025, you would have been dead wrong at every guess. Reality is much wilder than even our wildest imagination. If you keep looking at the crises, you will miss the rainbows. There is always hope for those who have chosen to see.
It is this hope that underlies the Integrow Health logo. If you look carefully, it can look either like a leaf, or a bird. That bird is the phoenix, perpetually rising anew, alive, from the ashes of past failures and crises. The leaf symbolises the use of God-given natural substances to bring hope and healing to our customers. Over the past 25 years, we were privileged to help many thousands find release from bo***ge to drugs, disease and despair. What a privilege!
There is no special offer today, but don't despair! We're going to have something out of the ordinary soon!
To your (hope-filled) health!
The Team at Integrow Health
