UNIVA AWARDS 2024 WINNERS ANNOUNCED
One company, two teams, one person: the story of how they achieved glory

After the FINAL CONTEST on April 8th, the winners of the UNIVA AWARDS 2024 were decided. Once again, congratulations to everyone at UNIVA Paycast (UPC) for winning Company of the Year! Congratulations to the winners, the NPGL team at Naturally Plus Hong Kong (NPHK), the Alliance Sales Team at UPC, and James from UNIVA Naturally Plus Taiwan (UNP Taiwan). In the June issue, we will introduce the stories of the WINNERs along with the reasons why they received the award.

The UNIVA AWARDS is a major event for the UNIVA Group. We look forward to seeing you again on the UNIVA AWARDS stage next year. I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to our group companies and colleagues for their generous cooperation. Thank you very much!

UNIVA AWARDS 2024
Company of the Year: UNIVA Paycast
Winner: Naturally Plus Hong Kong, NPGL Team
Winner: UNIVA Paycast, Sales Department Alliance Sales Team
Winner: UNP Taiwan, James Lu

10 times increase from last year! HOP, Re-HOP to "Super" STEP

The momentum of UPC in FY24 was impressive. Sales of 5.8 billion yen and operating profit of 500 million yen are more than 10 times higher than the previous year! They have successfully achieved their sales target and improved profitability. It was a brilliant year truly worthy of Company of the Year, and a powerful passing of the baton to a year of great leaps forward toward 2025.

The expansion of earnings was supported by both the establishment of stable profitability and the creation of medium- to long-term earnings opportunities.

"By collaborating with digital tool startups and platform providers, we have succeeded in increasing the number of e-commerce affiliated stores by 4,500. I think this is a perfect example of co-creation. In addition, the introduction of a minimum monthly fee has significantly increased fixed costs that are not affected by payment amounts, leading to improved and stable profitability. In the medium to long term, the amount of payments made by users outside of Japan, particularly American users, is increasing as overseas companies have begun cross-border e-commerce transactions in foreign currencies. Although there are still some uncertainties, this has the potential to become a new market. QR payments for inbound tourists have also grown significantly since last year, and we expect this to continue to grow steadily in the future.

Since then, the local consumption-based hometown tax donation program "Koko Furu" has entered its second year, and the number of municipalities participating has increased to 14. In the future, we will further deepen our collaboration and create a business that can reach not only people living in Japan but also inbound users. ” (Mr. Nakao)

The 2025 "JUMP Plan" is off to a good start. The UPC NAKAMA that supports it also underwent a major overhaul of its personnel system in 2024. The aim was to reconstruct the evaluation criteria and improve engagement.

"Because the merger with Ubicast and IPS made the evaluation criteria unclear, it was clear that NAKAMA engagement and the associated amount of action had declined. So we optimized the evaluation system and clarified salary updates and goal setting. There has been a clear change in motivation and the amount of action. By each NAKAMA thinking for themselves and taking action, they have gained a better understanding of the business and a future-oriented approach, which is now directly linked to business revenue results. From the management's perspective, it has become possible to implement short-term plans smoothly, which has been a great advantage in executing future management plans." (Mr. Nakao)

In addition, thorough automation of routine tasks has led to improved work efficiency and productivity for each team. The results of each and every NAKAMA thinking for themselves, putting their ideas into practice, and seeing it through to completion have led to increased productivity, which is reflected in the figures as profit per person.

"2025 is our jump period! If each and every employee continues to take on challenging endeavors that go beyond the framework of 'payments,' we should be able to achieve better results than this term. Our goal for 2030, five years from now, is to be a company with sales of 25 billion yen. And beyond that, we await sales of 100 billion yen as a global UPC corporate entity."

Everyone at UPC, we look forward to your high JUMP in 2025!

Sales of main products suspended: "Teamwork" born from desperate situation

Since 2022, NPGL has seen a decline in membership due to the effects of COVID-19, and in October 2023, IZUIMIO, which accounted for 30% of total sales, was no longer able to be imported to China due to a factory relocation, resulting in a decline in sales. With their backs against the wall, it was the NPGL team that decided to take action and increase sales.

"The key was to promote our new product, Super Revive (SR). However, before the product was released, we were full of anxiety about whether the new product would be effective in increasing sales. As a team, we made every assumption and came up with promotional ideas. We also wanted to promote not only the new product, but also our more expensive product, Super Lutein MirtoPlus (SLM), at the same time, in order to contribute to increased sales." (NPGL team)

Specifically, the company made steady efforts such as offering special benefits for purchasing "SLM" exclusively to "IZUMIO" users, increasing content distribution, and conducting intensive online seminars. This paid off, and "SLM" was a success, with sales increasing by 127.8%. In addition, campaigns and seminars were held to coincide with the release of SR. It sold out on the day it went on sale! Since then, we have been continuously promoting it, such as introducing members' experiences in our newsletter every week, and it has been going well, accounting for 40% of our total sales.

Furthermore, it is said that the generous support given to leaders in the the main land of China also boosted morale throughout the region.

"We provided cash subsidies based on performance, and also subsidized the costs of renovating homes into salons. Of course, there were conditions, but by creating an environment where motivated and proven leaders could run their businesses with high motivation, we were able to see results. As proof of the members' increased motivation for business, we were able to hold 32 seminars led by the members themselves, not by the company." (NPGL team)

Thanks to the team's perseverance, never giving up attitude and willingness to listen and empathise with members, we achieved our sales target at 136.2% higher than the previous year. What's more, the company has been in the black every month from January to December. This is truly the result of mutual understanding and hard work between the team and our members.

Congratulations to the entire NPGL team. I was really impressed with your teamwork!!

Realizing "co-creation capitalism" with partner companies!

The UPC Sales Department Alliance Sales Team co-created new value by linking its own services with those provided by partner companies. The award was given in recognition of the company's efforts to embody the UNIVA WAY through collaboration with other companies.

Let’s start by introducing some quantitative results from their co-creation. The total transaction amount for affiliated stores through major system partners was 14 billion yen, up 179% from the previous year. Furthermore, the total transaction value of affiliated stores through introduced partners was 11.2 billion yen, more than three times higher than the previous year! How did you collaborate with partner companies to increase your transaction value?

"We held a total of 12 seminars on the introduction of UnivaPay at user-participation events and study sessions hosted by our system partner companies that incorporate the payment system. We also held three events in the cafe space at the UPC office. These opportunities not only led to an increase in the number of new member stores, but also to an expansion of our network with influencers and industry leaders. 'Co-creation' led to more 'co-creation'," says Hasegawa.

The number of new applications from affiliated stores was 4,155, also a 106% increase over the previous year. The provision of a package plan for system partners with no initial or monthly fees had a major impact on the expansion of the number of affiliated stores. On the other hand, issues facing non-operating franchisees were highlighted.

"We conducted a survey of non-operating franchisees, analyzed the reasons, and created a landing page. We hope to use this landing page to approach non-operating stores and increase transactions," says Hasegawa.

Furthermore, they targeted and approached influencers with large communities among their "introduction partners" who handle transactions. This was the starting point, and by holding joint seminars (held 21 times), they were able to significantly increase the number of new affiliated stores.

Without trust, it is impossible to build structures and mechanisms that will further the growth of both their businesses. It was because they were able to build a strong relationship of trust that they were able to stabilize our profits and maximize our figures.

Congratulations to the Alliance Sales Team on your award.

An innovator who developed an electronic application approval system with no engineering experience

The last WINNER we will introduce is James from UNP Taiwan. James, who is not an engineer, has developed an "electronic application approval system"! What does this mean, James?

"Paper-based application procedures are a hassle, aren't they? For the applicant, it takes time and effort to print out the documents, fill them out, and mail them off, and for the person approving them, they have to go to the trouble of coming into the office to check the application documents. I also felt that the time required for travel and mailing was an issue, and I thought that improvements were necessary from the perspective of the SDGs as well." (James)

However, when I looked into the online application platforms currently available, I found that they cost between 2.6 million and 4.4 million yen per year. With these results, I consulted with UNIVA Technologies Taiwan (UTTW).

"UTTW told me that it is possible to build an electronic application and approval system using Microsoft 365 apps. I received that suggestion. Thanks to this suggestion, I now have a clearer idea of what I need to do. From then on, I started studying every day, dwelling on reference books and YouTube (laughs)."

With no knowledge of programming languages whatsoever, James taught himself no-code, low-code development, and through trial and error he made improvements based on feedback from his colleagues, completing the app on his own. The approval process, which previously took several days, has now been shortened to just one day, which has also contributed greatly to reducing printing, shipping, and labor costs.

"This is an outcome that would not have been possible without the cooperation of UTTW. It is a true example of co-creation. I am very pleased that we were able to promote paperless operations and CO2 reduction in our own company, as well as contribute to improving NAKAMA's work efficiency and reducing the company's costs."

His approach of identifying problems, working together to solve them, eagerly learning even in areas where he has no experience, and completing projects is a perfect example of the UNIVA WAY. Thank you for your hard work, James!

Congratulations to all the UNIVA AWARDS 2024 winners!
All NAKAMAs, please send your congratulatory messages in the comments section!