Terri Martin (2020 Alumna) - Head of Commercial, Essential Flavours

Terri Martin sells flavour. As Head of Commercial at Essential Flavours, an Australian family-owned flavour developer and manufacturer, her role is about the connection between cultures, cuisines and continents. Essential Flavours may not be a household name, but its work is found in fridges and pantries across the region. “We create flavours for food manufacturers,” Martin explains. The Melbourne-based company develops tastes and other global flavour products formulated by scientists Martin dubs  

Martin manages Essential Flavours’ sales and marketing and has overseen the company’s expansion into Asia since 2019. That includes leading teams in Australia and Vietnam, as well as forging and managing distributor relationships in varied Asian markets including India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, China, Thailand, Taiwan and Korea. 

A reflection of each country’s unique culture, Martin quickly learned that overseas markets demand a varied palate. “We’re the flavour house behind nutraceutical, dairy and beverage products in Vietnam, Thailand, Korea and Taiwan. Each market is entirely different to the next,” she says.

Martin is no stranger to international engagement. “I grew up on a sheep farm in northeast Victoria,” she recalls. “Our family had been growing wool on the property for more than a century, and we exported it to Japan.” Her early exposure to Asia came in the form of visits to the family property from Japanese wool buyers. Yet it wasn’t until her career took flight, initially as a buyer at Coles and then at Essential, that she truly entered Asia’s orbit. “Now I’m managing people, projects and relationships from Auckland all the way through to Dubai,” she says. 

That diversity is what excites Martin and informs her pragmatic but hopeful view of Australia’s place in the world. “We’re relatively small in the grand scheme of things. We’re dependent upon Asia for our longevity in terms of population growth, which is important for our economic development,” she says. But beyond utility lies something more human. “Australia is a culture built on many cultures. That’s our strength.” 

Spending two years living in Singapore and managing Essential’s presence across Asia has shaped Martin’s leadership philosophy. “At the end of the day, there are some basic things that all humans appreciate,” she reflects. “These include connection and the desire to be heard, whether you’re talking to Sherpas in Everest base camp or seasoned business leaders in Shanghai.” But connecting isn’t always simple. “Sometimes we do not give ourselves the time to really understand those nuances,” she cautions, “it cannot be fly-in, fly-out. You cannot be a cowboy to be successful in Asia.” 

Just as connections take time and patience, flavour innovation is slow-burn work. “In our industry, projects can sometimes take five years to come to fruition,” Martin explains. “You really need people that are prepared to be patient and work hard on long-term relationships.” For Australian firms accustomed to quicker wins, this can be confronting. “One of the hardest things is bringing people along on the journey; people who have the energy and motivation but also the patience.”

Decision-making, too, demands adaptation. “In Australia, we’re encouraged from a young age to make decisions based on the best information you have at hand,” she says. “In many parts of Asia, saving face plays an enormous role.” Even trivial questions like what time to break for morning tea can require coaching and reassurance. “Being patient and coaching people around embracing autonomy and decision-making has probably been one of the biggest challenges, and I’m still faced with it every single day,” she says.

Those skills also help in Australia, where Martin says that Essential’s multicultural workforce along with local distributor knowledge has proven a strategic advantage. “We’ve got someone from almost every nation that we sell to working with us,” she says. “It’s exciting to see team members creating and tasting products that will be sold to their country.” This cultural cross-pollination enables Essential to support Australian clients to expand into Asia, and vice versa, helping Asian clients cater to Western tastes. “They’re like, ‘Oh great, you guys know how to do both Asian and non-Asian flavours.’ We say, ‘Absolutely.’”

This cultural exchange, Martin argues, is the future. “We’re working with ice cream manufacturers in Thailand, pharmaceutical firms in India, global cereal and confectionery brands. The opportunity is vast, but we need more companies involved and more learning.” According to Martin, this is something that Asia excels at. “People from Asia are lifelong learners. They just want to keep improving. That’s where Australia can play a bigger role, in partnering through consistent learning opportunities.” 

Martin credits much of her management growth to the Asialink Leaders Program. “It can be lonely working in a global role in a medium-sized business,” Martin admits. “Asialink provided me with cross-sector opportunities, brilliant minds and access to diverse industries.” The most valuable lesson she took from the program? “There are no quick wins,” she says. “The program had good advice for me: It’s the relationships, and the time and patience that will hold you in good stead long term.” 

In a world lurching between geopolitical tensions and demographic shifts, Martin says this experience helps her remain upbeat. “We have to be less dependent on the United States,” she says. “We are seeing how important it is to be friends with everyone.” For her, the future is not just about selling flavours but the taste of something bigger: Australia’s potential as a partner, neighbour and quietly indispensable friend in the Asian century. 

Terri Martin is Head of Commercial at Essential Flavours. She completed the Asialink Leaders Program in 2020.