Will the next entrants on the NBR Rich List earn their place through pruning the unwanted facial hair of men the world over?

While PHR Global is not yet in Rich List category, the NZ Company’s product, the groom mate Platinum XL nose and hair trimmer was so popular on internet store Amazon.com that it was named the bestselling health care and grooming product of 2008.

Last year alone 250,000 men (and a few women) started using the battery free trimmer in their daily grooming routine.

While the business originated in the US, the couple behind it Diane and Mark Bellm, bought it with them when they immigrated to Taupo, NZ two years ago.

Mr Bellm says much of the distribution to wholesalers is done from their Taupo base and while manufacturing of the trimmers is currently in the US, he is hoping to start production of the Groom Mate classic in Taupo this year.

“We are looking at renting some factory space,” he adds.

The US office where Mr Bellm’s brother is based is also responsible for some the distribution especially for retailers in the US.

The company has sold around 3.5 million nose trimmers wholesale since the company started in the early 1990s and over the previous five years sales have doubled. Last year its retails sales were worth nearly $3 million.

Mr Bellm is happy to admit that he never imagined that the company would grow the way it has.

“When we sold them at $7 or $8 the idea that we could sell them as fast as we could make them for $35 was unbelievable,” he says.

“We have got so much exposure selling on Amazon… distributors and retailers around the world are finding our products and signing up to distribute them,” he says.

He reels off a list of new countries where the hair trimmer is being sold that includes Japan, Norway, Finland, England and Slovenia.

Mr Bellm says these are very exciting times for the company especially as the slow down does not seem to be impacting sales.

“Economic hardship must mean that that cool guy out there who used to drive an expensive, flash car trying to attract hot chicks is now reduced to riding a moped and realizes that he needs to pay more attention to his hygiene and the unsightly forest growing in his nose if he wants to attract members of the opposite sex,” he jokes.