b


It’s all human nature F


8


October 3, 2010


magazine the green revolution The Sunday Times » BY CARLEEN RIZA MANUEL SPECIAL TO THE MANILA TIMES


OR at least three young entrepreneurs, a good business is one that makes environmentally friendly products and helps others in need.


So in 2008, Anna Meloto-Wilk, Dylan


Wilk and Camille Meloto established Gandang Kalikasan Inc., which makes and sells personal care products made from organic materials and employs residents in Gawad Kalinga communities. Their products, which include soaps, shampoo and hair conditioners, fall under the brand name Human Nature. Living a year in the US, Anna and Dylan saw the growing market of organic products that made them more accessible to ordinary American citizens instead of just products for the wealthy and the elite. Anna believed that Filipinos also deserve living a healthy lifestyle and a role to save the environment.


Through this experience, she thought about bringing the concept of affordable natural products to the Philippines as well because they firmly believe that consum- ers can make an impact on the environ- ment by making smarter and more conscientious purchases. With the help of her sister Camille, she started doing research on how they will be able to bring natural and organic products to the Philippines. Through connections, she found someone who would help her come out with the standard quality of their products. “There is a misconception that as long as it has botanical ingredients then it can be considered an ‘all-natural product’ already, but a lot of these so- called natural products still have harmful chemical components in them, which affect the environment as well as our families,” said Anna.


Rocky start


But their path for goodwill and success was not easy. “It was very challenging because we had to do everything ourselves and we didn’t have any staff yet,” recalled Anna. She said that they did all the work and had to open for the Christmas season, which was the busiest time of the year. And there were some production chal- lenges they had to deal with because of


the overwhelming demand they received, leaving them with a house full of boxes. “A lot of young families come to us because they were aware of the effects of harmful chemicals to their bodies and to the environment.” She said families are finally starting to become conscientious with the things they buy.


As parents of two daughters, Dylan and Anna still manage to bring their kids to school every morning and they always make sure that Sundays are solely devoted for the family. “Great things can only be accomplished by great sacrifices,” said Anna.


A heart for nature


Human Nature offers a wide array of personal care products that will delight organic fads.


Their products range from P50 to P 275. Facial washes cost P59.75 while full- sized shampoos at 200 ml are just P99.75, making it accessible to ordinary Filipinos. As a pro-environment brand, Human Nature tests their products on animals. “We only test the formulations on our- selves and other human subjects. For people with sensitive skin, we suggest that they try our products first before they use it extensively because even if our prod- ucts are mild or natural, it doesn’t mean they are hypoallergenic.”


Anna added that some people could actually be allergic to natural ingredients. “Most natural products in the US and Europe also carry this warning about using natural and organic products.” Thankfully though, those who have tried the all-natural range have been happy with the effects. “We’ve hardly been doing any marketing activities; word of mouth is very powerful because it gives us more credibil- ity when actual users talk about their positive experiences with the products.”


Pro-poor


From the start, Gandang Kalikasan Inc., the company behind Human Nature, was


conceptualized with the goal of providing a sustainable livelihood to Gawad Kalinga (GK) residents. The aim is to eventually develop organic farms and processing areas in GK communities all over the country, and the promise, to produce high value, world-class raw materials in order to raise Philippines out of poverty. “The poor is one of our top priorities and we strive hard to provide a fair and honorable livelihood for them,” said Anna. Currently, they employ most of their warehouse staff from GK communi- ties and pay them more than the minimum wage with reasonable work hours. If they go beyond those work hours, they gladly pay a premium for it.


Anna further explained, “We have seen how these labor practices have given our workers confidence, improved productiv- ity and pro-activeness in their work.” She also said that as a team, they want to build a culture of excellence even among the poor because they believe that they have as much potential as those of us who have been educated. “The only advantage that we have among them is the opportunities that we were given and that they were


deprived of,” she added.


Besides, GK communities, they are now helping farmers of a cooperative in Camarines Norte. It also enjoys the support of the Philippine Federation for Environmental Concern and AID Founda- tion Inc., which help bring alternative sources of energy and electricity to rural areas outside the grid.


Plans


In the future, Human Nature desires to expand their dealership locally through conducting a lot of trainings and recruitment for their dealers in the coming months.


They are looking forward to introducing new and exciting products, grow their own raw materials from GK communities and export their products abroad.


“The Philippines has one of the highest bio-diversity. We can produce high-value finished products and provide more prosperity to our people by becoming better stewards of our resources and our people.” Anna hopes and prays that someday their efforts will pay off and more people can enjoy the fruits of their labor.


Coffee women in Hawaii I


had a great time in Honolulu last week where I was invited to speak at the 7th International Women’s Leadership Confer- ence. The round dining tables, which accommodated a thousand attendees were decorated with local produce: papaya, pineapple, rambutan, bananas and the lunch menu was SUSTAINABLE—local salad, local fish and organic chicken. The organizers even went green to the very detail of our conference giveaway which was an herb garden kit. Gov. Linda Lingle, two-term governor of the paradise islands hosted the event, now on its seventh year and features women leaders from around the world. Luckily, I was seated beside a most wonderful woman, Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe of Uganda, CNN Hero of the Year in 2007, who shared a lot with another third world speaker—me. The organizers showed the audience our origins or


provenance by showing a Google Earth search of our hometowns as we were being introduced one by one. How nice to see Google Earth zeroing in on Taguig City to show the crowd where ECHOstore sustain- able lifestyle, our shop, is located. Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe rescued many children who were victims of torture by the Last Resistance rebels, many of them raped and abused infront of their parents, some of them suffering from “cutting or slashing” of their lips or when they complained of tiredness and wanting to “rest,” they were put to rest by having the other children lay them to rest forever or even ordering another kid their age shoot them to death. But there is new hope in these kids who survived such trauma. Sister Rosemary put up a tailoring shop, a school and a commu- nity center where the kids now make crafts, bags and clothes, which Sister sells online and in the conferences where she speaks. I took Sister Rosemary for a quick walking tour of the shops near our hotel, when we both had some free time after the conference. We both feasted our eyes on the packaging of products like coffee, papaya, mango—products Africa and the Philippines both produce—and here is Hawaii being able to sell its coffee for example at $35 a pound! Ah, we thought, we could take these ideas home and put up retail shops for our third world produce, so similar to Hawaii’s. Sister was so inspired she treated me to breakfast so we could further discuss what we could do to uplift her African community by exploring coffee and organic produce. I actually got inspired to espouse the cause of Organic Coffee from my visit in 2004 to Uganda. IFOAM (International


CHIT JUAN


Organization for Organic and Agricultural Movement) held a First Organic Coffee Conference in Kampala, Uganda and I went to see what future there was in this coffee niche. I soon saw Ugandan coffee farms, which were organically grown and certified and could export to Europe as Certified Organic Coffee. When I went back to Manila, I knew Organic Coffee would be a cause I would advocate for. Since then, we have had the fortune of being able to certify (through IMO) Benguet State University and coffee—producing communities in Kalinga and Ifugao. It was a long journey but well worth the effort and patience. Now I find myself coming full circle in Organic Coffee when I met Sister Rosemary. She now wants me to help her organize her community to make their own brand, their own roasted coffee and maybe their own coffee shop. They first taught me about Organic Coffee in


2004, I will now teach them Branding and Marketing in 2010.


This is great news for the Philippine Coffee Industry as it celebrates its Coffee Month this October. We are learning from other countries about basic coffee produc- tion (we recently had a study tour in Brazil) while we will be able to teach them Coffee Shop Operations, Branding and Retailing. We will even have a Coffee Webinar on October 9 (at 10 a.m. Manila time) to be able to accommodate as many as a thousand people online on How to Put Up a Coffee Shop, and Sister Rosemary may be among our participants. We will also have our 3rd Philippine Coffee Summit on October 18 at AIM Conference Center where all coffee stakeholders will share and compare our new mission to attain our vision for self- sufficiency in coffee.


Indeed, coffee is a global topic and Philippine Coffee can make waves, maybe not in production statistics, but in making a difference even in the lives of other coffee producers like Sister Rosemary. Come to our Coffee Month activities at Greenbelt 5 Gallery called COFFEE ORIGINS 2010 on October 7 to 20. Free coffee from many areas of the Philippines will be served . Chit Juan is the co-chairman and


president of the Philippine Coffee Board Inc. and owner of ECHOstore Sustainable lifestyle. She often speaks about coffee, women empowerment and social entrepre- neurship. You can follow her on \t “_blank” twitter.com/chitjuan and also visit \t “_blank” www.coffeeboard.com.ph and facebook:philcoffeeboard; \t “_blank” twitter.com/philcoffeeboard.


Live green


Green Home, Clean Home campaign was launched at the second year anniversary of Echostore Sustainable Lifestyle recently. The pioneering green and fair trade retail store for sustainable products and community support initiatives, this store believes that a sustainable lifestyle begins first with the self and one’s personal surroundings. In its first year, Echostore launched a natural body care line called Home Basics stating that you can begin living naturally first and foremost with what you use on your bodies.


Now on its second year anniversary, the Green Home, Clean Home campaign urges everyone to check the kind of home cleaning solution choices used in the home. It is a campaign that aims to increase awareness of the use of green environment friendly products in the household. These newest home cleaning product line called Echostore Home Basics is a collection of eco-friendly home cleaning solutions formulated with natural cleaning ingredients that effectively eliminates germs and bacteria. There are absolutely no harsh chemicals, bleaches or toxins are in these cleaning solutions. The best part of the campaign is that each purchase of the Home Basics products supports the Echostore Home Fund. It promotes environmental sustainability initiatives as well. So it’s hitting two birds with one stone: cleaning your home while you’re greening the earth too.


Echostore Home Basics are available at at the Ground Floor of Serendra Piazza, Bonifacio Global City; at the Ground Floor of The Podium, Mandaluyong City; and at the Echovillage store at 69 Esteban Abada Loyola Heights Quezon City. For orders and inquiries, call 901- 3485/ 470-2688 or SMS 0917-5141396, or send an e-mail to echostore@echostore.ph for details.


GREEN SPACE


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16