Terrafertil
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Ecuador has long been one of the world’s leading exporters of fruits and vegetables. However, agricultural communities have rarely shared in this wealth, and regional biodiversity has suffered from unsustainable cultivation methods. In mid-2005, David Bermeo and two partners – Jonathan Berg and Andres Oleas – broke sharply from history to introduce their own, sustainable model of agricultural export.

Their company, Terrafértil, offers natural and organic dried fruit for distribution in both domestic and international markets. Located in Tabacundo, Ecuador, Terrafértil sits in a buffer zone between two natural reserves – Cayambe-Coca and Reserva Geobotanica Pululahua. Ecuador boasts the world’s highest species per area, and this Andean highland is home to many species and a rich ecosystem. Unlike traditional distributors, David purchases the majority of his fruit from small, organic farms. The conventionally-grown remainder also comes from local farmers, and in the past several years he has connected many growers with technical advisors in organic production.

David recognizes the relevance of sustainable agriculture to human well-being. Tabucundo is the hub of the country’s large flower industry – specifically, roses. Unfortunately, the beauty of these flowers masks an ugly reality of heavy pesticide use that damages the environment and causes illness among workers. Not only does Terrafértil offer safer jobs, it also provides better paying ones. The company pays 70 percent more than the flower industry, a practice that has earned Terrafértil FairTrade certification. While David acknowledges that these business practices add to his costs, he sees a positive return based on the growing premium consumers will pay for responsibly grown produce. Moreover, he observes, “At the end of the day, these practices are the right thing to do.”

Terrafértil’s success to date is yet another example of doing well by doing good. As one of the first companies to capitalize on increasing worldwide demand for healthy, dried-fruit, Terrafértil is poised to nearly double first-year revenue, and orders through 2007 already boast a 30 percent margin. The company currently sells 40 percent of its natural fruits within Ecuador, and all major supermarket chains offer the products under the company’s Terrafértil brand. Exports comprise 60 percent of sales and rising, with dried fruits shipped in bulk to the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany and Israel.

However, David is not content with initial success – he knows too well the flexibility required to adapt to changing consumer preference. A native of Quito, Ecuador, David grew up in a family immersed in the food and consumer product industry. After earning degrees from Duke University and the London School of Economics, David worked at Credit Suisse First Boston before re-joining the family-owned businesses Extractos Andinos and ProConsumo. His three years as President of Ecuador’s National Association of Food and Beverage further enhanced the skills, experience and network required to manage a successful enterprise. 

Today, David is looking for an additional $500,000 to launch the Terrafértil brand outside of Ecuador. In doing so, David will increase his value-added and overall profits. And, with Terrafértil linked so closely to local community well-being, the company’s success will be welcomed by small farmers and the Andean ecosystem alike.

For more information on Terrafértil, please visit www.terra-fertil.org or see the extended company profile.

CleanStar Energy
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Following their award-winning Oxford study on sustainable bio-fuel production in India, Sagun Saxena and Shashank Verma decided to put their research into action by forming CleanStar Energy. This company transforms previously unproductive land into fields of Jatropha and Karanj trees which yield oilseeds that produce a commercially-viable and eco-friendly alternative to diesel. 

Many Indian entrepreneurs have clamored to capitalize on the growing global demand for alternative fuels, but CleanStar’s founders entered this field three years ago with a focus on more than just profits. They had seen how many semi-arid tropical regions in India are struggling with low agricultural productivity, increasing water scarcity, rising energy costs, and degrading soil conditions. In some villages in central Maharashtra up to 70 percent of villagers migrate annually after monsoon season as they cannot survive off their own land. It was in these areas that Sagun and Shashank saw the potential for introducing commercial BioFuel feedstock cultivation as a means to promote sustainable rural development.

CleanStar’s unique perspective is evident in its operations, starting with the way the company manages the soil at its field sites. CleanStar uses a significant amount of the seedcake that remains after oil extraction as a natural soil fertilizer even though the seedcake could also be marketed as a fuel. Forgoing sales, however, makes sense from a blended-value perspective. By using fertilizer derived from the seedcake as one of the nutrients for its own trees, CleanStar reduces the financial and environmental cost of its cultivation operations. 

Through experimentation CleanStar has also developed different practices for expanding its labor force. The most common method for hiring workers in rural areas is to engage a local contractor who then brings together laborers, often from outside areas. CleanStar instead engages women-led self-help groups that already exist as efficient operational management units within rural areas. Through this technique, CleanStar ensures that local communities benefit more from income generation opportunities. This has generated significant awareness and trust for CleanStar regionally, and several village Panchayats have expressed a desire to collaborate with the company.

Sagun and Shashank take pride that their venture is on track to deliver meaningful returns for people, planet, and profit. While the entrepreneurs are currently focused on the local rural market to reduce logistical expenses, they aim to expand their work throughout India by partnering with reputable, locally based groups. CleanStar is also partnering with like-minded experts in agriculture, engineering, law and finance to offer advisory and implementation consulting to project developers and investors who promote scalable and sustainable BioFuel production in other parts of the world. Through their work, Sagun and Shashank have created a presence in the clean energy market by generating environmental and social benefits for local communities, thereby proving that these entrepreneurs are committed to turning sustainability-based concepts into action.

For more information on CleanStar, see the extended company profile.




Florestas
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For Fernando Lima, natural care is a family tradition. Fernando’s great-grandfather served as a pharmacist in the Kingdom of Calabria in southern Italy. Years later, the family business migrated to Brazil with his grandfather. Today, Fernando has grown the tradition into a line of all-natural, Amazonian personal care products. After earning a MBA from Universidade de SãoPaulo and a PhD in International Economics from Universidad de Barcelona, Fernando worked at Citibank and other global banking firms for over ten years. In 2000, he created a company of his own – Florestas.

Since its founding, Florestas has capitalized on local expertise. Florestas has partnered with Brazilian university labs in order to study indigenous Amazonian therapeutics. The research has identified valuable native ingredients including Babaçu oil, Acerola fruit and Açaí berries. These and other rain forest plants are naturally rich in nutrients, vitamins and antioxidants, distinguishing Florestas’ IKOVE line from chemically derived personal care products. Equally important to Florestas’ success is the company’s ability to exercise control over IKOVE production and integrity. The company realizes advantages over large, foreign firms through its low-cost structure, production flexibility, and access to exotic and effective organic products. Indeed, the entire line is certified as both organic and ecologically sustainable by the French Ecocert group.

Experienced local management adds to Florestas’ triple bottom-line. Since the launch of the company, Fernando has focused on using the business to support the cultural and ecological integrity of his country. By purchasing his ingredients from Amazonian cooperatives throughout Brazil, Fernando reduces the need of indigenous people to cut down the rainforests in order to survive. Florestas purchases Brazilian Nuts (“Castanha do Brazil”), Guaraná and Buriti from the Cooperative of the Ecological Agricultures of the Amazon Entrance. The products are harvested, processed and packed in the same community with the inspection of Ecocert in order to guarantee quality and add value. Moreover, by eliminating the middleman with direct purchasing, Florestas cuts cost and pays higher prices to local families – a practice that will soon earn the company a Fair Trade label from TransFair USA. This and other partnerships create opportunities for hundreds of families in poor areas – opportunities that rely on sustainable sources of income rather than on short-term resource extraction. 

Fernando has put his international experience to work as well. Having established IKOVE as an all-natural alternative to synthetic personal care lines in Brazil, Florestas has expanded into foreign markets. Florestas employs a multi-channel business model that combines a wholesale distribution network with retailing, e-commerce, and a consumer catalogue. IKOVE appears in outlets varying from spas to apothecaries to high-end department retailers and natural and organic stores in Japan, France and the U.S. Moreover, with a 2005 growth rate of 22 percent and $5 billion industry, the U.S. natural/organic personal care market presents an attractive target for the IKOVE line. Recognizing the growth opportunity, Florestas is looking to raise $2 million to open two Wellness Center and Spas, one in New York and the other in São Paulo. By incorporating a range of IKOVE products into its store and spa services, Florestas will be able to increase brand awareness and accelerate growth. As Fernando explains, bringing Florestas directly to consumers will allow them to “better connect with the people and ecology behind this fully Brazilian product.”  

For more information on Florestas, please visit www.ikove.org or see the extended company profile.



Ouro Verde Amazônia
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In 2002, an adventurous professor from the University of Sao Paulo and his wife moved to the rural southern region of the Amazon. They took with them little more than seed financing from the Brazilian government and a dream of helping to reverse the resource extraction practices that threatened the rainforests. Five years later, Luiz Fernando Laranja da Fonseca is the director of a company that has helped to revitalize the declining Brazil nut industry of Mato Grosso in a way that protects the valuable regional ecosystem services and generates income for local farmers.

The name of Luiz’s company, Ouro Verde, literally translates to “Green Gold,” an apt title given the value his company has found in sustainably harvesting the Brazil nut. This highly versatile food product is native to the region of Mato Grosso, where Ouro Verde’s primary operations are located. The company gives local farmers a viable alternative to the practice of unsustainable logging – suppliers harvest the Brazil nut which Ouro Verde is able to buy at a premium, adding value to the product by manufacturing Brazil nut-based cooking oils, butters and granulated powders. Ouro Verde goes further to ensure that a significant portion of its profits are shared with producers and reinvested in the community, as it has effectively cut out expensive middlemen by creating partnerships with local municipal governments to provide transportation and direct market access. 

Aside from the clear social and environmental benefits Ouro Verde generates through its fair trade practices, Luiz adds that his company is expanding rapidly as it has tapped into a profitable and growing niche market of health conscious consumers. His company’s market research has found that consumers prefer Brazil nut products as a healthy, omega 3 rich substitute for conventional cooking oils and food products. Despite the difficulties many Brazilian entrepreneurs face in trying to start up a busienss, Ouro Verde has been able to successfully create a presence in key markets. In Brasilia for example, Ouro Verde products were bought by vendors at 30 points of sale within the first three months of its arrival in the city. Ouro Verde products are now sold in over 100 stores throughout the country, and after being awarded as a winning enterprise of the New Ventures Brazil Investor Forum in 2006, the company has gained interest from a number of potential investors. 

Luiz is now seeking a US$1 million investment over the next three years to help Ouro Verde scale up and begin exporting its growing selection of foods. The company aims to ambitiously expand into international markets this year, and is currently in discussions with potential buyers in Canada, China and the US, where its products recently gained FDA approval. Luiz is also looking to Europe as an important market particularly as organic certification from Ecocert will help his enterprise tap into the region’s mature consumer demand for sustainable goods.   

When Luiz and his wife, Ana Luisa, named their business Ouro Verde in 2002, they did not imagine how fitting that brand would later become. Five years later, as the company has produced substantial triple bottom-line benefits for consumers and the communities of Mato Grosso, it is clear that the two have indeed made the simple Brazil nut into “Green Gold.” 

For more information on Ouro Verde, see the extended company profile.





EcoMantra Nature Awareness and Travel
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Ravi Goel stresses that he and his colleague, Mahrukh Bulsara, have come a long way since their first difficult experience attempting to obtain a loan for their eco-tourism business. The two entrepreneurs had the necessary accounting information and collateral in place for their company, EcoMantra Nature Awareness and Travel, yet they found that banks were reluctant to provide finance for small enterprises regardless of their financial stability. Eco-tourism entrepreneurs still face many barriers to entry and growth in India, but Ravi and Marukh have worked tirelessly to build EcoMantra’s reputation as a superior eco-tourism destination. They believe strongly in the power of eco-tourism to spread sustainability values and they have become pioneers in innovative initiatives for the sector.  

Listening to Ravi speak about the philosophy behind eco-tourism, it is easy to understand his passion. He speaks about the importance of conserving natural resources for the future of all business, and the necessity of preventing green-washing in his field so that eco-tourism sites can make a genuine contribution to conservation efforts. For him, eco-tourism is the most effective means to preserve nature because revenue generated must be invested in the community in order to maintain the site’s appeal. In addition, staff members who are necessarily employed in the local region need little motivation to exceed expectations because they are effectively beautifying their own home.

People living in the area also receive the social benefits of EcoMantra’s presence. A full quarter of the founders’ initial $150,000 investment went to local carpenters and masons and he continues to employ these craftspeople on an ongoing basis. EcoMantra also spends 15 percent of its revenue on local produce, making the company the biggest customer of the local agricultural community. More importantly, Ravi and Marukh regularly witness EcoMantra’s visitors disprove their own stereotypical views of rural community life upon meeting the people who live there. Ravi sees the company’s biggest accomplishments as bringing an understanding of rural people to a broader clientele and cultivating a deep appreciation for conservation efforts within each traveler.

EcoMantra operates under the principle that every individual trip to the eco-camp is a special one and with each season comes a new host of experiences. The 70 percent of the copmpany’s customer base that are return-visitors can confirm this fact. Demand for visits to EcoMantra is so high that the founders have hardly had to expend any capital on marketing efforts, instead relying largely on ample word-of-mouth advertising.

The company’s convenient location between two of India’s largest metropolises attracts numerous vacationers as well as corporations seeking a team-building experience. Large clients such as Tata Consultancy, HSBC, and Citigroup have all given high marks to the program. Ravi and Marukh have plans to open 20 other eco-tourism sites by 2011. Domestic Indian travel grows 25 percent annually, and considering the company’s already substantial success, EcoMantra is sure to grow exponentially in coming years.

Sales of plastic cutlery grow at a rate of 20-30 percent per year, generating significant non-biodegradable waste and contributing to overflowing landfills.  During the hour-long bus rides to and from their previous office job, entrepreneurs Narayana Peesapaty and Rama Devi Rayapudi devised a solution that provides the same convenience of disposable forks, spoons, and knives without the waste: edible cutlery.

Satva is the Sanskrit word for Purity.  It is also appropriately the brand name under which Suminter India Organics sells a wide variety of organically grown, non-perishable produce. Suminter’s farmers meet the highest international organic standards to bring consumers a healthier product that in turn gives farmers a safer and cleaner environment in which to work.

Three years ago, the Suminter team took the initiative to provide local farmers with the necessary training and certification from Skal International, an internationally recognized organics certifying body. Now, Suminter contracts with over 600 of these farmers, buying back all of their products and providing the necessary farming inputs for organic cultivation. Suminter then provides the forward linkages that farmers require to bring their products to market. Through this process, farmers incur substantially lower costs and also receive a 10 percent premium over market prices. In this way, Suminter India Organics bridges the gap between the company’s suppliers and the global market, commercializing their products through a fair and transparent process. Fairness is, in fact, the foundational philosophy of Suminter, and the company will soon receive Fair Trade certification in addition to its organics certification.

Driven by a commitment to quality and transparency, Suminter India Organics has built lasting relationships with its current customer base in the Netherlands and the United States.  To support their activities abroad, the company created a division in the Netherlands that meets growing demand for the distribution of their product.  Through this branch, Suminter has captured the entire value chain, from the farm to the market. Their Netherlands division handles warehousing and marketing, which eliminates third party exporters and traders. It is this type of integrated supply chain that differentiates Suminter from its competitors. They have even come up with an internal solution to the biggest problem facing organic farmers: the prevention of pest and bacteria attacks. Suminter has an exclusive joint venture with the Dutch company, Eco2 BV, which has a well-respected technology for chemical-free fumigation.

Currently, Suminter organically farms 5000 acres, which directly affects the well-being of families in five villages. By 2008, they will be maintaining 15,000 acres and producing more value added products under the Suminter brand such as ready-to-eat goods and organic dairy. Company growth has been 100 percent each year and contracts with clients have outlined a committed purchase of the entire stock of some products for the next three years. In a worldwide organic produce market of $31 billion annually, Suminter India Organics has already positioned itself ahead of its competitors and is poised to expand internationally. Suminter plans to penetrate the domestic organic products market as well, a sunrise sector with growth in the triple-digits. Both strategies are crucial for the Suminter team to reach their goal of being a $25 million company within three years. As evidenced by the company’s past successes and innovative business model, Suminter is well on its way to becoming an Indian organic products leader.

Conserve HRP
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Conserve HRP exemplifies new environmental trends in India’s private-sector by converting trash to treasure. Lower-income employees collect plastic rags from neighborhood streets and press the waste into a thicker, durable material, known as Handmade-Recycled Plastic, used for stylish handbags and accessories. The material can be compared to leather in quality, but produces a wider range of colors without any artificial dyes.

At the heart of this process are the 300 rag-pickers that collect the waste plastic used for the product line. Founders Anita and Shalabh Ahuja started Conserve HRP as an offshoot of their environmental NGO, but take as much pride in the ongoing recycling activities as they take in the sustainable lifestyle provided to their employees. Anita and Shalabh value the connections made with each employee, who come from all over India and even Bangladesh to work with the company. With such a diversified pool of labor, Anita and Shalabh initially had serious language barriers to overcome – the two speak contentedly of their creative solution to this challenge that involved tapping into the only common language among Conserve employees: Bollywood. Each different color of plastic manufactured is named after a famous Bollywood star, an idea that has led to greater communication during the production process and is an example of the innovative spirit driving Conserve HRP.

By tackling the dual problems of waste and poverty, Conserve HRP holds a captive audience among those who buy “fashion with a conscience”. Current sales in 2100 European retail stores indicate a clientele that is willing to pay more for fair-trade products, delivering large profits for a low-cost process. International sales return an approximate 30 percent gross per bag sold and international buyers already demand a higher volume of their existing products. Opportunities abound for Conserve HRP to link up with other retail stores as well as expand their product line. In fact, Conserve has started scaling up production of an interior decoration and stationary line. Conserve has seen a 90 percent increase in turnover every year since 2004. 

The activities of Conserve HRP are easily replicable and Anita and Shalabh have received over 100 letters requesting that the recycling project come to their town. The project requires few inputs; the raw material is readily available and the pressing machinery is inexpensive. Anita and Shalabh hope to expand to other towns and recycle so much plastic that they work themselves out of business, but the ambitious entrepreneurs look forward to the challenge of their work, one waste product at a time.

While Electrocell has been successful in producing and selling units on-site, they are currently seeking investment to expand production in order to position the company as a market leader in what is expected to be a one trillion dollar fuel cell industry by 2021. Electrocell has already engaged in partnerships with several government organizations, but the directors are looking to take advantage of opportunities in the public and private sector to create clean, decentralized power systems on a larger scale. The Electrocell solution is ideal for rural populations that would be able to rely on environmentally friendly energy despite being far from a larger source, and the electricity from local fuel cells is delivered much more efficiently than miles of power lines that tend to lose up to 15 percent of the energy they transmit. This is a clear solution in Brazil’s emerging economy, where total energy demand is expected to rise 65 percent in the next ten years, likely outpacing the ability of the government to provide a consistent supply for all. As countries in the export market steadily move toward a hydrogen economy, the Electrocell team will be prepared to offer a versatile and efficient solution; and with the company’s ambitious sales target of 1,000 units per year by 2011, a clean energy future may not be so far away.

To learn more about Electrocell, visit www.electrocell.com.br or see the extended company profile.



DESI Power
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DESI Power is a business dedicated to providing independent energy sources to underserved villages in rural India. While it is easy to quantify the success of DESI projects – for example, its primary power plant can generate up to 10 percent return on investment – one must hear the story of Baharbari to truly understand the value of this enterprise.

Baharbari is a village rife with contradiction. Its 250 families are healthy and hard-working, the town itself rests upon fertile lands with adequate rainfall, yet poverty here is ubiquitous. Farmers cannot afford to irrigate their crops during the dry season, local residents lack the resources they need to create sustainable livelihoods, and the village as a whole has been forgotten by government efforts to provide rural electrification.

DESI Power offered its services in Baharbari to help break this vicious cycle of poverty with innovative, private sector solutions that link energy generation with local value addition and job creation. The company built a biomass gasification plant in the village to provide a cheap, clean source of electricity that would fulfill a variety of the needs of local micro-enterprises and agricultural laborers. The IIsc – Netpro power plant runs on agricultural residues that are inexpensive to harvest such as Ipomea, a weed that is plentiful throughout the Indian countryside, and converts them into fuel that is used primarily to pump water and charge batteries.

This off-the-grid energy source provides immense benefits to the village: farmers can now irrigate their crops in the dry season with water sold by DESI, small businesses can process crops with electric machinery, and quality of life has improved overall as residents can now charge batteries to power small appliances. The results speak for themselves. Labor productivity is higher than ever in Baharbari and women have been empowered through new paid jobs such as creating rice husk briquettes to fuel the power station.

DESI Power systems also provide substantial environmental benefits. Biomass is still a lifeline for the poor in India, serving as a greater source of energy in the country than nuclear power. DESI Power plants utilize the biomass once burned inefficiently in conventional ovens and use it to generate power in a much more efficient manner with higher energy output and zero net CO2 emission. The business model itself ensures the financial stability of DESI projects – villagers pay by the hour to use power for water pumps or chargers and the company estimates that its plants become sufficiently profitable within 3 to 4 years.

Looking ahead, DESI Power is seeking to create more success stories like Baharbari to convince skeptical investors of the value of decentralized power. The company plans to provide power and employment services in 100 villages within 25 km of Baharbari to expand its social impact. As similar power plants generate more jobs, produce financial returns and meet the needs of underserved populations, the positive impacts created for residents of Baharbari will be felt throughout the region.

For more information on DESI, visit the company page.




Hering Instruments
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Each cultural era has its influential symbols and its major icons. The defining image of a green generation may well be Brazilian musician Gilberto Gil playing a sleek, environmentally-friendly Walker guitar in front of a packed audience, heralding the future of sustainable instruments.  
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“Yes, that was a good moment for us,” says Alberto Bertolazzi, Hering Instruments CEO, talking about one of the bigger changes in the musical instruments industry he’s experienced.  Bertolazzi’s pride comes from the fact that, while sold under the Walker brand, Gil’s guitar is one of the first to be made of Hering crafted parts, each sourced from the exotic high-quality woods to be found in the Amazon.  

These sustainably manufactured guitars are now being supplied to some of the world’s largest guitar and bass companies.  They are unique for their fusion of craftsmanship, marketability and a light environmental footprint.  Hering has added an undeniable Brazilian touch to the instruments by sourcing their material entirely from sustainably harvested Amazonian species.  This Forest Stewardship Council certified wood is derived from 1.8 million hectares of “managed” forest in the state of Acre where it is meticulously decided which trees may be utilized based on their age, location and the rate of extraction.  

Aside from the clear environmental benefits, and the hundreds of new jobs Hering will create in rural Brazil, the company has strategically positioned itself at the forefront of the estimated $30 billion annual global market for musical instruments.  While some competitors have produced sustainable parts in the past, high costs and low levels of productivity have kept their share of the market small.  As Hering hits its initial target of 12,000 components per month in the coming years, it will catalyze the widespread use and long-term investment in FSC-certified instruments needed to sustain the sector, as the constancy of production will allow major manufacturers to rely on a steady supply.

The tenacious ambition that led Alberto to become a winner of the 2006 New Ventures Brazil Investor Forum becomes apparent when he discusses this recent shift, because Alberto talks about more than the outlook for Hering, he talks about being a part of a larger trend.  Alberto points to green magazine covers and radical auto sector innovations, and he wonders why the music industry has not caught on.  Hering’s strategy is to start with guitars as a popular and recognizable cultural icon – and make a significant media impact.  In addition to seeking celebrity endorsements, Hering has created an “Amazonas” series of guitars for Walker that are decorated by well known painters including Gustavo Rosa and Antonio Peticov.  The combination of aesthetics and sustainability is not just symbolic - it is the start of a movement toward zero footprint production that is intended to encompass the entire musical instruments industry.

When Hering announced at the 2004 Expomusic fair that it would launch a line of sustainable products, the company embarked on a project that was destined to help bring about the mainstreaming of green products and business.  Through the work of Alberto Bertolazzi, the defining symbol of a cultural movement in sustainability could be more than a hybrid car or another Whole Foods, but the sound of a guitar riff ripping through sold out crowds, announcing a green future.

For more information on Hering, visit the company page.

Natura Fibretech
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Seven years ago, Tommy Matthew dedicated his energy, his passion and his savings to founding Natura Fibretech, a company that markets coir fiber as an inexpensive, sustainable alternative to wood. He believed in the potential of coir because it had already been used for generations by Indian villagers to make rope and doormats. With this product, Natura now sets itself apart as a company that is growing at a rate of 40 percent per year by popularizing a technology rooted in the base of India’s economic pyramid.

Coir is a primary material made from coconut fiber that is incredibly durable and already grows in abundance throughout rural India. Natura is the first company in the world to manufacture this into coirply, a multipurpose wood that is 30 to 40 percent cheaper than common plywoods but with a quality that is comparable to teak, the most expensive wood in common use. Additionally, coir can be harvested in a matter of a few months rather than years as is typical of conventional woods. These factors have made the government of India, itself a USD$2 million per year market, a major buyer of Natura products.

The uniqueness of Natura’s business model is that it relies on a product that found its original success in the towns and countryside of rural India and so is naturally oriented to best benefit the people living there and their environment. Natura employs thousands of villagers at above average wage rates, 80 percent of whom are women. It supports local SMEs by selling them the technology to harvest coir and buying back 100 percent of production. Through this process, Tommy has formed a decentralized support network for technology transfer and entrepreneurship throughout India. Of course, Natura has not forgotten the BoP in its product innovation process – the company has created durable bed springs out of coir to manufacture affordable, comfortable mattresses. This is a luxury many underserved Indians have never had in the past and an innovative way to break into a USD$30 million per year market.

Tommy’s next steps are to ramp up production in order to become a supplier of finished products abroad. He has received significant interest from companies seeking to purchase coirply furniture, and is finalizing discussions to become a supplier for major manufacturers in the near future. The company has also received eco-housing ISO 14000 certification and will begin tapping into the Indian housing sector, which is growing at 18 to 20 percent annually – part of an overall growth strategy to expand the company that includes building twelve new facilities in the next three years.

Tommy first had the idea for founding Natura when he saw Indian villagers tying up their cows with coir rope. The result today is a high-growth company that has benefited the environment and rural India by tapping into the resourcefulness and ingenuity of the BoP.

For more information on Natura Fibretech, visit www.naturaindia.com or see the extended company profile.





BioCentinela
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