Natural Cosmetics in Guatemala

Claire Betts reports on one of the first projects we supported.

Introduction

In 2009 we provided all the start up equipment for a project near Antigua to produce natural cosmetics in conjunction with As Green as it Gets. We were introduced to the project by Becky Harris of Viaventure. The equipment we provided included a 20 ton oil press to process macadamia oil, cocoa butter and avocado oil, a filtration system and vacuum distiller, scales, mixers and all the packaging equipment for a range of products, including face and hand cream, and a line of scented oils, soaps and shampoos.

Claire, who works at Last Frontiers, joined our projects team in 2011. She travelled to Guatemala recently and Viaventure arranged for her to meet up with As Green as it Gets. This is an edited extract of her report, the full version can be found on our Guatemala Project page:

Maria Benita - Photo by Claire Betts

'Hello, my name is Maria Benita' says the small figure in halting English.

Maria Benita is shy and she takes some coaxing but within moments of talking to her you can tell how driven and determined she is. Thanks to the LATA Foundation and with the guidance of Franklin Vorhoes of As Green as it Gets, she started making a lip balm three years ago. Her original product, Maria Benita’s Lip Balm, is made from beeswax, mint and macadamia oil.   She says it was a struggle at first, that she didn't know what she was doing or how to market her product. But with a lot of hard work and guidance she has gone on to sell over 3,500 lip balms and has branched out from the original vanilla flavour into other flavours.

As Green as it Gets has a small coffee shop, the Whiskey Den, which sells her lip balms and the other soaps, shampoos and creams produced as a result of LATA Foundation support.  Maria herself visits Spanish schools in Antigua a couple of times a month and in a good afternoon can sell about twenty balms to foreign students. She can sell around another twenty at a fair trade market once or twice a month.

Maria Benita is still in her teens. She is studying sustainable tourism and English, studies which she now pays for herself. Thanks to her, the eleven members of the family household now have their first proper shower and a lavatory with running water. 

Her prospects are good. Until recently she had never used a computer, now she has her own e-mail account. Maria is  hoping to start exporting to the United States.

The LATA Foundation will continue to watch Maria Benita's progress with interest.

Travellers to Guatemala can easily visit the projects run by As Green as it Gets. Please ask  your tour operator or ground agent to arrange a tour.  

Date added: 24 October 2011