Guatemala Natural Cosmetics

As Green as it Gets have asked for £2180 for product development and further equipment. The LATA Foundation is sending £750 immediately and is appealing for £1430 to provide additional equipment for this project in Guatemala producing natural cosmetics.

A steam distiller will enable them to extract essential oils from flower petals which give the cosmetics their scent and with a combination press they will be able to produce carrier oils from macadamia nuts, castor beans and coconuts.

In 2009 we provided a 20 ton hot and cold oil press to process macadamia oil, cocoa butter and avocado oil, a filtration system and vacuum distiller for turning wasted coffee fruit into ethyl alcohol for use in cosmetics. We also supplied scales, mixers and packaging equipment for a range of products, including face and hand creams, and a line of scented oils, soaps and shampoos.

With additional equipment they will be able to produce more and take the project to a new level.

Donate by text: You can make a donation of £1 - £5 or £10 by sending a message in the following format: GUAT12 £x  to 70070. 

This service works with all UK mobile phone providers. Please see our donations page for further details.

 

Additional information:

Claire Betts from our projects team visted As Green as it Gets in September. You can read Claire’s report below.

Versión en Espaňol: Cosmética Natural en Guatemala

Franklin Voorhes from As Green as it Gets provided guidance and support for the following products, which are being sold in their coffee shop in Antigua, the Whiskey Den:

• Face and hand creams from avocado oil, macadamia oil and castor oil.
• Hand sanitizer from alcohol gel, carrier oils (macadamia and avocado) and essential oils.               
• Soap from castor oil and essential oils.
• Lip balm from macadamia oil and beeswax.
• Shampoo from castor oil and avocado oil.

In addition to supporting the people who are producing these products, the project is helping the farmers who are growing the ingredients and the bee-keepers from whom the beeswax is obtained. The project is also supporting the families of the people who are processing the ingredients to extract the oil.

Claire Betts, from our projects team, visited Guatemala in Sept 2011. Viaventure arranged for her to meet up with As Green as it Gets. This is her report:

Case Study: Maria Benita’s Lip Balm

'Hello, my name is Maria Benita' says the small figure in halting English. She had come to the Whiskey Den, the coffee shop run by As Green As it Gets in the heart of Antigua, to meet me.

Maria Benita is shy and she takes some coaxing but within moments of talking to her you can tell how driven and determined the 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 the right guidance she has gone on to sell over 3,500 lip balms and has branched from the original vanilla flavour into other flavours.

The Whiskey Den - which doesn't sell either whiskey or whisky (Irish with an e, Scotch without) - sells her lip balms as well as the other soaps, shampoos and creams produced as a result of LATA Foundation support. Travellers to Guatemala should ask their tour operators or their representatives on the ground about tours to visit the As Green as it Gets projects. For Maria Benita they offer the possibility of a useful sale - and a chance to practice her English. 

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. It has also enabled her to visit parts of Guatemala she may never have done otherwise done. Her language classes are providing her with the all important basic English skills she demonstrated at the start of our meeting.

Her involvement with As Green as it Gets has allowed Maria Benita to make a big difference to family life at home. Thanks to her the eleven members of the family household now have their first proper shower and a lavatory with running water. 

Maria is now hoping to start exporting to the United States. Her prospects are good. With the help of a friend from the USA she has managed to identify two potential buyers for her products. One buyer has already placed two orders for 1,000 units of lip balm each and there are hopes for another in the pipeline. The only thing standing in Maria Benita's way is paperwork and officialdom, lots of it: tonnes of costly paperwork.

Maria has started the process, she has already paid to have her main product officially tested at the pharmacy, a legal requirement for exportation to the US. She has also been contacting several companies for quotes on exportation costs, no small feat for a timid teenager. Until recently she had never used a computer, now she has her own e-mail account.  Everyday she learns something new, she tells me, the excitement starting to creep into her voice slightly.  

The real stumbling block they have reached in the process are the legal fees. In order to start exporting her product Maria Benita must pay 2000 Quetzales (around US$250). This would allow her to export a maximum of 4,000 products per year. For 8,000 Quetzales ($1000) Maria Benita would be able to export unlimited amounts to the United States. What is more, other producers from As Green as it Gets could then try exporting some of their produce (soaps, hand sanitizers etc.) under the same licence. They would only need to pay to have their products tested by the local pharmacist.

Maria Benita’s enterprise is impressive.  She clearly knows her facts and figures and is modest, humble even, about her achievements. She has an entrepreneurial mind, the determination and drive to succeed.  

The LATA Foundation will continue to follow and report on her progress with interest.

Claire Betts, Oct 2011.

 

 

 

 

Date project approved: 07 April 2009