Troy Holmberg is married to my cousin Lisa. So, we're mostly family. He's heavily involved in humanitarian efforts in Africa, and he's founder of Coast Coconut Farms and Basa Body. I wanted him to say few words about the history, people and the cause behind these companies and their products.
Basa is a different kind of company because we didn’t start it with a profit motive or any preconceived ideas.
We started it simply as a way to empower the people in Kenya whom we have come to love and admire, to find a way to educate their children and get clean water and better housing so they could improve their lives and bring them hope.
We had been working in rural Kenya for 10 years, starting with microcredit (providing small loans to the rural women so they could start and grow income-generating activities such as raising chickens, raising tomatoes, harvesting coconuts or mangos, sewing etc.). We saw that the best way we could help was not to give a
hand-out to someone (which takes away dignity and creates dependency) but to give a
hand-up, by giving these resourceful and hard-working women the tools they lacked to improve their own lives.
Providing loans was a great start.
Our effort, now called Yehu Microfinance, helps over 17,000 rural women in Kenya (see
www.yehu.org). But we soon learned that microcredit is not enough. We wanted to really create meaningful jobs in Kenya that could bring self-reliance and build income for the very poorest at the bottom of the economic pyramid in Kenya.
We helped a group of women learn to make virgin coconut oil. The project, called Coast Coconut Farms (
www.coastcoconutfarms.co.ke) employs about 30 women plus about 100 farmers who harvest the coconuts and bring them to the factory to be made into oil. We quickly realized that they needed help selling their oil to expand and become sustainable.
We knew that if we could find a way to tell their story that people here in the US would respond.
We set out to create natural skin-care products that could utilize the fabulous organic coconut oil, with all its health properties. Thus Basa was born, named for the women of Mombasa, Kenya, where Coast Coconut Farms is located. We have since decided that Basa can also contribute a significant amount of its profits to go back to projects designed to create jobs and self-reliance in Kenya.
That is why we say “When you nourish your skin naturally, beautiful things happen”.
We are a small company with a cause. Get involved and help us spread the love. You can purchase products, tell friends and family, even join our Woman2Woman affiliate program and create an income stream for yourself while doing good. It is easy. We need your help to really make a difference. Visit our website
www.basabody.com to learn more, purchase products or join our Woman2Woman affiliate program. Asante Sana (Thank you in Swahili)!
Troy
Founder, Basa
P.S. For those of you who have been dying to try Basa products, now is your chance. For one day only, Black Friday (November 26), all orders will include FREE SHIPPING! So go crazy, try a little bit of everything or that one product you have been wanting to try. And remember our special stocking stuffer offer—buy a case of lotion (24) or a case of body sticks (24) or peppermint lip butters (24) and you will get 50% off—limited time only for Christmas. It is a great way to spread the love. Give Basa to co-workers, neighbors and friends for the holidays AND on Black Friday, get it all shipped FREE. So what are you waiting for?
I am Courtney Kendrick and it feels good to do good.
c jane on facebook
c jane on twitter
