BARAKA VIRGIN COCONUT OIL – the origin story

December

2019

Community-sourced, fairtrade, organic, raw, virgin coconut oil. Direct from Ghana to you.

IT’S THE RELATIONSHIP, NOT THE TRANSACTION

For years I had been asked why we don’t carry other products. I didn’t really think about it before, but now that we are carrying Coconut Oil I realize what was holding me back.

I didn’t know how to organize production of any other products and I wasn’t interested in carrying more products just to do transactions. I wanted products where the transaction was part of a continuum of relationships, that connected the origin of the product to the making of the soap or cosmetic and on to the end user, with value for all stakeholders along with way.

I wasn’t interested in simply buying a product at a price that would let me sell it at a profit. That just seemed boring and uninteresting. For Baraka to take on another product it had to be profitable for sure. But, it also had to bring a compelling story along with a high-quality product and great people to work with. There are enough bland products and transactions in the world – I had no desire to bring along another one. It wouldn’t be fun and I would lose interest fast.

Then, I met Kojo Nunoo, the founder of Ava Virgin Coconut Oil and, after visiting his processing centre and spending time with him, I realized that Baraka Coconut Oil was born!

What is especially interesting is that I met him when he attended an Executive Program on Sustainability Partnerships that I developed and ran in 2018 through the CSR Training Institute.

The fit between Ava and Baraka was perfect. Watch this video as Kojo discusses some of the sustainability strategy he has woven into Ava (the video is a Facebook Livestream and you will have to turn your head to watch it! I didn’t realize you weren’t supposed to do Facebook live with the phone turned horizontal ?).

You can see another livestream video from my time with Ava this week (shot with the camera oriented properly!). They are on our Facebook page here.

Here are some of the highlights.

The product is first-class
The team is fun and easy to work with
The coconuts are grown by small hold family farms
I have visited them and they are very happy with how they are working with our partner
A lot is being done to avoid waste, using the husks and all other parts of the coconut (see video)
The production facility is very well run with high quality standards
There are videos on these and other topics posted to our Facebook Page – and more to come