How we have naively started the production (Part 3)

After a long period of idleness we knew there would be a long way to go. We were still to launch the most important – the production.

The operation of the business and activation of the machines were both in the responsibility of our Caribbean colleague and we have finally been able to launch the production of our own Moringa Caribbean. We have set high standards to collecting Moringa – that means to collect it into baskets – and not plastic bags like many do. The leaves are brought to our modern pacilities straight away where they are measured, washed and processed immediately.

We have been expecting impatiently the first delivery from the Caibbeans – and when we have obtained our first delivery, we have sent our product to be analysed. My disappointment must have been unmistakable when we have had the results – they have not been excellent.

Problematic beginnings

We have eagerly reviewed the whole process, from the collecting to the point where the Moringa is grinded into powder. We have also checked the quality of water. We have finally discovered that the manger of the production has not used any disinfections! Having thought it was something self-evident and important, I have neglected to inform him on the necessity to disinfect the leaves.

It has cost us a lot of effort and energy to explain how to wear the protective coats and gloves, how to disinfect their hands when entering the facilities. We have also accentuated that there is no point wearing a protective coat if they keep their everyday clothes underneath, and also that it is was not acceptable to go to the loo in their protective wear.

We have come to understand why our manager has been against the cameras in our facilities. He has used many excuses, ranging from cameras being broken, IT assistant not having come to fix fix them. Finally he has decided to start his own business and has left our company.

We needed to learn from our mistakes

We have disposed of the first batch of Moringa that has not been perfect.
The production has been stopped and we have started over again. We have painted the premises, disinfected and cleaned the machines – and they are cleaned daily since in order to maintain our high standards. The cameras are running and they are installed on my iPhone so that I can check any time what is going on in the premises when I am at home in Vienna or in the company in Slovakia. You might ask if I am silly to openly admit our Moring has not been perfect back then, and I cannot emphasize enough that clean Moringa and the hight quality of the processing is our hallmark.

I have just mentioned it, because I can admit my mistakes and failures. This is also important so that everyone knows how much effort is there in one bottle of Moringa Caribbean. How much sweat is there behind the production, expedition to the EU and filling to capsules and bottles.

 

The unpunctuality in the paradise

It is great to be in the Caribbeans and to have a business there, but we have run into a very different kind of thinking. Almost everyone takes their time and it happens that your business lunch planned at 12AM actually takes place at 3PM.

On the other hand, I must say that people at St. Lucia are very friendly and we have managed to make some friends, also thanks to our daughter that has attended a local school during our 3-week.long stay. We are learning to understand the Caribbean mentality and not to get stressed out by unmet deadlines and late arrival.

 

We are starting our production, or waiting for our machines from China (part 2)

One can say that the search for our plantation was stressful, but once we have secured the desired plot of land for our Moringa, we could finally start with the planting of the Moringa trees. We believed the next step in our new business venture will be much easier. Of course, things never work out as we plan.
Finally we started with the planting of the trees. Once the trees were planted we had to decide what to do next. The most important was to find the technology and place where to dry and process the harvested Moringa leaves.

Beginning of Moringa tree planting

Nice but not very flexible!

Finding of the appropriate building was not as hard as we anicipated due to the helping hand of our friend who lived on the island. Starting t
he production was a really hard work. Thankfully my husband has valueable experiences in the electronic industry which in this proces came in very handy. The decorating work on the building started, electricians, painters, worked all hours just to get permisses to the necessary standard we required for the production. People of St. Lucia are very nice, friendly and helpful, but they are very unreable when it comes to work. Often they promised to help, but did not turn up or answer their phones, which proved to be a bit stressful from our point of view. All of these factors including the delays with ordering materials contributed to the complications of our project.

 

Machinery

Whilst preparing everything for the production we also had to find the right machines designed for the special processing of Moringa leaves. These included industrial dryers and mills, which could ensure the quality and comply with the hygienic standards we desired. Luckily we found these machines in China and we secured the order. We have paid the necessary amount and now we just had to wait and hope that our machines will arrive in time for the production to start. The promised delivery date was in October 2015. Our optimism had gradually begun to fade away. My husband had once again travelled to St. Lucia with his friend to  await the machines to start the production.

My husband and his friend awaiting our delivery from China

My husband returned to the island after a short break but the machines were nowhere to be seen. We have waited the whole November, December, January and finally the machines from China arrived in February. Our long wait was over!

 

 

Responding to the debates and watch out for cheap Moringa!

Of course, I am always willing to return the debate from the previous article. As for the “outrageous” prices my answer is relatively simple. Not all manufacturers of Moringa have the sae processing procedures as we do. Nowhere on the island have we managed to find professionally furnished premises. Not even in Africa, Thailand and India could the manufacturers guarantee how the harvested Moringa leaves get to the production. Often the Moringa leaves are carried in plastic bags, where they mix with the humidity the leaves start to sweat. Some manufacturers then dry Moringa leaves by hanging the leaves out of the reach of any pests such as mice and rats. Worst case is when the manufacturers just lay the Moringa leaves on boeards which they then lay on top of the roofs of their houses.

 

Lack of hygiene

Throughout my research I also found out what often the harvested Moringa leaves were laid out on a piece of paper and then just left to dry freely on the ground of an apartment where whole family was going about their daily chores. The locals often talked about how they waited for the Moringa leaves to drop off by themselves, they would collect the leaves from the ground and grind them on small coffee grinders. Once grinned, they would fill the powder into small sachets or capsules. Obviously I do not wish to offend somebody but I also believe when manufacturing a product designed for the health, the hygiene procedures are the most important. It is disturbing to know that some manufacturers do not use gloves, change into working clothes, or even disinfect their hands prior to handling the Moringa leaves. Similar production procedures can be found with a lot of manufacturers who sell cheap Moringa. And now I will ask you a question. Would you buy Moringa for 10 Euros when you cannot be sure how this Moringa was handled and processed?

 

Trust our Moringa

We would never start this business if we would not believe the power of Moringa. We have also tested the effects on us, our family, but also complete strangers who expressed their interest in Moringa spontaneously and were generally really excited about it. I do not like to exaggerate and call Moringa a “miracle tree”, but I was very positively surprised with what Moringa can help with.

My husband and I have regular check up which also includes blood tests. This is how my husband found out about his high blood sugar and he was diagnosed with Diabetes type 2. I learned from my research the Moringa can indeed help with this problem combined with healthy diet. So my husband started to take Moringa on regular basis. Two years later, his doctor decided that my husband does not need to be on her record anymore as his sugar levels have normalised. This a truly great result!

 

Universal helper!

Unfortunately, my husband did not just suffer from diabetes but another problem that occurred was an issue with his prostate. He would always suffer especially on long car journeys, which he would have to take quite often because of his other business. Fortunately, taking Moringa regularly has gradually improved this issue as well. Thanks to Moringa we both stopped fighting the fatigue.

Slowly but surely Moringa is beginning to make its way to nursing mothers and lactation advisors who also recommend it to support lactation. One year ago my sister had a baby girl and visited a lactation advisor as she was experiencing issues with breastfeeding. She has started to take Moringa and miraculously she keeps breastfeeding her baby girl without any other problems. And so we are very pround to have a first baby in our “Moringa Family.”

Non-traditional holiday makers, or how we have bough a plantation in the Caribbean

Yes, we are venturesome and we do not live badly. My husband, to whom I have been married to for 13 years, has started his business in the electronics industry from zero. I am a lawyer by trade, but my life has taken me in a completely different direction.

The most interesting things in life happen by chance. Clear evidence of that is the story of the beginning of our business in the Caribbean. It all began in 2013, when we decided, that it has been a long time since we had a family vacation. My husband suggested with a decisive tone of voice, that Christmas season is the right time for workaholics and entrepreneurs to take time off from the hustle and bustle of every day life and the business. And so it happened that just before Christmas three years ago, we have come to a mutual decission not to celebrate Christmas in the traditional way, but to go and visit warmer climate.

It will not be Barbados

Indeed, after several years of endless work, we would finally deserve much needed rest in the tropical island of Barbados, right? However, we had to let go of our firm decision visiting this beautiful island during the festive season, as we could not deny the proper Christmas with tree and presents to our then 5 years old daughter. Although, the thought of Barbados has stayed with us! As you all know, life works in m
ysterious ways and for us visiting the exotic island of Barbados never came true. Whilst booking the holiday through a German travel agent, the huge sponteneous rush and the excitement of the upcoming holiday were to blame that I have mistakenly booked the holiday for a completely different island in the Caribbean – the island of St. Lucia. To most of you, the island of St. Lucia may not sound as vibrant as the island of Barbados, but my innocent mistake has literally changed our lives.

And so the fate has carried us to St. Lucia

A day trip on the island has been changed by a street vendor who was selling the extracts from an unknown plant Moringa as if he was selling a bunch of fresh bananas. To him, we were just foreign customers but to us this man became a symbol of the first ideas for a new business. Thanks to him we were introduced to a plant in a powder form which has aroused in us a great curiosity. And this curiosity also stayed with us after returning home. My search for Moringa has begun. I have researched the entire internet, looking for more information about Moringa, its effects, methods of cultivation, its use and distribution.

Lets buy a plantation

There are a lot of manufacturers of Moringa, but for us the most interesting are the manufacturers of Moringa in the Caribbean. We searched in vain for the contacts of the individual plantations and then it hit us. Why not to set up our own plantation together with our own production? We could introduce this amazing plant and its exceptional effects to potential customers in Slovakia.

Rising health but no alternative medicine. After all, look at it yourself! The Moringa leaves hide huge quantities of vitamins and minerals. It intrigued me, that it has all the vitamins – A, B1, B2, B3, B6, B7, C, D, E, K. Yes, I also know the natural products rich in antioxidants. Broccoli, sweet potatoes and ginger have many antioxidants, but just imagine, that Moringa contains 46 antioxidants plus we have to add 18 essential amino acids, iron, zinc and copper. Suddenly you have super food which you will love as much as my husband and I do.

But be aware! Even then, we did not want to go into the unclear waters of homeopathy, esoteric or alternative treatments. Moringa is not a solution to a cancer treatment or other difficult diseases and it certainly is not a substitute to conventional therapies. However, it can be used to assist the conventional therapies like chemotherapy, to soften its aftermath in the human body. Therefore, Moringa has fascinated us as a “superfood“, tree which offers all the goodness found in some foods and plants, but in much bigger quantities directly from the womb of the nature.

So we obtained all the necessary information about Moringa tree and we were ready to start planning our new exciting business venture.

Founding of the company

Last March, we travelled to St. Lucia again for a different purpose than the previous years. Upon arrival to the island, we established our company Moringa St. Lucia Prodact L.t.d. At the time we did not realise how much work awaits us, but our enthusiasm has not left us.

Jungle wanders

Finding the right property for our plantation has proven a bit more difficult than anticipated, as we run into a different perception of us from the local people. The biggest issue was the fact that in the Carribbean they do not mark the boundaries for their land. All the land owners know is that the beginning of their plantation is from one mangrove tree to another without any real borders. Once the word was out that two European people are looking to purchase a plantation for the purpose of growing Moringa, the interest in us was enormous. The search for our plantation was not easy, travelling with the natives through the dangerous jungle wearing only flip flops wasnt comfortable or practical, but at the end our joint efforts were paid off as we managed to find the desired plot of land, which we trully believed will be the perfect place for growing our own Moringa. But this is another part of our story, that I will tell you next time…