Business meets Philanthropy

For at least three young entrepreneurs, a good business is one that makes environmentally-friendly products and helps others in need.

In 2008, Anna Meloto-Wilk, her husband Dylan Wilk and Camille Meloto established Gandang Kalikasan Inc., a company which makes and sells personal care products made from organic materials and employs residents in Gawad Kalinga communities.

Their products, which include soaps, shampoo and hair conditioners, under the brand name Human Nature.

Living a year in the U.S., Anna and Dylan saw the growing market of organic products that made it more available to ordinary American citizens instead of just for the elite. Anna believes that Filipinos also deserve living a healthy lifestyle and a role to save the environment.

Through this experience, she thought about bringing the concept of affordable natural products to the Philippines “we firmly believe that consumers can make an impact on the environment by making smarter and more conscientious purchases” Anna said.

With the help of her sister Camille, she started doing research on how will they be able to bring natural and organic products to the Philippines. Through connections, she found someone who would help her come out with the standard quality of their products.

“There is a misconception that as long as it has botanical ingredients then it can be considered all-natural product already but a lot of this so-called natural products still have harmful chemical components in them which will affect the environment as well as our families,” Anna said.

Rocky Start

Their path for goodwill and success was not easy “It was very challenging because we had to do everything ourselves and we didn’t have any staff yet,” recalled Anna.

She said they even have to open for Christmas season which was the busiest time of the year for their company. There were some production challenges they had to deal with because of the overwhelming demands, leaving their house with limited space because of piles of boxes.

And as parents of two daughters, Dylan and Anna still manages to bring their kids to school every morning and  they always make sure that Sundays are solely devoted for the family.

Despite all challenges they encountered, she still stood tall and said “, great things can only be accomplished by great sacrifices. One by one the vision that had ever since we went to U.S. was coming to life, in a calculated progress.”

She said that she was glad for families right now are getting more environmentally conscious of the things they buy because they were starting to be aware of the harmful effects of harsh chemicals to their bodies as well as its toll on Mother Earth.

A Heart for Nature

          Human Nature offers a wide array of personal care products that will pleasurable to organic fads.

Their products range from P50.00 to P 275.00. Facial washes cost P59.75 while full-sized shampoos at 200ml are just P99.75 making it affordable to ordinary Filipinos.  

Anna said that they’re hardly been doing any marketing activities and they rely solely on word-of-mouth because they believe that it gives them more credibility compared to that of advertisements’ because it is when actual users talk about their positive experiences with the products.

As a pro-environment brand, Human Nature test their products on animals

“, We only test the formulations on ourselves and other human subjects. For people with mild, sensitive skin, we suggest that they try our products first before they use it extensively because even if our products are mild or natural, it doesn't mean it's hypoallergenic.”

Anna said that some people can actually be allergic to natural ingredients.

 She added that those most natural products in the US and in Europe carry warnings about using natural and organic products.

PRO-POOR

Gandang Kalikasan Incorporated, the company behind Human Nature has prioritize the goal of helping Gawad Kalinga residents providing sustainable livelihood for them by developing organic farms and processing areas in G.K. communities all over the country. Anna said that they aim for nothing but world-class excellence for their products for she believes that it will be a great tool to make our country heighten-up its progress.

 “The poor is one of our top priorities and we strive hard to provide fair and honorable livelihood for them,” said Anna. Currently, they employ most of their warehouse staff from G.K. communities and pay them more than that of minimum wage and give reasonable work hours. And if anything beyond that work hours is considered overtime and they gladly pay a premium for it

Anna said, “We have seen how these labor practices have given our workers confidence, improved productivity and pro-activeness in their work.” She also said that as a team, they want to build a culture of excellence even amongst the poor because they believe that they have as much potential as those of us who have been educated. The only advantage that we have among them is the opportunities that we were given and that they were deprived of.

Aside from Gawad Kalinga communities, they are now helping farmers from a farmer cooperative at Camarines Norte supported by the Philippine Federation for Environmental Concern (PFEC) and AID Foundation Incorporated (AID FI) which helps bring alternative sources of energy and electricity to rural areas that are outside the grid.

       In the future, Human Nature wishes to expand their dealership locally through conducting a lot of trainings and recruitment for their dealers for the next months.

They are looking forward on introducing new and exciting products that will delight their future and regular customers, grow their own raw materials from Gawad Kalinga communities and export their products abroad.

“The Philippines has one of the highest bio-diversity. We can produce high value finished products and provide more prosperity to our people by becoming better stewards of our resources and our people.”

Anna hopes and prays that someday their efforts will pay and can finally enjoy the fruits of their labor.