You can find many of our products at these Whole Foods Locations: Chapel Hill, Cary, Durham, and Raleigh.

Whole Foods in Cary is offering our products with a significant discount.

What is Extraordinary Ventures, you might ask? Here is a quote from their website that describes them very well:

Extraordinary Ventures is a non-profit organization that provides “employment and social opportunities for people with developmental disabilities 15 years of age and above.”

We at JustNeem have found an extraordinary young man at Extraordinary Ventures, who has taken on the task of professionally wrapping and labeling our soaps! Sam is his name, and I wish I had a picture of him to show you. I will have to ask him for one next time I swap soaps for wrapping . . . We are thrilled to collaborate with this awesome organization! With that we not only help create jobs in far away Africa, but also here in our own neighborhood!

Check out their website, and make sure to watch the video about Matt, another young man like Sam! It’s an extraordinary experience to say the least !

http://www.extraordinaryventures.org

JustNeem has begun another exciting journey! This time it’s a partnership with the Kenan-Flagler Business School at UNC – Chapel Hill, together with the Center for Sustainable Enterprise. 

We have been accepted to participate in the BASE Program, the Business Accelerator for Sustainable Entrepreneurship, organized by the Business School. It focuses on bringing together local North Carolina businesses with environmental and social objectives in order to connect them with development resources in the community.

On Wed., January 28, we attended the first BASE reception and had a chance to meet the other participants, such as the Green Fountain Group, an organization that focuses on providing information, education and training about ‘green’ living to low wealth communities, along with a host of advisors and mentors that will guide the program. 

Next we’ll all be meeting with folks from the Hutchison Law Group and SJF Advisory Serivices to learn more about growing a business in a challenging economy. This should be good! 

We are excited to get to know other social entrepreneurs in the North Carolina area with similar visions of making a difference, and we feel privileged to network and learn from the business development folks that have offered their time to the BASE program. You can read more about BASE on the Kenan-Flagler Web site.

Here's the evidence...Whole Foods at Waverly Place sells JustNeem Soaps! (picture take by Matt in Cary, NC.)

Whole Foods now sells our Neem Soap! After much hard work and intense preparation, JustNeem is proud to present a brand new line of Neem soaps made especially for Whole Foods. Our friend Matt just sent us this photo: the soaps are officially on the shelves of the Whole Foods at Waverly Place in Cary, NC. Definitely, one giant leap for JustNeem!

These soaps are made with organic oils and can be found in the Whole Body Premium Line. The scents available are: Lavender Shea, Lemongrass Aloe, Rosemary Eucalyptus, Chamomile Grapefruit, and Orange Mint. We also offer a scent-free soap.

For those of you live in the Cary area, let us know which one you bring home! We love to hear which ones become your favorites.

Our first purchase of Mauritanian Neem has arrived!

These are the leaves we received from Mauritania. See how Ben and his wife processed the leaves in the video below!

We also received some Neem Seeds from Mauritania

]]> http://blog.justneem.com/2008/01/02/the-first-batch-of-neem/feed/ 0 http://blog.justneem.com/2007/12/05/how-we-got-started/ http://blog.justneem.com/2007/12/05/how-we-got-started/#comments Wed, 05 Dec 2007 16:15:38 +0000 Antje http://blog.justneem.com/?p=49 About six years ago, the Mauritanian government invited our friends Bill Criswell, founder of Impact Team International based in Seattle, and Bill Stoffregen, founder of Homewood Nursery in Raleigh, NC, to Mauritania, West Africa. Considered to be one of the most disadvantaged countries of the sub-Sahara, the Mauritanian government was looking to find new economic opportunities and had invited the Bills to come and help identify job opportunities.

As they traveled the country, Bill Stoffregen noticed trees that appeared to grow very well in the desert environment of this sub-Saharan region. When he learned that these trees were Neem trees, he realized he had been using a natural product from exactly this tree in his greenhouse back home. With this discovery, the two men began to wonder whether the Neem tree, that already grew in the country, yet, was not used for commercial purposes, could become a resource for the Mauritanian people.

Upon their return to the US, they began to research the Neem tree and its different uses. The findings convinced them that this tree could very well be an answer to the Mauritanian government’s quest. Thus, the vision was born to utilize the Neem tree for economic opportunities for the Mauritanian people.

Shortly thereafter, Bill Stoffregen, in collaboration with the University of Nouakchott, Mauritania funded a research study on existing Neem trees in the country. Many trips to Mauritania followed to negotiate with government personnel, business owners, and university professors on ways to utilize Neem as an economic resource.

Bill Criswell, Bill Stoffregen, and Peter Radtke - the visionaries behind JustNeem

In 2004, Peter Radtke, a biochemist by profession, joined the team. Together they extended their research on the amazing features of the tree, initiated the testing of active ingredients in Neem from Mauritania, and built a rather amazing network of friends who shared and embraced their vision of the “Neem Project.”

The search for a practical application of Neem led the three to the uses of Neem in India, where people mainly utilize Neem in their cosmetic industry, in soaps, body care products, and health supplements. This application appealed to the Bills and Peter and they began to focus on the development of personal care products. The small, yet tangible idea of making Neem soap to utilize the medicinal properties of Neem from Mauritania, West Africa, was born.

Then Came the Soap

Magda Radtke started as a hobby soapmaker in 2005. During a six-month sabbatical from teaching emotionally at-risk boys, she learned about the fascinating chemical process of “saponification,” the process that turns oils and fats into soap that, in turn, attacks the oils and fats from which it is made. Talking to the two Bills and Peter, she embraced the vision of using Neem in soap making. She gathered a group of friends together and began producing and selling Neem soap, as well as raising awareness of this amazing tree at craft shows and the Farmers Market in Raleigh, NC.

Madga attends many local artisan markets, presenting the vision and products of JustNeem.

In 2007, we chose the name “JustNeem” for our small company, registered as a business, and filed for trade marking of name and logo. In the spring, we established a collaboration agreement with an NGO in Mauritania. The 2006 soap sales provided the funds for this NGO to plant 1000 Neem trees for 1,000 families in villages surrounding Nouakchott, the capital city. These tree owners will soon reap the benefits of their Neem tree as it grows to maturity in only five years. In the very near future, these 1,000 trees will help provide income to their owners as well as shade in a very hot desert climate

In the fall, we placed our first large order of Mauritanian Neem. The our partnering NGO hired a local man who harvested and processed Neem from existing trees in response to the order. In December, we received our first large batch of Neem from him. Paying him a fair market price, JustNeem provided financial stability for him and his family for one year.