JustNeem and B Corporation

As you may already know, JustNeem is not a typical small business. Like any business, we try hard to cut costs and increase profit margins, but we also consider social good as one of the driving factors behind our business. Where we buy our neem leaves and how we give back to that community in Mauritania is one of the most important aspects of this business. Because of our emphasis on influencing the world for social change, we became interested in a non-profit called B Lab which certifies businesses with “B Corporation” status. We are proud to be a B Corporation and are excited about the possibilities of networking with the other members and possibly even a modified IRS tax code in the future that would recognize B Corporations as a legal entity. For more information about B Lab and B Corporations, check out their site. And be sure to visit our B Corporation page as well.

From the B-Lab website:
We hold these truths to be self-evident:

• That we must be the change we seek in the world.
• That all business ought to be conducted as if people and place mattered.
• That, through their products, practices, and profits, businesses should aspire to do no harm and benefit all.
• To do so requires that we act with the understanding that we are each dependent upon another and thus responsible for each other and future generations.

Tags: B Corporation, B-Lab, Be the change

This week’s testimony comes from Anjeanette S.

Some testimony for you:
I used to wash my face with the coconut soap and had the lavender at my tub and loved how wonderful it cleared up my blemishes and healed my skin. The neem also kept my skin from getting dry and itchy during the winter. I was bitten on my feet and ankles by fire ants after my dogs walked me through a mound. I came home and jumped in the tub to wash my feet. I used the neem soap and it immediately reduced the excruciating sting. I washed my feet again that evening before going to bed and the next morning the bites were gone! Those buggers hurt and the neem soap cleared the irritation right up!

I had a soap on hand when a co-worker had caught a case of poison ivy on his feet. He came into the office that day wearing flip flops because his feet were so irritated and they were beet red from itching them. I brought the soap the next day and told him to go home at lunch and wash his feet and to not put on the shoes he had been wearing. He came back with socks and shoes on and felt so much better. The next day, the sting and itch was almost gone, and was completely healed. He was so miserable and he just though I was so special because I gave him the “special” soap.

-Anjeanette S.

Check out our soaps in our online store.

Tags: itchy, poisen ivy, soap, testimony

This week’s testimonies come from three guys who love our shaving soaps!

Hi Peter,

I just have to say the shaving soap you gave me seems to be reducing the irritation in my face. Very impressive. This product needs to be taken world wide!

Kevin C.

I have been using the shaving brush and soap and see no reason to ever shave any other way! There is no razor burn at all and the gentle eucalyptus smell is refreshing.

Andrew N.,
Canada

I’ve tried all kinds of soap products to shave with. Name brands soaps, bar and liquids, shaving creams, but I always got bumps and skin irritations.

When I tried your shaving soap for the first time, I was blown away! I don’t have the skin
problems I had before, it smells good but not too much scent. It cleans and suds up great.
I love this product and it’s a win! win!
-Azjor I.

You can check out our shaving soaps in our online store.

Tags: razor burn, shaving soap, testimony

JustNeem had the pleasure of offering samples at two Whole Foods locations in the Triangle this past Saturday (Cary and Chapel Hill). Every Whole Foods Market in the triangle area now carries our products (including gift baskets and shaving soaps), which is exciting for us! In addition, the Cary store is offering some great discounts, saving you as much as $10 per large basket.

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

Tags: Discounts, Sales, Whole Foods Market

We’re running a new series on the JustNeem blog over the next few months called Tuesday Testimonials, featuring some of the many testimonials we’ve received from satisfied customers.  This week comes from Karen B.

Dear friends at JustNeem,

I’m home in the US for Christmas this year, and I’ve just done all my Christmas shopping with you. Wow! It is so exciting to see your online store and the AMAZING selection of soaps and fragrances you’ve come up with. So awesome. You’ve solved the problem of what to get for friends and prayer supporters for Christmas this year. I’ll be giving your hope soaps to at least 30 (and maybe more friends).

This project has just got me thrilled! Praying much for great success in this endeavor.

May you all have a wonderful Christmas,

Karen B.

Tags: Christmas, frangrance, gifts, soap, testimonial

“Your intact, healthy skin is your body’s primary defense against infection.”
-Claude Burton MD, professor of dermatology at Duke University School of Medicine.

Over the course of the next few weeks we’re going to highlight some of many ways in which neem and neem products can be used to treat common problems.  Its antibacterial, antiviral, antiseptic and antifungal properties make is uniquely able to treat many common conditions.

Dry skin is a common problem, especially for those who live in dry climates.  Dry skin usually results from a lack of moisture and collagen production. Lotion made with neem oil helps  prevent wrinkles and repair dry skin by protecting the skin while providing much needed moisture.  Antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal properties of neem also protect against infections and boost the body’s immune system to help rejuvenate deeper layers of skin. Don’t forget, the skin is the largest organ in your body!

To put neem to use in fighting dry skin, first wash with neem soap.  If you feel like a relaxing bath, you can also take a warm (not too hot) bath with neem bath salt.  Afterward, gently pat dry the skin, then apply neem lotion as a moisturizer. For severely dry skin, after washing, apply neem oil to the driest areas and repeat several times daily until the skin has recovered its natural balance. Neem oil applied to the skin replenishes the natural oil that is missing, helps retain water in the skin, and helps stimulate the production of collagen.

JustNeem is proud to offer products that help reduce dry skin in our online store. Coming up next, we’ll discuss

Tags: collagen, dry, dry skin, flaky, healthy skin, moisture, Neem

The doorbell just rang, “It’s DHL!”  The much-anticipated Neem seeds have arrived at our front door, all the way from Mauritania, West Africa, for our Christmas promotion. We weren’t sure how to get them across the ocean at first, until we heard that DHL ships from Mauritania, and in just 6 days, too.

Each of Holiday Gift Sets we’re selling this year will come with a pack of Neem seeds, as a special thank-you. And we’ll have planting instructions on our website, so you plant a Neem at home!

Soon, the Neem seeds will be wrapped and packaged, and sent out across the country…. Who knows, you might get a JustNeem Holiday set under you tree this Christmas.

Thank you, Craig, for bringing the Neem seeds the last leg of their journey.

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

This past March, I visited our partner NGO in Nouakchott, Mauritania, just like I did last year. I once again was blown away by their warm welcome towards me and the wonderful time we had together. This time I lived in a compound, a cluster of one-room houses, with neither running water nor electricity.

The first night, we came home in the dark, and I had not paid attention in the morning to where I had put the matchbox to light a candle for light in the evening. If it had not been for my dear neighbor, who let me use her flashlight to help me get my bearings in a new place, I would have had a terrible time making my bed in the pitch black room I had never slept in . And of course, I never again left the room in the morning without putting the matches in a place that I would surely remember in the evening .  Here is a picture of my room:

During my time there, we held a small Neem soap making workshop. It was quite an adventure  from gathering all the equipment we needed to teaching the handling of Sodium Hydroxide. Full of anticipation, we watched the finished product come together.

See some pictures from the workshop…

SOAP MAKING WORKSHOP

We started out discussing safety measures and had lots of fun with it, as you can see

Then we prepared the molds for the test batches,

stirred the soap,

poured it,

and — ta da!! held the finished product in our very own hands!

Tags: Neem, Nouakchott, soap making

During his last trip to Mauritania this past December 2008, Peter traveled with two friends to the southern border with Senegal in search of land suitable for a Neem tree nursery and an Neem tree orchard. In the picture below you see him and his friends in a meeting with village elders, where they presented and discussed the project.

They were met with a lot of excitement and in the course of the event, while cows milk was passed around in a wooden bowl as refreshment, the piece of land  in the picture below was offered to our team. Negotiations are now under way  to use this land to plant Neem trees for JustNeem, while creating jobs and income opportunities for the village.

While on the road, they came to this village (below), where a large Neem tree has become the center of village life. What an awesome perspective to plant many more of these trees in many more Saharan Desert villages!

Our Mauritanian friend has become quite an enthusiastic Neem tree grower. We call him Johnny Appleseed, because, like him,  he takes a few Neem tree seedlings along wherever he goes and shares them with others. Watch him here plant one of them:

He first digs a hole with any tool he can find . . .

. . . then plants the Neem tree seedling and adds natural  fertilizer (camel or goat dung) . . .

. . . adds water . . .

. . . and anything available to protect the little tree from hungry goats .

In this case he found a broken bucket, knocked the bottom out and added an old spring mattress that he found in nearby bushes as additional protection. A great way of recycling .

Tags: Neem tree project, Peter