Organic cosmetics manufacturer gives livelihood to GK villagers

CEBU, Philippines - Aside from providing affordable organic personal care products to the mainstream market, a local beauty products manufacturer, Gandang Kalikasan, Inc. also imbibes an advocacy of helping the underprivileged sectors of the community.

Created by Anna M. Wilk and Camille Meloto, the two daughters of Gawad Kalinga founder Tony Meloto; Gandang Kalikasan Inc. is now helping Gawad Kalinga villagers and poor Filipino farmers with more productive livelihood opportunities.

The company has been established September of last year and now distributes and manufactures a wide variety of 100 percent organic and Philippine-made beauty products under the Human Nature brand, said its vice president Dylan Wilk in an interview during the company’s launching for the Cebu market.

Wilk who is also the international partnerships head for Gawad Kalinga said that their business is more than just the profit because it serves as an extension of their advocacy to help Filipinos especially those from the Gawad Kalinga villages to earn additional income for their families.

 He explained that the ingredients for their products such as aloe vera, citronella, lemon grass and others are currently being produced by Gawad Kalinga villages thus providing livelihood to them.

Right now, eight to 10 GK villages all over the country are planting these ingredients and the company’s goal is to maximize the 1,700 GK villages in the future.

“Right now, everything is done manually but we are preparing to transfer to a mechanized plant in Laguna by end of April. We want to increase the volume of our production to cope with the increasing demand of our products,” said Wilk.

He said that instead of planting and selling crops with lesser market value, producing their ingredients is more productive for families in GK villages because these will be bought at a higher amount.

"This will provide poor families a chance to augment their income. They do not usually thrive on just growing ordinary crops because usually there is no big market for that. Our proposition is much better because this time the Philippines will become a producer of both raw materials and end product and no multinational company from abroad would benefit so the money stays in the country," explained Wilk.

He also said that in addition, through Human Nature they also offer affordable organic products to a wide segment of the Filipino populace.

"Organic products are fairly expensive so only the rich can afford. But it has a huge market because a lot of people now a days are more conscious with their environment. We specifically made our products affordable so that it could also be accessed by average Filipinos," said Wilk.

Instead of selling on supermarkets and boutiques, Human Nature products are currently being sold through direct selling because the company also wants to help Filipino micro-entrepreneurs earn extra income.

“We still have no plans to go mainstream with our products although major chains have approached us because we want to provide extra income for the lesser privileged people. There are not so many opportunities here but Filipinos are hard workers, if they are given the right opportunities, they will surely thrive,” said Wilk.

Here in Cebu, a distributorship for Human Nature was opened at the Donalen Building in Basak, Lapu-Lapu and orders can be delivered, said its Cebu province super dealer Wilmer Lopez.

Also eyeing the global market to balance off its affordable price offering here in the country, Human Nature will also be launched in California this May and in Boston this June and shipments to the US has already started this month.

Human Nature distributes a wide range of personal care products from organic shampoos, conditioners, lotions, facial wash, lip balms, facial toners, and bug spray, among others.— Rhia de Pablo (THE FREEMAN)