Dr. Luc Maes [00:00:24]: Hi, my name is Dr. Luc Maes. I am the cofounder of Kaibae, and for me, it’s a matter of biodiversity.
Kelly Kovack [00:00:37]: There are no coincidences in life. I’m a firm believer the universe presents the right challenges, opportunities, and people; we just need to be open to receiving them when they show up. I’m Kelly Kovack, founder of Beauty Matter. There’s a new generation of brands shifting the corporate paradigm, focusing on the triple bottom line: profit, people, and the planet, proving that business can be used as a force for good. Passion, vision, and intellectual curiosity are the fuel for these change makers. The word “kaibae” means, “Hello, how are you? Are you well?” in Kusaal, the spoken language of the Baobab harvesting communities in Ghana. The Kaibae brand was born out of the love of a tree and a Google search that brought a naturopathic doctor, a botanist humanitarian, and a curator together. Dr. Luc Maes is the doctor of naturopathy in the trio. He fell in love with Baobab while researching plant-based medicines in Africa. His passion turned into a mission and a brand that gives voice to wild plants, seeing them as powerful catalysts for improving health and beauty, advancing social good, and preserving biodiversity.
So, we have with us Dr. Luc Maes. I have to say that your wife and co-founder, Barbara, writes a very compelling email. The passion of the story was palpable when I opened it. My inbox is flooded with new concepts and brands on a daily basis, but when I read the email from her, it came in sort of late at night, and I was like, first of all, she’s a fantastic writer, it was really beautifully written, but I was like, “Oh my god, I have to reach out immediately. This is a really cool concept,” and I have been totally obsessed with it ever since. I even made one of Emma’s Killer Baobab Margaritas when I was preparing for our conversation today, so I’m all in.
Dr. Luc Maes [00:02:39]: Awesome!
Kelly Kovack [00:02:40]: So, I would love to lay the groundwork for our conversation by talking about the founding team, which was described to me as a Santa Barbara-based doctor, botanist, humanitarian, curator combo of nature lovers who have been working with plants for 30+ years, which is quite a combination. Can you share your background and how you all came together to found Kaibae?
Dr. Luc Maes [00:03:06]: My background is naturopathic medicine. I’ve been in the field – I grew up in a family in Belgium with natural medicine, natural healthcare, it was just how I grew up. I studied naturopathic medicine, I’ve been in practice now for 30 years here in Santa Barbara. I have always been very passionate about nature, animals, plants, and to be able to practice in a field where I can apply the healing benefits of medicinal plants for my patients is very rewarding. For some reason, I mean, I fell in love with this giant tree that happened to grow in Africa. I’ve been traveling the world, and I’ve been very fortunate to be able to learn about the traditional uses of plants and different regions in the world, but for some reason, about eight, nine years ago, this giant tree that grows in Sub-Saharan Africa called my name, the Baobab tree, and the more I studied about this tree, the more I wanted to visit the regions where these trees grow and meet the people and how they’ve been using the fruit of the tree for their health and beauty throughout centuries, but I had no connections in Africa, and having tried to connect with many people, I finally connected with a botanist humanitarian, through Google, of all things, and he happened to live only five minutes from my house. His name is Tom Cole, he’s a very experienced individual, works throughout Africa, most of the time working with refugees in post-conflict regions, and a botanist himself, he was very familiar with the tree, and when we connected here in Santa Barbara, his eyes lit up and we had an instant connection. The tree just opened the door to a whole new world, not only to its health benefits, but also to its potential, to make a positive impact for the communities where these trees grow, and also make a positive impact on the environment. We feel that we can make a difference by adding economic value to this tree, and now, we’ve teamed up with communities, we’ve developed a supply chain in northern Ghana about eight years ago, and together with Tom’s expertise in community development and agriculture, and my expertise in medicinal plants, we’ve teamed up and established Kaibae.
Kelly Kovack [00:05:39]: Can you explain sort of the first time you saw the tree? Because clearly, it’s kind of stirred something up with you, because you’ve built an entire business around it.
Dr. Luc Maes [00:05:49]: Correct. Every time I visit the communities in northern Ghana and the trees appear over the horizon, they give me the chills. When I see them, they’re just magical. They’re giants that have managed to survive in this arid environment where agriculture is very challenging, and these trees are truly majestic, and a crop that has been undervalued, that grows among these communities, is now making an amazing difference, but these trees are really impressive to be among.
Kelly Kovack [00:06:24]: And watching the documentary, it was…it’s so interesting, because the tree is really sort of the center of the community in so many ways, and there’s sort of this reverence for it that is really quite beautiful.
Dr. Luc Maes [00:06:40]: Yes, it is. At every center of every community, you have a Baobab tree, and it serves as a place for communities to have their gatherings, it serves as also a – in some places where there’s no access to wells, for example, the tree is hollow. In the rainy season, it fills up with water, and for some of these communities, it’s actually a source of water. The trees are so big, they are communities within themselves, and for many different animals and bees and bats and so it benefits these communities in many different ways.
Kelly Kovack [00:07:18]: And, I love the story of there was sort of an older man in the documentary who…there was sort of an, it almost looked like a ribbon tied around the tree, and what did he say, that the tree spoke to him, and basically wanted to be dressed.
Dr. Luc Maes [00:07:36]: Yes, I mean, that just shows you how much they respect the tree. They feel the tree is like a human being, and I feel that respect and that passion to preserve the tree has created, for us, a great team. Here, we have community members that are committed to saving the tree, to preserving the tree, and working together with Kaibae, where our goal is the same thing, and that’s how we’ve fostered a great relationship around the tree.
Kelly Kovack [00:08:08]: So, there are two sides to your business. One is you’re selling sort of the raw ingredient itself, and the other is sort of the wellness product brand, called Kaibae. Can we talk a little about the nuts and bolts of the supply chain? Because I can’t imagine that was easy to figure out. These areas are quite remote, so I can only imagine what it required to get all of this going. And, I’m also interested in the impact to the community, because I know it’s quite profound, and I think it’s very interesting in Sub-Saharan Africa, you’re quite progressive when it comes to compensation for men and women, even more so than in the United States.
Dr. Luc Maes [00:08:53]: Yes, we are. In fact, 85% of our communities’ members are women, and I’m very excited about that. But, so, when we started, eight, nine years ago, we traveled to this remote region where there was no harvest for the tree. It grows in abundance, and through Tom’s experience and through communicating with, creating the relationship with local elders, we were studying the opportunity to develop an opportunity for trade. We started with when that was clear, and was scalability was also evaluated, and we were able to – we realized that we could make the impact that we want to make, we were able to move forward, we became organically certified, which was an amazing challenge that took over a year of work to certify and ensure that the tree is harvested in an ethical, sustainable way without damaging the trees, without overharvested. We are very committed to doing it correctly, and that’s why I have Tom onboard, because that’s his expertise. We built a small processing center. We engaged people handlers, processers, and as we evolved over the years, we were able to grow our processing center and include more and more communities and more and more community members, and our impact has grown over the years. Now, we have a processing center where we harvest every year between November and March, and during the dry season, which is a time when there is no agriculture taking place, so it’s wonderful that we can promote – support livelihoods during a time of the year where there is none, and through trial and error, we’ve created a very high quality product and use everything we can use of the fruit, nothing goes to waste. So, yes, we started with a supply chain for the ingredients, and we decided to start that way because it allows us to meet the promise to the communities that we’ll come back for our harvest, but also the impact that we want to make through buying a specific volume that’s been increasing over the years, we’ve been able to increase the support to the communities. And, at the same time, I mean, as a naturopath, what motivated me about the Baobab initially, and now a lot of wild plants throughout there, is that the Baobab has multi-uses. When you use it as the powder, it has prebiotic, high antioxidant benefits. The benefits of the fruit addresses many needs that we have here. So, yes, we started as an ingredient and as a small company in order to gain visibility in such a big industry, the natural products industry. It was a way for us to start and introduce Kaibae, introduce Baobab, and our concept, and amazing companies such as Patagonia Provisions, for example, Nature’s Path Organic, all companies who are leading in adopting more sustainable practices in their offerings, loved what we’re doing, and I feel very proud that we were able to supply Baobab to these companies, who are now able, who have more marketing power, are able to share the benefits of Baobab. In the meanwhile, as a naturopath as I mentioned, I have always addressed the concern of what people ingest and what people use topically. Yes, we’re using organic foods and we’re eating better, and that has all its health benefits, but I saw people still using skincare products with ingredients that were not beneficial, and as a naturopath, I was very motivated to capture the benefits of these wild plants inside and outside, nourishing the microbiome in the gut and in the skin, which we can address as we cover this a bit more, but yes, we started with the ingredient, to ensure we make the impact on the communities, and at the same time, it gives us the opportunity to gain visibility and develop the products that I wanted to develop for our retailers.
Kelly Kovack [00:13:18]: Well, I was listening to another podcast that you did, and the impact that you’re having in these communities, you know, a lot of people talk about sort of impact and working with communities, but you are literally on the ground, and it is your operation, and there is…you have a very special person running your operation in Africa, don’t you? It’s kind of a really nice story. It’s a beautiful story, but I think it really speaks to the impact that you’re having in these communities.
Dr. Luc Maes [00:13:54]: Yes. I mean, initially, when we traveled to Ghana, we connected with Sule, a young man with a beautiful family, who really understood, from the beginning, what our goals were, what we wanted to do, and we decided to, over the year, actually start his company. He speaks English, he speaks Hausa, Kusaal, an incredible individual, motivated to build his own business, and saw the opportunity. Now, we were able to even support him to get his MBA, I’m very proud to say that. He’s become the true businessman. But, he is responsible now to manage the processing center. He ensures the relationships with the communities. So, in that sense, we’re extremely lucky to have such an amazing individual on the ground. Recently, we traveled to Ghana at the beginning of this year and did our first impact assessment, and that is what Tom is – through Tom’s experience, we’re able to assess the Baobab after now eight, nine years of working with the communities. The Baobab is the largest source of income for all of the communities that we work with, beyond agriculture, beyond Shea butter, in that specific region. So, Shea butter is harvested more in the rainy season, Baobab is harvested in the dry season, but Baobab, overall, is the highest source of income, and that was extremely rewarding for me to learn.
Kelly Kovack [00:15:36]: Oh, I mean, it’s incredibly impressive. I just realized that we skipped over the whole name Kaibae, which is so amazing. So, can you tell us how you came to name the company that, and what it means?
Dr. Luc Maes [00:15:53]: Well, it brings me back to the first day when I drove up to communities, the ladies were all lined up along the entrance to their village, and they were yelling, “Kaibae! Kaibae! Kaibae!” and it was so energized, for me, it’s the enthusiasm of welcoming us to their community. Kaibae means, “Bonjour, comment allez-vous?” “Hello, how are you?” “Shalom,” so, it’s a welcoming question asking, “Are you well? Welcome,” and for me, Kaibae connects me back to the source where it all started.
Kelly Kovack [00:16:37]: Yeah, I can’t believe – we should have started with that, instead, we end up in the middle, but we got it covered, so that’s the most important thing, right?
Dr. Luc Maes [00:16:45]: Yeah, yeah. So, for us, I mean, even our package really has meaning. So, everything – we’ve gone into great detail to really convey what we’re all about.
Kelly Kovack [00:16:56]: So, I know the journey started with Baobab, but you’ve also expanded sort of the idea of lost crops, which is also the name of the documentary you did. You’ve expanded the concept to Seaweed Mamas in Zanzabar, and the Cacay tree in the Amazon. Can you share a little bit about these ingredients and communities, and is it the vision of the brand to sort of continue to sort of find these lost crops and communities that you can impact?
Dr. Luc Maes [00:17:27]: Correct. And the Baobab, in a very magic way, opened the door to a world where we came to the realization that it is important to preserve these wild plants, to preserve biodiversity, and recognizing that these plants not only have amazing healing benefits, not only have amazing benefits for skin health, but also are very important to the communities that live among these trees and their need to be preserved. So, I love studying. I’m a very curious individual. I’m always learning how I can best help my patients and it has translated now into making these quality products, and I came across the Cacay tree in Colombia. It’s a tree that was being lost to deforestation, and I connected with a group in Colombia, Cahay (unclear 00:18:27), who is very much the same way aligned with our mission, wanting to support local farmers with a tree that grows in abundance – or used to be in abundance, that he is supporting to bring back. So, we traveled to Colombia, which was another great adventure, and connected with local farmers and see how we can potentially help as well. So, yes, we captured the benefits of cacay in our face oil, and then, the seaweed, Tom actually spent some time in Zanzibar in the beginning of his career, and is now studying seaweed as well, because seaweed is very important to the environment, and when I came across the fact that the Seaweed Mamas have these seaweed plots off the coast of Zanzibar, originally the seaweed was supplied through the carrageenan industry, that industry has since moved away from that region, and left the only source of income for the local Seaweed Mamas was seaweed harvesting, so we figured we would like to make a difference, can we make a difference, and how can we do that? So, we traveled to Zanzibar, and while that’s the smaller part of Kaibae, it’s slowly growing as we start to integrate the seaweed more in our products. In the same way, we now are – our goal is to support these ladies in the same way we’re doing in Ghana, and have on-the-ground relationships to positively impact their livelihoods with an ingredient that grows right outside their door. So, yes, and now actually, recently, I traveled – when I was back in Ghana recently, I’m looking for another tree that is getting lost, (unclear 00:20:18), which produces a beautiful butter, and I continue to research. I love studying plants, and I say, “How can I…what are the healing benefits? Is there a potential to integrate them, and how can I benefit these communities?” That’s kind of what I’m all about.
Kelly Kovack [00:20:34]: I think it’s amazing. You know, I think the other interesting thing is in the times that we live in now, we talk about a lot of scarcity and sort of natural resources disappearing, but in fact, some of these ingredients that you’re working with are actually available in abundance, they’re just not being used.
Dr. Luc Maes [00:20:56]: Correct. I mean, I feel they grow in abundance in regions where poverty is widespread. In that sense, they’re lost. Now, the communities who work on the Baobab, they realize, “Wow, this fruit that is growing above my head can make a difference for me during a time where I can’t have a harvest.” So, yes, these lost crops grow all over the world, we just need to go and find them. They’re there, and they’re important to preserve the environment, and preserving them ultimately also will affect climate change and so on.
