She empowered farmers by finding wider markets for Moringa leaves online.
Meybi Agnesya Lomanledo
Indonesia
I’m Meybi Agnesya Lomanledo. I founded my business in 2018 - an idea born in my head by the plight of the local Moringa farmers in the East Nusa Tenggara region. Moringa leaves are a superfood in terms of the multiple health benefits they offer. And I was surprised to see the low price they were going for in the markets.
She knew her idea would give a much-needed boost to the Moringa farmers by opening the doors of the world to them.
I also realized that any dramatic change I wanted to bring about for the Moringa farmers would need an equally dramatic solution. And it struck me then that the best way to do this would be to present the leaves in different, interesting forms. This would not only offer the customer a variety of healthy foods, it would automatically help the farmers in a big way.
Thus came about dried moringa leaves, teabags, ginger powder, moringa powder and moringa chocolate.
We were doing really well till the pandemic struck. Like so many businesses worldwide, ours too saw a massive decline in sales.
She saw her successful business crumbling rapidly due to the harsh realities of the pandemic.
I knew I had to act fast and think on my feet. I made some more product innovations and, most importantly, put out a lot of information about the health benefits of my products.
She made some smart product innovations and increased awareness about the products and their benefits.
My next step was to turn to advertising on Facebook. Social media helped me spread awareness amongst customers to such an extent that my sales shot up by 100-200%. To know that I could carry my business through the toughest of times and I did not let the Moringa farmers down were the most heartening experiences of my life.
