Innovation

Kaitas’ early devotion to offering the highest quality and selection of natural cosmetics, wellness supplements, and other traditional health-related products has helped them in their booming success throughout the years. Kaita stands out amongst their well-established competition, in a day and age where natural beauty products are sought out, as many of the competitors within the industry use harmful chemicals within their products. It's not just the ingredients that Kaita has concerned themselves with, but also the source of them, as well as where and how these products are distributed. That's why Kaita carefully selects Peruvian suppliers and distributors with strong ethics, and morals that revolve around quality and environmental care with the task of delivering Kaita’s products to local businesses for customers to purchase. Kaita also supervises and works closely with Andean and Amazonian communities who have preserved sustainable and traditional cultivation methods that care for plants and fruits that these products derive from to ensure only the richest ingredients are used in Kaita products.

Inspiration

"The creation of Kaita can be credited to Claudia Silva. Her inspiration for the company came in her adolescent years as she was raised by her late father, a Peruvian scientist and a pioneer in the research and diffusion of medicinal plants for human well-being. From a young age, her father’s work planted a seed of curiosity and passion for natural ingredients and the benefits they offer.

Claudia states “I became deeply interested in natural ingredients and the benefits they offer to people”. As Claudia grew older, her mother pushed her to make her passion part of her livelihood, and she did exactly that.

In the early days, Kaita was a much smaller company, only offering its products at pop-up shops in places like markets and town fairs. It wasn't until one very successful day of sales, during a fair, that Claudia and her family sold around 2,000 units of snail slime, one of their top-selling products to this day. After this, it was obvious to Claudia that she had something special and her success motivated her to open her very own store, solidifying Kaita’s place in Peruvian natural cosmetics. But her success did not stop there, in fact as her company grew, her distributors also noticed the success and growth of Claudia's company and realized the business potential she and her business Kaita had. They knew that they wanted to be part of this innovation.

This was the beginning of not just a new company but also Clauda’s interest in natural medicine/products.

Today, Kaita has around 200 stores nationwide, around 300 independent distributors spanning all across Peru, has had television appearances over the last several years, and has average sales of $3.2 million a year. These numbers solidify Kaita as one of Peru's top 5 leading natural beauty companies.

Overall impact

Claudia Silva started this project with three main goals: reveal the extraordinary and unique benefits of the endemic Peruvian ecosystem for our health and beauty -following the steps of her father-; create an affordable line of products providing universal access to healthcare; and, enhance the impact of natural and organic ingredients in the beauty industry, reducing the environmental impact of its production processes.

Business benefit

Presently, Kaita has successfully established approximately 200 authorized distributors across the nation, with a presence in key cities. In addition to their stores in the districts of Lima, they have physical distributors in Chiclayo, Piura, Tumbes, Cajamarca, Arequipa, Huancayo, and Ica. Furthermore, they offer online shopping and have gained significant brand recognition and reputation through multiple television appearances.

In the short to medium run Kaita is planning to expand to healthy food stores, create an integrated distribution network, and enter the international market. All of this is the result of sustainable innovation and a dream of promoting the benefits given by nature and conserving them. In this new chapter, the CEO assures us that “by staying true to ourselves, maintaining the same objectives, and continuing to communicate with transparency and the same care in our products” Kaita hopes to reach the international stage without forgetting the innovation that has led them to the success that it enjoys today.

For the businesses that are planning to follow Kaita’s path of success, its founder gives us two valuable lessons: one -highlighted also by Barclays- is positioning on social media while developing strong communication, particularly in an industry that suffers from misinformation that continuously despises natural benefits; second, listening to customers -being transparent and honest while fulfilling their needs-, in our context, taking also into consideration their environmental preferences and social concerns.

Social and environmental benefit

The company's production process is deeply rooted in environmental stewardship -in line with the commitments of the target 11.a-, as emphasized by its CEO. “We work directly with the Andean and Amazonian communities. These communities have ancestrally lived in harmony with nature and have preserved their cultivation techniques and care for the different plants and fruits used in our products over time”. This commitment to sustainability extends beyond their internal operations, as the market has embraced their vision, granting them a substantial 20% market share and driving Kaita's sales to approximately 3.2 million dollars.

Respecting the environment is part of Kaita DNA: 99.9% of their products are natural, while 0.1% consist of preservatives with chemical components, which are suitable for human consumption and therefore neutral for the environment. Suppliers' techniques are periodically supervised by their team while the production process is completely integrated within the company through in-house laboratories and specialized departments on R&D covering various scientific disciplines including development processes, packaging technology, scientific formulation, microbiology, toxicology, environmental science, patent support and legal matters. This structure strengthens Kaita commitment to the environment, eliminating the use of hazardous chemicals through its production process and enhancing socially responsible agricultural and extracting techniques that allow a sustainable and zero-pollution development (Target 3.9, 12.2)

In order to give back this support, Kaita “is a social spirit”. Its commitment to its community is inspired by taking into consideration the needs of the people. They are aware that “many people around Peru often don't have the resources to attack smaller medical issues” trying to offer them alternative and natural solutions through their products. Customers are the center of its operation structure; where honesty, transparency, and the ability to listen are the flags of the company.

The social goal (aligned with the interests of Target 12.8) is not only a statement, it is a factual reality backed by the data. Indeed, if applying the average spending on health and beauty products (7.3%) to the average wage in Peru in September 2024 (2054.90 PEN) it is found that a basket that includes hair care, skin, and one health supplement product fits the spending (135 PEN versus 150 PEN assigned).

                 -Index constructed using data from the Central Reserve Bank of Peru and the following consumption basket (Cat’s Claw shampoo and natural conditioner, Mother of Pearl shell cream, Snail slime soap, Honey bee)-

Additionally, according to Barclays “the rising cost of living seems to have shifted consumers’ spending priorities, increasing focus on self-care and wellness over the past three years”, boosted by the impact of social media, a business tool that is considered essential by Kaita.

In this context, the business model proposed by Kaita, backed by its innovative vision of natural products, has led Kaita to a prominent position in the industry, they were -and still are- pioneers in the market.

Following the conclusions of Barclays’ study cited before, their focus on organic-based products in an economic climate where “members are looking for higher quality and affordable products from the comfort of their home” has been the key to their success. They are aware of this, as they said to us -If other companies are following our path, we must be doing something right-. Nevertheless, despite the increased competition, they maintain their leadership and reputation by being conscious of their origins -natural benefits, high quality products, and transparency and honesty as core values-.

Interview

María Claudia Gutierrez, co-owner