Innovation

Coco Craze, an established business in the Philippines that began in the year 2020, is driven to improve and uplift lives for the betterment of its fellow Filipino coconut farmers and the agriculture sector community in the Philippines. The business offers scented candles (made with coconut bowls in three different aromas), coconut bowls for eating, citronella spray (made with all-natural components and manufactured from coconut alcohol) (lambanog), and acharang ubod. Made of coconut husks mainly sourced from Laguna that are being discarded and chipped off at the outside to create the coconut bowl, shaved, polished, and hand poured to the coconut bowls by local artisans. To address SDG 8, SDG 9, SDG 11, and SDG 12 and to make the world a better place to live in, the business incorporates its sustainability goals by providing local coconut growers and craftspeople livelihood opportunities. Since Coco Craze receives their raw materials directly from coconut farmers, product gains will be distributed to them directly, removing the need for a middleman.

To address SDG 8, SDG 9, SDG 11, and SDG 12 and to make the world a better place to live in, the business incorporates its sustainability goals by providing local coconut growers and craftspeople livelihood opportunities. Since Coco Craze receives their raw materials directly from coconut farmers, product gains will be distributed to them directly, removing the need for a middleman.

What sets Coco Craze apart from its competitors is that it assures that all locally-made products are exceptional and market-exclusive. Most likely, its customers have never seen things like theirs in other stores. The company also guarantees that the products are of high quality so that the customer has a delightful experience. Because Coco Craze advocates for sustainability, customers support the brand, resulting in increased revenue while simultaneously ensuring sustainability and job possibilities for coconut growers, making the company a purpose-driven business.

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Inspiration

Seeing untapped potential despite being the second largest coconut-producing country worldwide inspired the creation of Coco Craze. The founder aimed to leverage something the country is abundant with, in this case, the native tropical coconut, to turn it into something meaningful. Even the SDG goals they cover consider plenty of stakeholders, including the most vulnerable to human-made and environmental threats. From the workers, the industry, the city at large, and even its products' responsible production and consumption process. In her own words, "Coco Craze will be promoting sustainability by repurposing materials that are already considered waste into new products," This is a timely and applaudable development as well as it is geared towards the circular economy in which sustainability is embedded.

Furthermore, Coco Craze's leverage is that the founder's passion, financial gains, and sustainability approach all exist harmoniously. These goals did not have to be at the expense of, nor did she find the need to sacrifice one aspect of their business for others to thrive. They exist to complement each other instead of competing. In her words, ''we think that the sustainability initiatives can increase the sales and financials of Coco Craze.'' Another inspiration of theirs is seeing how they can seize on an opportunity to utilize coconuts for various purposes, seeing as how product diversification is at the forefront of their future endeavors. Where they saw a market trend for scented candles, they developed other unique hand-crafted goods and even sought to gain a foothold in the food & beverage industry. Indeed, Coco Craze has demonstrated that another man's trash does become another's treasure.

Overall impact

In 2020, the business owners of Coco Craze discussed incorporating sustainability into their business. They mentioned how they contribute to the country's agricultural industry by utilizing native coconuts from local farmers in their products. Given this, they provide huge support to Filipino farmers.

With that, the short-term effects that the enterprise has done for sustainability have significantly helped the farmers that they partnered with in their communities in Laguna. Karylle stated, "We have chosen to work with local farmers to empower the agricultural sector."

Moreover, she also talked about how the Philippines is the second-largest coconut-producing country in the world. Karylle then shared that her group wanted to turn something negative into a positive, "We wanted to repurpose the waste of the coconuts to reduce the negative effects we see that they do to the environment." With that, the long-term effects of the innovation are shown in the Philippines, with how they continuously reduce coconut waste by repurposing these into something valuable and sustainable.

Given that the Philippines has a surplus of coconuts, the enterprise has found an opportunity to use these resources to create a product that will be sustainable and give back to the community. These would not only be products their customers will enjoy using but also help improve the lives of coconut farmers and local artisans in the country. To reduce the excess waste in coconut production in the Philippines, Coco Craze promotes sustainability by repurposing materials that are already considered waste into new products.

Business benefit

Karylle then said that their business started due to a university project in their practicum for entrepreneurship in 2020, as their business mainly focused on sustainability with waste management. She then stated, "People, mainly the youth, now are more ethics focused, they really research on the behind the scenes processes if they were actually ethically made, so I think that's why we have generated more profit because more people think about values more."

Additionally, it then begged the question of whether or not the sustainability innovations of the business, as well as their financial aspect, exist harmoniously. She then said, "They can exist harmoniously, and we can notice that the sustainability initiatives can increase the sales and financials of Coco Craze." Right now, so many individuals opt for sustainable products, which benefit them. There are more consumers nowadays who are more mindful of their consumer behavior. With this, they observe the industry with businesses that steer towards advocacies.

Because the business thoroughly integrated sustainability into their business, through this revenue increase, they can also provide better working conditions and compensation for the local farmers in their community in Laguna. The latter provides them with the coconuts they use in the business.

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Social and environmental benefit

In addition to their business efforts, Coco Craze has been setting up various fundraisers throughout the pandemic to help those in the local communities affected. They have also visited five daycare centers around Laguna to give school supply kits to the kids in those daycares. Furthermore, they have been providing groceries to the local farmers of Majayjay, Laguna, and have constantly been donating to different organizations around their community. Since the onslaught of the pandemic, many have lost their jobs, making it difficult for them to purchase basic necessities and provide for their families. Additionally, they have also been burdened by the rise in prices over time. With initiatives and businesses like Coco Craze, they can be catalysts of change for those who have been struggling. She points out that ''for every sale we make, a farmer gets a profit from it.'' This is a win-win scenario for all stakeholders involved.

In terms of their environmental impact as a business, they strive to ensure that their products and practices are sustainable and safe for the environment. They have also conducted a tree planting event, where they planted coconut seedlings around Laguna. Karylle mentioned that the areas in which they have been sourcing these coconuts are from various farms owned by some people they are acquainted with. They did not say how old the trees were or how quickly they grew back, but they mentioned that this resulted in occasional shortages in the amount required for their orders. Thus, they saw the need to help increase the number of trees through such events.

Interview

Karylle Kho, CEO