José Miranda
Universidad Externado de Colombia
Gustavo A Yepes López
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Nani Marcela Lizcano, an environmental engineer, merges her Entrepreneurial Spirit with the benefits of nature. She is from Neiva, and she is also a graduate of Corhuila University. Nani is the creator of the Amanita ecological store.
The idea of a company with an environmental and social sense was born in June 2018 as a result of her concerns, which came from studying, reading, and exploring inputs. At that time, she decided to register Amanita as a brand for Huila with personal care products and a truly ecological concept, social and environmental entrepreneurship. This brand specializes in natural and organic soap and offers a wide variety of products. Soaps with elements such as aloe vera and calendula, grape and biotin, turmeric and honey, exfoliating oat and coconut, rice and rosemary, rose water and collagen all make the list of products. Each of them has specific properties for skincare, whether for sensitive or normal skin, or skin which is predisposed to allergies, dry or greasy.
According to Asograsas data, in 2016, in Colombia, the apparent consumption of edible vegetable oil is 621,000 tons.
When this oil is poured onto the surface of water bodies, it affects their oxygen exchange capacity and alters the ecosystem. Likewise, oil in the landfill can cause erosion, loss of soil fertility and destruction of animal habitats. Even, at the urban level, when they are discharged into the sewer system, the networks get clogged and cause difficulties in the provision and cost overruns in the Treatment Plants.
Hence the importance of implementing a circular economy model that promotes the use of used cooking oil as raw material for the production of new products. For this reason, entrepreneur Nani Lizcano began with the formulation of products that she tried, again and again, to make them work.
Nani Lizcano shared the same concern that arose to the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development of Colombia in curbing the inadequate disposal of used cooking oils in the country, which generates unfavorable impacts on the environment, especially for water resources, the soil and human health.
This Ministry issued Resolution 316 in 2018, which establishes provisions related to the management of used cooking oils and others that apply to producers, distributors and marketers of edible vegetable oils, generators (industrial, commercial, and services) and managers of Used Cooking Oil (UCO), which carry out activities of collection, treatment and / or use of used cooking oils, within the framework of management and complying with the requirements of current regulations.
The impact of this innovation means that AMANITA products have a selection of raw materials so that they are natural and biodegradable as vegetable oils. This reduces the negative impacts generated in rivers and streams areas where this type of waste usually ends.
It should be noted that AMANITA's growth and positioning have had the support of the Neiva Chamber of Commerce and the IDB, through the Empréndelo program, which has strengthened its self-management process through advice and mentoring.
Restaurants had to wait almost a year for a company from other cities to come and collect their waste oil to make biofuels. The wait was long, and restaurant owners said they felt overloaded with that residue. Nowadays, Amanita uses its used oil and exchanges it for soap that restaurants have started using in the same establishments. Approximately 20 liters per month are collected per restaurant and twelve restaurants linked to the campaign at the moment.
Amanita is a company that specializes in natural and organic soap with a wide variety of products. Soaps with elements such as aloe vera and calendula, grape and biotin, turmeric and honey, exfoliating oat and coconut, rice and rosemary, rose water, and collagen integrate the list of products. Each of them has specific properties for skincare, whether sensitive or normal, predisposed to allergies, dry or greasy.
And thanks to its effort and commitment, Amanita customers see positive effects on their skin and well-being, which has made the company increasingly be cast on the local and national market, with a local point of sale and with the projection of being able to hire more employees.
Amanita wants to make a change, create well-being for the body and the soul. That is why people involved in the Amanita company feel at ease as every action benefits society and the environment.
This is done by contributing to the fact that the edible vegetable oil, approximately 621,000 tons per year, does not become discharged into the bodies of surface water because these oils affect their oxygen exchange capacity and alter the ecosystem. Likewise, landfill use can cause erosion, loss of soil fertility, and destruction of animal habitats. Even at the urban level, when they are discharged into the sewer system, the networks get clogged and cause difficulties for the Treatment Plants.Get stories of positive business innovations from around the world delivered right to your inbox.
Amanita campaigns with some restaurants in the city. Those restaurants provide them with the cooking oil they use to fry plantain, nuggets, and other things. That used oil is transformed into biodegradable soap in cream to wash dishes, laundry soap, and animal bath soap
