Sabir Taghizade
Michael Meier
Ekaterina Usova
Lena Holzmann
Friedrich Alexander Universitat
Francisco Layrisse
Keep this story going! Share below!
Thrive Care delivers completely natural skincare products made of organically grown and potent plants that not only enrich the skin with minerals and vitamins, but also beneficially impact the environment they grow in. The company deploys innovational methods of regenerative practices with the direct participation of local farmers, including women-led cooperatives; thus, contributing to their well-being as well as to the comprehensive development of the areas of business operations. Consequently, as many as 7 Global Goals are prioritized to be addressed within Thrive Care's mission.
The significance of products that are truly beneficial to our bodies without underlying side effects is undoubtedly growing. Thrive Natural Care has a mission to deliver skincare products that are not only designed to address skincare issues but also made of exclusively natural ingredients. Furthermore, the company takes advantage of regenerative practices used in the whole production process. Plants grown in regenerative conditions serve as the core and are rich with minerals and vitamins essential for healthy skin (Thrive Natural Care, n.d.c).
Since 2013, the company is based in two locations – in California, USA, where the majority of the customers are coming from, as well as in Costa Rica, where the primary regenerative farms are located. Regenerative skincare is made possible thanks to the team of professional “ecologists, skincare experts, entrepreneurs, ethnobotanists, and traditional herbalists joined together and created one of the most unique business models on the planet” (Thrive Natural Care, n.d.a). The experts of various fields come together and create formulas of plant-derived safe goods for improved skin integrity that do not contain synthetic components and are GMO-free and vegan (Thrive Natural Care, n.d.c).
Thrive Natural Care creates a model of regenerative farming where a variety of potent and healthy plants are growing in a biodiverse ecosystem. Not only do plants grow sustainably in such environments, but they also have a considerable impact on “transforming degraded land into a verdant paradise of bees, birds, and plants” (Tomlin, 2022). Additionally, with the aim of preserving and improving the local biosystem while making the plants as nutrient-rich as possible, they put into use farming methods that ensure a healthy soil. Tracking up to 15 soil health indicators further helps them develop the quality of their skincare products (Thrive Natural Care, 2019a).
Utilizing exclusively natural ingredients in the form of healthy and potent plants rich in minerals and biological benefits (Thrive Natural Care, n.d.c) with the help of diverse groups of people, Thrive Natural Care aims at 7 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals: Good Health and Well-being (Goal 3), Gender Equality (Goal 5), Decent Work and Economic Growth (Goal 8), Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure (Goal 9), Responsible Consumption and Production (Goal 12), Life on Land (Goal 15), and Partnerships for the Goals (Goal 17) (Rojas, 2023).
Alex McIntosh, CEO and Co-Founder, created the brand when he was looking for natural skincare that was suitable for sensitive skin. His first “seed” (Thrive Natural Care, n.d.a) of an idea was finding potent skincare that had natural ingredients that actually helped the skin. His idea was to find healthy, natural, affordable skincare that would not cause side effects or irritate the skin. (Thrive Natural Care, n.d.a)
His next step was creating a business with a better business model than in ordinary businesses. Alex describes himself as "a tree-hugger that believes in capitalism" (Clamer, 2023) and he wanted to create a business that is both solving a problem for consumers and operates effectively (Clamer, 2023). After working in corporate for years, the founder was concerned about consumer product production and the waste that it generates, which motivated him to do better for future generations. A family trip to Costa Rica inspired Alex to create a regenerative business there, especially because of the unique “superplants” (Thrive Natural Care, n.d.a) native to the region. As the plants cannot only be a valuable source for skincare production, they also play a restorative role in the ecosystem. With the development of farming in the region, the founder wanted to create a company that has a strong social and ecological benefit, as well as inspire other businesses to adapt the regenerative business model (Thrive Natural Care, n.d.a).
Thrive Natural Care monitors the performance of their approaches by measuring more than 20 ecological (Thrive Natural Care, 2019a) and social criteria multiple times throughout the year to make sure the environment is in the desired state and the farmers are actually benefiting from cooperating with Thrive Natural Care. They also measure the same indicators in a regional reference ecosystem to be able to compare their progress with the status quo in similar areas. According to these measurements, all partner farms have increased their income since they started working together with Thrive Natural Care. Overall, their income has increased by 324%. Furthermore, through the adoption of regenerative agriculture techniques, Thrive Natural Care’s partner farmers were able to increase their capacities with more equipment, knowledge, and business partners (Rojas, 2023).
One illustrative example of Thrive Natural Care’s impact on one of their partner farms is the case of a women-led cooperative consisting of 26 families. When they started to partner with Thrive Natural Care, they sold cacao as their only product. Until today, they managed to expand their farm to produce 25 products, eight of which are out on the market, and were able to acquire a distillation unit for the production of essential oils (Rojas, 2023).
For the future, Thrive Natural Care aspires to increase its impact and has set itself the goal of expanding its partnerships to 875 farmers in the next three years, including the restoration of 228 hectares of land. They are also planning to create a new location on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. The responsible parties are starting to investigate possibilities to enable similar social benefits for local communities there while at the same time engaging in mangrove restoration (Conservation International, n.d.).
The regenerative business model attracts consumers interested in both natural ingredients and environmental restoration. With regenerative plants as a key competitive advantage, customers are willing to pay a premium for better natural ingredients rather than synthetic compounds. Moreover, the business idea attracts those concerned about sustainability issues and those who prefer to support regenerative businesses (Rojas, 2023).
Because of the regenerative approach and aspiration to only use native plants in production, Thrive Natural Care’s products include plants as ingredients that were not used for beauty purposes on the market before. These plants include, e.g., juanilama, fierrillo, and corralillo, which are native to Costa Rica. (Thrive Natural Care, n.d.c) Plants used by Thrive deliver 17 times more oxidants to the skin compared to vitamin D because of the way they grow. The oil derived from the leaves, a “hero-ingredient" (Clamer, 2023), is later used in the natural formulas of various products like lotions and sunscreen (Clamer, 2023). The safety and effectiveness of the ingredients were even marked by New York Times, which named Thrive sunscreen the most reef-safe on the market, as well as the most comfortable to use (Redd, 2023).
These plants allow the company to create a product that is hard to imitate for competitors. Employees like Gustavo Rojas also feel more empowered because of their work, which is both a passion and a way to earn money (Rojas, 2023). Motivated employees who see the impact of their work directly on communities and ecosystems inspire workers. Farmers that collaborate with Thrive Natural Care have also witnessed economic growth in the past years, as well as growth in the variety of plants offered.
“We consider ourselves facilitators, we are facilitating the regeneration of a relationship between the farmers, between the communities and their local ecosystems” (Rojas, 2023).
To achieve ecological benefits, Thrive Natural Care is following the 5-cycle-approach of Charles Messy, which aims at (re)establishing balance between the natural cycles of solar, biodiversity, soil, water, and society (Thrive Natural Care, n.d.b). In order to meet the needs of a tropical environment, Thrive Natural Care adapted the model in cooperation with local experts in this field. Moreover, they engage in re-creating the original state of the land prior to its agricultural use by reintroducing native plant species. Thrive Natural Care believes that this kind of healthy and resilient ecosystem is the foundation for growing the kind of strong plants necessary to produce the high-quality product they aspire to sell (Rojas, 2023).
To further strengthen the ecosystem, Thrive Natural Care is also adding other plants than their product ingredients to the fields that help enrich the soil quality and attract mainly pollinators but also other native animal species. Therefore, biodiversity in the area is fostered (Rojas, 2023; Thrive Natural Care, 2019b). Plant waste from the farm is used instead of industrial fertilizer (Thrive Natural Care, 2019b).
In terms of social benefits, Thrive Natural Care is also aiming to enable farmers to become more resilient communities. Their key tool to achieve this is teaching their partner farms about regenerative agriculture and suggesting suitable approaches for the use of their land. However, it is very important for Thrive Natural Care not to put pressure on the communities and make them implement measures they do not approve. Instead, Thrive Natural Care wants to make the farmers understand the value of their land and empowering them to make choices for it that eventually will benefit the environment and their quality of life. During this process, Thrive Natural Care puts emphasis on their partner farmers’ traditional and cultural knowledge about the ecosystem and agricultural techniques, since in the concerned rural areas of Costa Rica, a great amount of this valuable information is still preserved (Rojas, 2023; Thrive Natural Care, 2018).
_______________________________________________________________________
Reference list
Clamer, C. (2023, July 31): The Unusual Model of Selling Unusual Skincare Products with Alex McIntosh [Audio podcast]. https://honestecommerce.co./episodes/236-the-unusual-model-of-selling-unusual-skincare-products-with-alex-mcintosh Last accessed August 5, 2023.
Conservation International (n.d.): Thrive Natural Care. https://www.conservation.org/projects/conservation-international-ventures-llc/thrive-natural-care Last accessed July 13, 2023.
Redd, N. (2023, April 21): The Best Reef-Safe Sunscreen. https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-reef-safe-sunscreen/ Last accessed August 5, 2023.
Thrive Natural Care (n.d.a): Meet Thrive. https://thrivecare.co/pages/meet-thrive Last accessed July 30, 2023.
Thrive Natural Care (n.d.b): Our Regenerative Mission. https://thrivecare.co/pages/regenerative-mission-1 Last accessed July 30, 2023.
Thrive Natural Care (n.d.c): Regenerative Skincare. https://thrivecare.co/pages/regenerative-skincare Last accessed July 30, 2023.
Thrive Natural Care (2018, May 16): A Startup Hundreds Of Years In The Making Comes To Life In Costa Rica.https://thrivecare.co/blogs/news/a-startup-hundreds-of-years-in-the-making-comes-to-life-in-costa-rica Last accessed July 30, 2023.
Thrive Natural Care (2019a, April 12): 3 Reasons Why We Are All-in On Regenerative Farming (And Why You Should Too). https://thrivecare.co/blogs/news/3-reasons-why-we-are-all-in-on-regenerative-farming-and-why-you-should-be-too Last accessed August 4, 2023.
Thrive Natural Care (2019b, September 17): From our farms, to your face: Why regenerative agriculture impacts so much more than the environment. https://thrivecare.co/blogs/news/from-our-farms-to-your-face-why-regenerative-agriculture-impacts-so-much-more-than-the-environment Last accessed August 5, 2023.
Tomlin, A. (2022, November 8): How Regenerative Farming Could Lead to Better Beauty Products. Allure. https://www.allure.com/story/regenerative-farming-beauty-products Last accessed August 4, 2023.
Get stories of positive business innovations from around the world delivered right to your inbox.
