Happy Honest Treats

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Happy Honest Treats

The Hague, NetherlandsBolivia
Budget: 
$10,000 - $50,000
Website:
http://www.justnuts.nl
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Project Summary
Elevator Pitch

Concise Summary: Help us pitch this solution! Provide an explanation within 3-4 short sentences.

We are justnuts and we make Happy Honest Treats.

About Project

Problem: What problem is this project trying to address?

The one of the 'Unhealthy snacks' which are packed with no respect.

Solution: What is the proposed solution? Please be specific!

Creating Happy Honest Treats. Little boxes filled with organic and if possible Fairtrade nuts and dried fruits. For example: hazelsnuts with coconut and raisins.
Sustainability

Marketplace: Who else is addressing the problem outlined here? How does the proposed project differ from these approaches?

Our peers: - Innocent Smoothies - Green & Blacks chocolate - Ben & Jerry's Competitors: - SUMM - Leev - Every other snack on the shelf :-) From our peers and competitors comes the challenge to keep reinventing ourselves. Continually improving our (social) impact. For example we need to be on the front end of the developments on sustainable packaging.
About You
Organization:
justnuts organic treats
Background Information
First Name

Erik

Last Name

Van Gangelen

The competition is only open to people between 18-34 years-old and resident in UK, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark or the Netherlands. Does this apply to you

Yes.

Country of residence of entrepreneur

The Netherlands

Tell us about your personal background. Why are you passionate about this issue? Making an idea a reality takes innovation, dedication and strong leadership. Do you have the necessary entrepreneurial skills to realize your vision?

I love treating myself to little tasty treats. But what I eat, I want to be fair. So no unnatural stuff and made with respect.

At my work it was Christmas (or Sinterklaas for the Dutchies) 365 days of the year, chocolate and sweets everywhere. After unsuccessfully stalking the caterer and the vending machine guy, I decided to create my owns snacks. After a while I started letting my family and friends taste them. And asking them if they would buy them. The feedback I got was positive, sometimes a bit rude, but it pushed me in the right direction.

So about a year ago I started justnuts. Realizing that two people know more then one and knowing that I'm not good at everything, I asked my good friend Thijs to join me, which he did.

So now we make Happy Honest Treats together.

I've build up a set of skills regarding, marketing and operations. Thijs knows a lot about finance and is a very driven sales person. The perfect combination.

About Your Organization
Organization Name

justnuts organic treats

Organization Country

, The Hague

Country where this project is creating social impact

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Innovation
The Model: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference; include your primary activities

We only buy organic ingredients, we do not add anything else.

If possible and relevant we buy Fairtrade, otherwise we have set up our own Code of Conduct, which lets our suppliers know what we think of for example labor issues.

We pack our treats in little FSC Mix Sources cartons which contain compostable (made from wood pulp) bags.

These bags are put in these little cartons by a special project of young guys who all have an psychological handicap, e.g. Autism or AHDH.

Select the stage that best applies to your business

Operating for less than a year

Social Impact
What is the social impact you have had to date and how you measure it?

After just a year in business this really difficult to say, but we have shown that you can make healthy snack that is packed with respect.

In doing so w've kept our packing guys busy, sourced a lot of kilograms of Fairtrade Brazilnuts and used no oil for packaging material doing it.

What barriers might hinder the success of your business? How do you plan to overcome them?

Convincing the really big for example caterers that our products are for real, that their customers want them and they still can make some money by selling them.

We have been building up a case with the help of Albert Heijn. They have stocked us, they like helping us and therefor we can show other possible customers that our products do sell.

Sustainability
How does your model address financial, social, and environmental sustainability?

Financial: we have a margin that gives us the opportunity expand our business, pay our salaries and make a little profit.

Social: making a really tasty and healthy snack, packed by our social project and with partially Fairtrade ingredients.

Environmental: we use FSC Mix Sources cartons and compostable bags. The bags are made from wood pulp and you can throw them in the same bin as your veggies and fruit.

Awareness & learning
How do you see social entrepreneurship contributing to the improvement of developing countries?

For justnuts it will be in two ways:
- buying Fairtrade and working with the farmers to produce the best nuts and dried fruits.
- sharing a part of our profits with our farmers, so they can improve their business and off course their nuts and dried fruits.

What aspects of your stay in Uganda as part of the competition do you think you will find most challenging and rewarding?

Learning views on how to solve a problem from different cultures. I have a Western way of doing things, but strongly believe that that is not the only way to achieve your goals.