SOMEONE asked me just recently: “Why is rose geranium so important to you? Why haven’t you applied your focus to cardamom or jasmine or honeysuckle?”
The answer is simple: Rose geranium is the plant that touched my heart, the one that resonated with my being.
In 2011, when I investigated various options in the essential oils industry and studied a variety of plants and shrubs including spearmint, peppermint and, the so-called “ugly” shrub kept plugging at my heart strings.
The rose geranium is not much to look at as a planted shrub, yet it produces a beautiful flower, while its oil is distinctly hemostatic, a deodorant with anti-depressant qualities. In addition, rose geranium possesses the ability to generate relaxation, calmness and balance in the mind.
As one of the few oils with the ability to both uplift and sedate, rose geranium works profoundly on the emotions, in skincare remedies, and digestive ailments. It is also an essential and a sought-after ingredient in most of the world’s most luxurious perfumes.
Importantly, too, rose geranium is a true survivor. It doesn’t require a lot of water to thrive and it can be harvested up to four times a year.
Our principal business at Seobi entails much more than the development of small businesses in the essential oils industry in South Africa. It is also about developing innovative ideas and entrepreneurial skills amongst communities throughout the country with the ultimate goal of creating jobs in an economy that are sorely in need of stimulation and pointed action.
Over the past six years, we have made remarkable progress in the placing, training and supporting of selected farmers in three key areas – Limpopo, Northern Cape and the Eastern Cape. All these areas have yielded superb, repeating crops with tangible advantages for our entrepreneurs, including lifestyle-changing financial rewards.
We continue to investigate ways and means of expanding the excellent working model we have created in other areas, to employ and train the right entrepreneurs and to make ultra-sufficient use of the land available to us.
We thank our stakeholders, partners and suppliers for their ongoing support. We will not have come this far and achieved this much without you!
Ellis Levember
CEO