With a deep desire to transform sustainability in business, Tchakka origins embarked on the journey of creating a vertically integrated plant-based lifestyle company, using an agroforestry model to source and craft plant extracts and natural ingredients from Ethiopia for use in personal care and wellness. By merging biodiversity of indigenous plant species with the intricacies of forest ecosystems, and providing equitable opportunities for smallholder farming communities, Tchakka origins offers products promoting a plant-based lifestyle.
Tchakka origins partner with farming communities that live and work in forested areas, in remote areas where nearby open markets determine pricing for products. Through equitable contract farming arrangements, Tchakka origins provides more stability, better assurance and premium pricing that encourage quality production. With a particular focus on women farmers, Tchakka origins partner farming communities grow a range of spices, herbs, botanicals, flowers, fruits and oil seeds from Ethiopia’s biodiversity hotspot.
Tchakka origins’ commitment to ecological sustainability and social equity, with use of indigenous plant species never before used in personal care and wellness, enables a thoughtful selection of plants with naturally high-performing chemical functions. the range of our plant-based products heightens the experiences of global personal care and wellness markets. from skincare and haircare formulation to herbal teas, Tchakka origins brings not just the plant-based product but the story of the ecosystem it comes from, and the caretakers who tend to its remarkable journey of transformation along the way.
Tchakka origins and its partner farmers are committed to exclusively organic production of plants, from soil to harvest, with ambitions of eventually certifying for organic. in the meantime, to maximize both ecological and social impact, we partner directly with smallholder farming communities, establishing control of value chains, and creating opportunities for greater participation of women farmers. as a woman-founded social enterprise, the participation of and empowerment of women farmers to take greater control of livelihood improvement opportunities is a critical piece of our shared success.
Feven Tsehaye is the Founder and CEO; she founded Tchakka Origins to merge her appreciation for nature, her desire to share the story of Ethiopia’s indigenous plant species, and a proposition for a plant-based lifestyle embedded in sustainability at its core.