‘Do the right thing’ is taught to every child in kindergarten, but is a value lacking in most businesses. When Sibu Beauty continued its legacy of humanitarian efforts by taking an active role in improving the lives of the women of Tibet, His Holiness the Dalai Lama took notice.

The main ingredient in all Sibu Beauty products is the sea buckthorn berry, a unique superfruit carefully harvested by hand, only one month a year, high in the Himalayas by the women of the region. When Sibu established fair trade agreements with local harvesters to secure rights to this source, one major goal was, and continues to be, creating opportunities for work and fair pay to the people of the region. As a result of these fair trade agreements, Sibu Beauty has improved the quality of life of these Tibetan villagers as well as providing a source of income for women, who can now make enough money to help the family weather the harsh Tibetan winters in just a couple of months.

Sibu Beauty’s efforts made a noticeable difference to the Tibetan villagers and caught the attention of  the Dalai Lama, ultimately leading to a meeting with His Holiness and Sibu co-founder Ramesh “Nico” Khanna. During this meeting, His Holiness offered his blessing on the “wonderful effort” taking place every harvest season, and voiced his gratitude for the opportunity given to women in the region to work and earn fair trade compensation.

“The meeting and blessing by His Holiness the Dalai Lama is validation of Sibu’s efforts to provide means for local villagers to earn fair compensation to sustain their families through the brutal Himalayan winter,” said LaMar Wiscombe, CEO of Sibu Beauty. “Sibu could buy sea buckthorn raw materials on the open market for a fraction of what it costs to have it hand-harvested in the remote mountain valleys of Tibet. However, we believe in a higher cause than just profit margins.”

According to company founder Bruce McMullin, “Sibu Beauty’s work with the women of Tibet is just one of the our initiatives to be a good corporate citizen and show that sustainability is about more than energy conservation. Sibu’s products are made to the highest standards to reduce damage to the environmental from chemicals, overflowing landfills and irresponsible management of our forests and other resources. Our work and partnership with the Forest Stewardship Council, Tashi Foundation and Choice Humanitarian help make our world a healthier, better place for everyone.”

More information about Sibu Beauty’s products, humanitarian and sustainability practices are available at http://sibubeauty.com and http://sibubeauty.com/blog.

Tags: Dalai Lama, sea buckthorn, sibu beauty, tibet

This entry was posted on Monday, November 16th, 2009 at 11:38 pm and is filed under Dalai Lama, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.