In 2012, just hired as a communications associate with Dr. Bronner’s, I began working on a project to support fundraising for the purchase of bed nets to curtail malaria, and support the building of a maternity ward in the local health care facility in Asuom, Ghana, where Dr. Bronner’s palm oil is produced. A great success, the “Help Dr. Bronner’s Fight Malaria in Eastern Ghana” campaign succeeded in raising over $50,000. In the process we also educated many of our consumers about the sustainable, organic and fair trade palm oil used in Dr. Bronner’s bar soaps.

Almost exactly five years later, in November of 2017, I found myself in a small pickup riding over bumpy, orange clay roads through the Eastern region of Ghana, on my way visit Serendipalm.

During my week-long visit I learned that Serendipalm is accomplishing much more than producing palm oil. The company is profoundly impacting the lives of its workers and providing critical resources to the wider regional economy.