MEET
MAYANTU TEAM
Although both born in Zagreb, Ana and Lorena first meet in the Amazon rainforest. Besides finding one another, they have found a unique Wild Harvest business model!
We bring you extraordinary products from the daily life of the Amazon tribes packed under our brand name Mayantu. These plants are often mentioned in forest legends as magical because of their extremely positive effect on the human body.
Economic development based on the abundance of natural resources often has a destructive effect on the environment. The development of the industry in the Amazon region brings a loss of traditional values, accompanied by a lack of education. In the absence of better choices, Native Americans got involved in illegal logging activities, intensive plantation farming and exotic animal hunting. They represent a cheap workforce and the lowest level of poverty. Ultimately, even fruit sales become part of deforestation. Under the pressure of harder/better/faster local people cut down palm trees to collect fruits although the main product is not wood itself. For the needs of the city Iquitos alone, 1000 palm trees are cut each month!
We want Amazonian reality to become a part of history – and that solution is in hands of all of us!!
The wild harvest project, of which Mayantu is a proud member, was launched to implement a sustainable harvest of wild plants. Local people have been trained in climbers so they could climb to the top of palm trees with the help of a specially formed rope model. Harvest areas are mapped and we return to them year after year. Wild harvest technique requires more labor but it also provides a stable income for numerous families, provides an alternative to destructive activities and preserves the Amazon region for future generations. Through the wild harvest project, we learned how to utilize the rainforest without leaving any negative consequences. In the socioeconomic evaluations of Indigenous Native American communities, the buriti palm harvest alone accounts for about 5-15% of total household income. By starting Mayantu company, R&D in the natural sciences, we are breaking administrative barriers and bringing products from Amazon’s local communities to the European market.
With your support, this project is gaining global reach and forest areas reveal new economic value.
We invite all adventurers, lovers of wildlife, knowledge, tradition, and humanity to join us on our Mayantu journey.
Although both born in Zagreb, Ana and Lorena first met in the Amazon rainforest.
Ana worked in the Nature Reserve as an executive manager, while Lorena accidentally came to the same hostel in Iquitos during her six-month trip to South America. Besides finding each other, they have found out about the unique Wild Harvest business model! A short friendship was enough to continue their story a year later with a business partnership in Zagreb.
ANA BOROVIĆ – passionate biologist and conservationist
After receiving her diploma at the Faculty of Science in Zagreb, Ana joined a fair trade development program for local food in South America. During three years she has been managing numerous wild harvest projects and gain an valuable work experience. The expansion of the project was imposed as a logical step for further progress and personal contribution. Today she is the proud owner of the Croatian company for research and development in the natural sciences by brand name Mayantu.
“I am happy that people are starting to understand that planet Earth can thrive without us humans, but people can not live without the Earth.”
LORENA KONJEVIĆ – curious and enterprising spirit
In the final year of studies at the Faculty of Economics in Zagreb, Lorena got employed by IBM. However, the corporate world did not fit her personal character. Therefore she left the company and spent the next 6 months traveling across South America. Encountering areas of extreme poverty, low education and irresponsible business activities, determined her future business direction. Upon her return to Europe, she has launched a consultancy company based in London, with main orientation in advising on ‘sustainable development and corporate social responsibility’.
“I believe people have good intentions, but ignorance drives them in the wrong direction. Each of us can do something for the benefit of ourselves and others, without harming the nature.”
According to legend, in the depths of the Amazon rainforest, lives Mayantu.
No one is sure what it looks like, but stories tell that Mayantu is a reptilian creature similar to a goblin, with a scaly body and the face of a frog. It wanders between two dimensions, physical and spiritual, with abilities to easily camouflage into the bark of a tree or take the form of an animal. Unlike many other mythical inhabitants of the Amazon rainforest, Mayantu is not an evil spirit. Most often it helps people in need.
It is said that Mayantu has the knowledge of the medicinal plants of the rainforest and heals people in need.
However, Mayantu does not help those who come to the rainforest with bad intentions, nor it harms them. It causes a bit of confusion to scare them in their wandering the rainforest. The Yagua Indians, who live on the Amazon islands near Iquitos still worship Mayantu. It symbolizes the spiritual strength and harmony of the rainforest and its ecosystem.
“A lot of ordinary people in a lot of small places, making a lot of small steps, can change the world.”
Mayantu is a sequence of many projects carried out in the Amazon region, including the first steps of educating local people, starting a sustainable business company and eventually expanding beyond the borders of the Amazon rainforest.
We invite all adventurers, lovers of wildlife, knowledge, tradition, and humanity to join us on our Mayantu journey.
We want Amazonian reality to become a part of history – and that solution is in hands of all of us!
What the company produces, how it produces, what resources it uses, how it buys, how it sells, how it influences the environment, how it employs, how it treats employees, how it empowers them to work, what working conditions it provides, how they invest in social community, and whether it respects human rights are just some of the subjects that determine the overall impact of that company on society.
IVONA VRDOLJAK RAGUŽ Associate Professor, Department of Economics and Business Economics, University of Dubrovnik
Basically, a product that has been Wild Harvested means it has been collected by hand from a ‘wild’ or unmanaged ecosystem. Similar to the way hunter-gatherers would forage for food in ancient times, Wild-Harvesting involves getting out into nature and picking native foods.
The stable integration of forest communities with the responsible and sustainable harvesting of wild palm trees successfully follows the growing needs of our customers using only the fruits provided by the rainforest, without invasive methods of tree cutting, deforestation and plantation cultivation.
Economic development based on the abundance of natural resources often has a destructive effect on biological and cultural diversity. Intensive harvesting of 40m tall palm trees is often carried out by the destructive method of cutting down trees. The establishment of plantations suitable for its controlled conditions and lower palm growth is often conditioned by deforestation through soil burning. The irreversible consequence of this approach is reflected in the increasing uncontrolled consumption of natural resources as well as dangerous environmental problems. We condemn the destructive and inhumane working methods with a proactive fight for responsible business practice towards society and nature.
Mayantu bases its business on economic, social and environmental principles, placing an open and fair relationship with the community at the highest priority.
We are focused on supporting projects related to sustainable development. All business activities are performed according to the practices of ethical values and scientific approach. We operate transparently, respecting the people and the environment they live in. In addition to sustainable production, we place great emphasis on care for our customers. All products are subjected to annual laboratory analysis. The very method of processing the fruits by cold pressing preserves valuable active ingredients and vitamins. We use stainless steel containers and strive to keep the products as little as possible in storage to provide fresh cold-pressed oils with a maximum expiration date. Choosing the right form of packaging lead us to the highest quality tinted glass materials that preserve the physical and chemical properties of the ingredients. We can proudly say that we do not deal with plastic materials.
By combining Amazonian raw materials with the products of our Croatian family-owned farms into a unique product, we have found a way to support Croatian small businesses while at the same time fighting against poverty and degradation of natural resources at the world level. Production and research of local ingredients will create new products that will connect local farmers, and encourage the creation of new Croatian products.