The Banana Hands Clean Oceans Project has a range of personal care products for all the family, made from certified organic coconut ingredients, and supplied by families on the Solomon Islands. With a strong focus on the environment, some of their profits are used to clean up the oceans. For every Banana Hands product purchased, the organisation removes and recycles ten pieces of ocean plastic, to help keep oceans clean and safe for wildlife.
Banana Hands is one of thousands of brands in our thriving community, which we are proud to support. We talked to Annie Holden from this exciting brand, who told us all about Banana Hands Clean Oceans Project.
Tell us about Banana Hands, Annie. When was it formed? What do you produce?
The Banana Hands Clean Oceans Project was formed in 2020. Our producers and packers are based in the Solomon Islands, Pacific Ocean and our sales and marketing team is based on the Sunshine Coast in Australia.
We create beautiful personal care products from cold-pressed, organic virgin coconut oil (not bleached, refined, or deodorised). We create much needed jobs in the Solomon Islands, and we use funds raised to clean up the Pacific Ocean. We are currently launching our first project to salvage 1,000,000 pieces of ocean plastic for recycling.
We have over 1,000 people in 40 villages across the Solomon Islands able to earn cash for living because of the opportunities created by selling their cold-pressed superior quality organic virgin coconut oil.
Is there a specific product you are particularly proud of and why?
We have already won two UK awards for our ‘Every Body’ Organic Coconut Bath and Shower Oil– a Mama and Baby Award 2020 and Green Parent UK Award 2021.
We also have a gorgeous Organic Lip Balm in three flavours – Sweet Orange, Peppermint and Honey – packaged in beautiful glass jars. Everyone we know loves them and we think they will be a big seller. Our ‘Little Baby’ Organic Lavender and Coconut Oil is hand-made, as is our Coconut Spice Mouth Wash for Healthy Gums, which is a real favourite with our team.
What do you think of the Product Guru platform? What encouraged you to use us?
We have only just started and we signed up for Product Guru UK to grow our customer base. Since we have won two UK awards, we want to bring our beautiful products to the attention of UK Buyers.
We found Product Guru UK really easy to use and we feel it showcases our brand and products well. If it were not for platforms such as Product Guru UK, we are not sure how we would reach the UK market.
We truly believe we have some amazing products, and the two awards we have won really validate that. We are excited for the future and look forward to shipping palettes of amazing products to the UK for families to love and enjoy.