Beijing is full of stories of plucky young entrepreneurs who move to the city for one reason, then through a combination of fate and good timing, turn their a hobby or passion into a successful business. Our city seems especially suited to opportunities like these, but even so, few stories turn out so well as that of local business Naked拿颗酱 (formerly Naked Nut Butters), who won the Poverty Alleviation award in the category of Small/Medium Enterprise at the China Social Impact Awards on Nov 7. The awards, organized by the British Chamber of Commerce in China in partnership with the United Nations, recognize the positive impact companies and organizations of all industries and sizes have had on society and the environment in China.
The brainchild of expats Meredith Sides and Catherine (Katie) Tarrant, in just a few short years, Naked拿颗酱 (ná kē jiàng roughly means 'grab the sauce') has grown from blending small-batches of nut butter on their balcony, to building and owning their own production factory in Pingwu County in Sichuan, where they employ workers from the local community, and grow all their own all-natural peanuts. All the while, the company has remained 100 percent foreign-owned, and donate a portion of their profits to Chinese environmental NGO The Paradise Foundation.
We chatted with Meredith Sides about how Naked拿颗酱 came to win this award, meeting and ganbei'ing with Jack Ma, and what's next for the company.
Tell us about this award, how did you come to be nominated?
Originally the Chamber of Commerce contacted us, and invited us to apply for this specific category. We sent in the application in late summer, and then basically forgot about it. We figured nothing would come of it, then one day we were in the Nut Butter WeChat group, and somebody said "Omg by the way congratulations!", so we checked our emails and found out we were nominated as finalists.
Sides (center) and Tarrant (right) alongside MNC winner: Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business
How did you get connected with the Paradise Foundation, and set up your factory?
At first we were just making nut butter on the balcony, in blenders, selling through markets on personal WeChat, that kind of thing. Then in 2017, we met up with an old friend of Katie's who now works at The Paradise Foundation who work to protect different nature reserves around China and to stimulate the economies of the surrounding villages. He told us about a nature reserve in Sichuan and in a small village called Laohegou, Pingwu County that grows all-natural peanuts. He said "I'll give you some of their nuts, you can tell me what you think" and it made the most delicious peanut butter ever. It's a special kind of nut called a Spanish Runner peanut, which is smaller and sweeter so they have a very unique taste.
The Paradise Foundation encouraged us to start a factory in the village and told us they would help us get started. It was a great opportunity. So in time, we took an empty building, we bought all the machinery, did all the research about the production process and training ourselves... and still do all that today. We employ local villagers, and now we buy peanuts and support hundreds of local families. We also donate a portion of our profits back to The Paradise Foundation. Technically we are a social enterprise.
What has been the impact on the village?
Pingwu County used to be on the government ranked list of most poverty-ridden areas in Sichuan, and because of our work, and the Paradise Foundation's work there it's been taken off that list. We buy all the nuts that they can produce. We want all the nuts! [laughs] The impact is visible. Laohegou is a very remote farming village with no cellphone reception about a three-hour drive from Mingyang in Sichuan, and there is one winding road that reaches the village. Whenever there is a storm, rockfalls block the road, so right now the Paradise Foundation is building a major road so that more tourists and student groups can come and hike in the nature reserve. In the village, they still do all the farming by hand, but they are living a better way of life, and they don't have to go so far to work. Now there is a town and community that has grown.
Co-founder Katie Tarrant with peanut farmer Yu Guitong at his farm in Laohegou
How did it feel to win that award?
It was really exciting because we're now getting recognition for something that we've been trying to tell people about for so long. No matter how many times we posted about our story, people still didn't seem to know!
Yet while our product is really good, some people still say "Oh, why is it so expensive?" And even when we explain why and also tell them that we donate profits, some people still don't want to pay for it, and that can be disheartening. So it was really exciting to be in the room as so many companies who have the same kind of mission as us, who want to do good and are not just interested in making a profit. They want to make a change.
Was this related to meeting Jack Ma? What was that like?
Meeting him in Hong Kong was like the best week of our lives. We went to Hong Kong, met Jack Ma, who is the head of the board for the Paradise Foundation, ganbei'd with him, went back to Beijing, won the award. It doesn't get any better than that.
The occasion was the Paradise Foundation's annual board meeting and they said they wanted us to speak. I was terrified. I practiced our speech a million times, every day for hours. It was a great speech, and with a couple of jokes, and throughout, people were laughing and enjoying it, but we finished with a very famous line from one of President Xi's speeches [绿水青山就是金山银山 lǜ shuǐ qīngshān jiùshì jīnshān yín shān: approx: nature is our prosperity]. When we said that, everyone was just floored [laughs]. We killed it.
Sides and Tarrant with Paradise Foundation board head Jack Ma
Then afterward at dinner, Jack Ma was excited to talk to us because we were two foreign women – the only foreigners in the room – doing this really random thing. It was so great.
What's next for Naked拿颗酱?
Our main goal is to continue having a good nut butter, a lifestyle-related product; but to have it related to poverty alleviation and sustainability is our main mission. Making a good product is great, but you don't feel nearly as good as when you're doing the kind of poverty alleviation work that we're doing. We could probably make more money if we focused on the production side of things, but we're more interested in the goal of sustainability. So right now, we're researching where else we can set up manufacturing to do the same kind of work as in Sichuan. We also want to have production facilities closer to where the raw ingredients are.
As well as peanut butter, the company also produces cashew and almond butters
At the moment, we can't do a lot with all the extra exposure and contacts that winning this award has brought us, because we're at our maximum capacity for production, but in the next couple of years, we want to see where we can expand our manufacturing and our base.
You can follow Naked拿颗酱's journey and browse their nutty goods via their official WeChat account (ID: nakednutbutters).
