In the Nigerian natural health
industry, Ola Herbs and Greens Resources Limited occupies a front roll seat.
This is not just becouse of the unique natural food product in its kitty – such
as coconut bread, coconut cake, energy bar and so many others – but also
becouse of its foray into other related
fields like health and wellness consultation, awearness programmes,
teachings and treanings on healthy lifestyles amongst others. One can therefore
refer to Ola Herbs as a 360 degrees natural health and wellness organizatoin.
In ths interview with Nigeria
Natural Health Online’s editor, Dumbiri Frank Eboh, the managing director and
chief executive officer of Ola Herbs and Greens Resources Limited Mrs. Opeoluwa Aremu Okulaja, speaks on
the phylosohpy and idea behind the organization in its drive to promote a
culture of natural healthy living and wellness in Nigeria. Excerpts.
Who is a Healthy person?
A Healthy person is one that takes action everyday to ensure
that his body is alright. This is through exercise, drinking enough water,
eating the right diet, and engaging in other healthy lifestyles. Maintaining a
healthy life is a conscious step that must be taken on a daily basis. How do
you cook your food, what kind of snacks and drinks are you taking? These are
all questions to ask in maintaining a healthy well being; and you have to
discipline yourself in taking those steps. For instance, I don’t just go out
there to buy whatever is available. I watch out for what I eat, am conscious of
what I put into my body, I eat a lot of vegetables and fruits. I drink enough
water and herbal teas to keep my body going. In our organization, our by- line
is ‘‘Health, Your Best Optoin’’ because
nature is our best friend, we try to produce everything from nature. We don’t
believe in refined food, we don’t believe in processed foods. A lot of
processed foods you see around do more damage and harm to the body than good
and it is advisable to run from them.
What i s Ola Herbs all about?
We are into healthy living and well being. We believe in the
power of nature. What we do is promote the use of natural product, herbs, seeds
and every other component of nature. We help people to promote their diet with
natural, green product.
What is your range of products?
We produce health and beauty products. We have a line called
Fedora Organic, product made of powder, facial scrubs, body polish all of which
are made of natural product. Our facial powder, for instance, is made from
cocoa powder, so it’s basically like the food you eat. And so also is our facial masks wich
is made from natural product like green
tea, Aloe Vera etc. For our body polish,
we make use of shear butter, coconut oil and things like that.
We also make smoodies from vegetables as well as salad for our
customers and clients. When we bake, we don’t use your regular flour, we use plantain flour and
coconut flour to bake natural foods that are nutritious and healthy for the
body. Ola Herbs also makes drinks, especially coconut milk and tiger nut milk
all of which are 100% natural with no addictives. Our baking product includes
coconut flour bread, cakes from coconut flour, plantain flour and other cookies
made from vegetables and little fruits.We also have the energy bar made from
nuts. And in all our products we do not use sugar, we use honey where
necessary.
At Ola Herbs and Greens, we offer consultation services.
There are health and livestyles programmes, weight loss programmes and also do recreational
therapy in which people come with their health challenges and based on what
they tell us, we try to turn things around for them.
For instance, we can add or remove something from their diet
to make them achieve a healthier well being. If you want to do a detox
programme, we use a lot of vegetables as detoxification agent. These are things
that really detoxify the body in a healthy way.
Ola Herbs is also engaged in teachings and trainings on
healthy living.
What percentage of your beauty
products are natural?
They are 100% natural. We do not add preservatives nor do we
add any form of addictives.
How are you positioned in the
market?
We are positioned for all income bracket. Whether you belong
to the lower, middle or upper income class, we have products that you can
easily access and that can benefit health wise. It depends on what you in
particular want. People come here and ask of local foods while others ask for
foreign foods which ever category you belong to, we have natural products that
can fit your needs. We are expanding our market to make available a wide range
of products made from herbs and vegetables that can be easily be afforded by
the common man.
In our present elitist culture
where people’s social status are defined by big fast foods centres, how do we
intend to make people return to natural foods?
That is why we engage in trainings and teachings on healthy
living. That you are rich does not mean that you have to kill yourself with
junk foods. Natural food has been and still remains the healthiest form of food
anywhere in the world. And that also explains why these in the village, where
people eat mainly natural foods,they live longer than their counterparts in the
cities, that eat junks. So it shouldn’t be about the money: it should be about
what it does to the body. Our focus is on the health, the father of modern
medicines, Hippocrates said “let food be they medicine and medicine they food”. And that is
where our focus lie, making people understand the importance of what they eat
to the body while also giving them natural healthy alternatives to all the
junks that are flying around. I also write articles and feature on T.V. shows
on matters relating to wellness and healthy living.
How can people access your
products?
We are making arrangements to be on Konga, Jumia. But for
now, people who are outside of Lagos and want our products, can make a direct
order and we will deliver it to them
through courier services. People call us from Abuja, Port-Harcourt and several
other cities in Nigeria and we deliver to them based on their orders. The only
difference is that they pay for the delivery costs. In the near feature we will
put our products in shops and outlet across the country where they can easily
be reached. For those who want to retail our products, we will give them
incentives in form of lower prices. This also is subject to the quantity that
they are buying. The bigger the quantity, the bigger the incentive.
What are we expecting in the
near future?
In the near future, we are expecting to have a lot of farm
products in the markets. We want to have a wider reach where people can go and
get natural product easily. We want to be able to consult to more people and
direct them on the part of healthy living. We want to have our own farm so that
we can produce our raw materials ourselves in order to serve both the local and
international markets.
