The Inside Scoop: L'Occitane Foundation

Giving back has always been one of the tenants of the L'Occitane company. And since its founding in 1976, the luxe bath brand has been dedicated to social outreach. To continue the trend the French company recently started the L'Occitane Foundation, a corporate entity that cultivates three programs that promote sustainable, free trade development, sight programs for the needy and the preservation of nature. And while the Foundation may have begun its quest a few years ago, it's now experiencing a full swing that we here at B&TB just had to share.

Here, two in a series of three.

2. Sustainable economic development headed by women in poor countries.

In 1999, owner and founder of L'Occitane, Oliver Baussan decided to take a jaunt to West Africa. As a world adventurer and constant idea seeker, Mr. Baussan was looking for the next best skincare ingredient. And it found it. While on his quest, he noticed the luminous skin of all the women of Burkina-Faso, a landlocked country that was once a French territory and made an appearance on last year's The Amazing Race.

Bussan quickly realized that this amazing little skin perfector was none other than the now ubiquitous shea butter. Right then and there, the company started a fair trade agreement that brought the ultra-moisturizing hydrator to the French-based company and helped the local economy and community.

In the past few years, thanks to the Foundation, the dedication to the women of Burkina-Faso has increased. And a large portion of the Foundation's five-year, three Million Euro budget has been highlighted to promote social empowerment, education and independent working cooperatives for more than 11,00 women in Burkina-Faso. The initiative follows the "Teach a Man to Fish" philosophy to employ women across the country in different free trade cooperatives.

In addition to gathering, processing and shipping the nourishing shea butter nut (which, according to the guys at L'Occitane, is a spiritual process that can only be conducted by women), participants are given a fair-wage and benefits that are scarce among most African workplaces. Chief among those are child-care centers, which extend to a specialized Kindergarten program, a literacy program for workers and access to newly constructed libraries, as well as family health programs. There is also education on self-sufficiency and hygiene.

New to the program is an organic reforestation initiative. It teaches the value of organic farming of the endemic Moringa trees, a highly nutritive plant that boasts more than 11 amino acids.

The Foundation also has plans to launch a similar cooperative program in the Amazon. Look out for anti-insect candles. They'll be sourced from the island of Majaró, which sits at the mouth of the Amazon River in Brazil.

The promotion of sustainable farming is something the company and Foundation are dedicated to promoting. Part three of our series, which tells you more on the environmental aspects, hits the Beauty and the Blog tomorrow.