Economic Growth Costa Rica Project #57971

Maleku Indigenous Herb and Tea Business

by Soulgives Company

Project Report | Jul 28, 2023
Summer 2023

By Gary Scheirman | Director

Irene explaining the use of the netted greenhouse.

At the advice of the faculty at the Maryland University of Integrated Health (MUIH), the Maleku will start small.

They are choosing just a handful of their favorite medicinal and best tasting herbs and plants. They will grow multiple varieties in their greenhouse and then move them to a field where they will grow them in sufficient quantities to manually package and sell.

MUIH staff, MUIH students, and SoulGives will continue to work with the Maleku to develop herbal teas and business methods that give them the greatest chance to be successful.

We look forward to choosing the herbs will be used for the initial growing cycle.

Herbal plants to be grown in the greenhouse

The field to plant the first herbs.

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Mar 20, 2023
Winter 2023 Report

By Gary Scheirman | Director

Maleku Leader describing the project

As we continue to look for startup funds, much is happening, nonetheless.

The purpose of this project is to help the Maleku use their unique knowledge of the jungle flora and culture to develop new and innovative products because they have been unable to subsist on tourism as they have done in the past. We know that herbal teas are growing in interest in North America and Europe and offering an entirely new tea can be a successful revenue generator.

Our Maleku indigenous team is developing the exact ingredients that they plan to have in the teas at launch. In addition, they are making the plans for the location for the greenhouses and processing center. We are committed for all local labor. The growing will be done by Maleku, the harvesting by Maleku, the drying and processing by Maleku, and the packaging and shipping by Maleku. Our calculations that up to 20 families will be fed from this project at startup and within 3 years it can sustain 50 families.

We have found a wonderful resource for this project, too. Professors from the Herbal Medicine Program at the Maryland University of Integrative Health in the United States have offered to help us with the startup and launch. MUIH offers the only M.S. Herbal Product Design and Manufacture program in the U.S. The program is designed for individuals whose passion for herbal medicine focuses on producing herbal products. We are extremely fortunate that graduate students and professors could be advising in the contemporary methods used to not only grow and prepare the teas, but how to market and sell in today's herbal environment.

We are looking forward to starting the collaboration in this next term.

Sample of the herbal plants

Cacao gathered locally

Maryland University of Integrated Health Logo

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