Laros - Fruits for the Future

Jambewangi is a remote village at the eastern tip of the island Java, Indonesia.
Despite an abundance of natural resources, the unemployment rate in our village is high while the prices for agricultural harvests are low and instable. Farmers lose the value of their crops due to seasonal excess and insufficient markets, which also leads to massive food waste. Therefore, families suffer from a low income and can't afford proper education or healthcare. Some mothers find themselves forced to leave their family and home to work abroad as a maid. Indonesia's government struggles to deliver solutions.
Who would consider investing into the future, while Jambewangi doesn't even have stable electricity or streets?

Laros was founded as a social enterprise to change these conditions by increasing the value of agricultural harvests. How?
We produce organic dried fruits, that are super healthy and super tasty.
We chose the local fruits Dragonfruit, Jackfruit and Snakefruit. Never heard of these exotic fruits? No worries, choose a reward on the right side and try them. Chances are you'll love them! And your body will love the huge amounts of antioxidants and vitamins.

We use a solar dehydrator to sustainably dry our fruits and wrap them in a handcrafted paper bag. Our market launch was successful and we currently sell our organic snack to premium supermarkets on the tourist island Bali and in the metropolis Jakarta.

Because the value creation process from raw material to a marketeable product happens right in Jambewangi, we can have a direct social impact! We pay 30% more salary than the average local wage and we use 50% of our profit to build a microcredit fund, which will support other home industries.
Laros is the bridge between customers, who love good food, and villagers, who have a lack of knowledge but an abundance of resources.

Our main goal is simple: Create job opportunities and delicious snacks!
To achieve that, we need to build a professional production with higher capacity and an extensive network of distributors. We want to develop a new dehydrator to raise our capacity from 400 packs per week to 1000 packs per week and we want to approach the export market to sell all these packs.
This will impact....

...Jambewangi!
Laros doesn't only pay fair salaries, it helps the people to help themselves. We show them how to build a dehydrator, how to operate it and stick to hygienic standards. This knowledge transfer, in combination with a microcredit fund to support other home industries, will cause a multiplier effect. We want to improve the living conditions in this remote village and encourage families to invest into education fees and health insurance. No more mothers should be forced to leave the village and their families in order to work as a maid in HongKong or Singapore.

...you!
Do you like healthy food? Or trying new exotic foods? Do you want to make a positive social impact? Interested in investing in a future for dozens of families?
Even if you answered 'yes' just once, our project is for you!
We don't poison our fruits with any preservatives or sugar, and the drying temperature doesn't raise above 45 C so that the product is raw, organic, vegan, gluten free...and it can also prevent your body from aging and Donald Trump from winning the presidential election. Almost. Anyway, it's healthy! And we want to share it with you.
If we can expand our sales and introduce the product to western supermarkets, you'll also enable your friends to have a positive impact with their purchase.
(...we're looking for somebody with import/export experience!)

Our project is risky, your support is not! You support an idea of social change and delicious food. We'll invest every single Dollar to make this idea become a reality. Nevertheless, founding a business in Indonesia includes various risks, e.g. unpredictable bureaucracy and strict export regulations.

However, obstacles are made to be overcome!
We've proved this by reaching these milestones since our start in January 16:

- Construction of a dehydrator that is ran by solar power with a gas jet back up for the rainy season
- Training of the locals to produce independently
- Creation of 4 part-time jobs
- Development of a packaging design
- Indonesian crowdfunding campaign (small but successful!)
- Acquisition of a food license
- last but not least...first sales!

Your funding will help us to overcome taller obstacles and have a greater impact in Jambewangi.
Besides funding very tangible goals of more jobs and more sales, you also fund a vision!
Our vision is involving more villages in the production and broadening our product range. We focus on Jambewangi and dried fruits first but once we've built a larger distribution network, we aim to build a production network encompassing other areas. We will provide a tool kit and staff training for the food dehydrator. Depending on the resources of the particular village, we can enlarge our product range with dried mangos and papayas, sweet potato chips, herbal teas or even jerky. Laros will be responsible for the packaging, marketing and distribution in order to convert the resources from the villages into a higher employment rate.

Our product development and first market entry was funded by an Indonesian crowdfunding campaign and the Dutch foundation “ Stichting Arin”, covering 2000 euros in total.
Now we need to achieve sustainability and growth!

Your money will help to...
....Develop a dehydrator with bigger capacity.
....Invest into marketing (website, display box for retail etc).
....Apply for an USDA organic certification.
....Expand our sales market.

If you make an overfunding of 200% come true, we'll make the dream of a better future for one more village and one new product come true!