Sourcing and process
The root of it all
We work directly with 35 women in the rural areas of East Africa, particularly Uganda. the women grow and harvest the herbs.
1
Planting
With already existing stems and roots, the growers plant the herbs on the land they have choosen to allocate to Koola in the rich soils of Uganda.
2
Growing
Our growers work incredibly hard to maintain and grow their gardens, we support them with training and pay them a monthly for garden maintenance during this period.
3
Harvesting
The growers hand pick or cut their herbs.
Koola provides clean utensils for this work to ensure product quality.
We also educate all women and their families on how to manage their hygiene.
4
Selling
After harvesting they bring their herbs to a Koola collection point within walking distance of their homes/gardens. After checking the quality and weighing, we pay our growers a premium price per kilo.
5
Washing
The herbs and roots are transported to our production facility within a few hours after harvesting. The herbs are thoroughly washed with clean water before they are placed in the solar house for drying.
6
Drying
All herbs are dried in our solar drying house. This takes from 3 to 4 days depending on the weather.
7
Chopping
After up to 4 days of drying, roots and barks are finely chopped.
8
Heat treatment
The herbs, barks and roots treated with heat to further dry them and to kill off any microorganisms and germs.
9
Storage
After the heat treatment, the herbs, barks and roots are sorted, vacuum packed and labelled for storage.
Humidity is constantly monitored at the storage facility using a dehumidifier to inhibit growth of mould and microorganisms
10
Export
The herbs are kept at the storage facility fora few weeks until they are shipped to Sweden.
11
Packing
Once the herbs arrive in Europe, they are taken to Koola's facility in Sweden where they are packed into respective containers and readied for shipping to you
