How it all began
Claus and his wife Ines
took over a beach resort in Ghana in 2008. One day, Claus discovered that the nearby Ankobra River was a single brown sludge, full of garbage and devoid of life. Illegal gold miners lived in the villages along the river. They polluted the river and treated the environment with great carelessness. This angered Claus so much that he decided to do something about it. With Ines' help, they visited the villages and explained to them that the garbage in the river was destroying their natural environment and that the fishermen could hardly catch enough fish. The locals understood the wake-up call. Together they spoke with the Ghanaian government, which eventually used the army to arrest the illegal miners.
A plant changed everything
What was good for the river
But it caused problems for the villages – they no longer had any income. Claus wanted to help again and came up with a method of climate-positive production from leftover wood, in this case bamboo. Bamboo is a highly sustainable raw material, grows in virtually unlimited quantities in Ghana and can be harvested in an environmentally friendly way. The ideal conditions for a new and meaningful source of income for the villagers. Thus, a privately financed facility was built not far from the beach resort. The required bamboo was delivered by raft from the villages along the river. Eight locals were quickly hired to produce bamboo charcoal. The charcoal was intended to be a sustainable alternative to the widely used charcoal and to protect the rainforest from further deforestation. Unfortunately, the plan did not work out.
The discovery
Claus didn't give up
He continued his research. He discovered that the resulting biochar had unique properties for plants and the environment when buried underground. But this discovery also led Claus to something else. Extracting bamboo charcoal also yielded a unique extract. Like the charcoal, this extract has very special properties for plants.
To publicize this discovery, Claus launched a crowdfunding project. The mission spread, and revolutionary plant care products made from bamboo were developed.
What came out of it?
Completely unique and 100% natural products that make plants happy and can help save the climate. But with the goal of being produced in an environmentally and climate-friendly way.
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Claus
The African scholar. ;-)
Claus is passionate about producing bamboo extract, developing new revolutionary products, and spreading the mission.
