EXPERIENCE
Creating Pukka herbs Sebastian Pole Co-founder Pukka Herbs; herbalist
International governments made no binding environmental commitments
I came across the remarkable world of traditional herbal medicine in 1991 on meeting an Ayurvedic doctor (more officially, vaidya) in India. That insight into the world of Ayurvedic anatomy, physiology, pathology, pharmacology and treatment opened my eyes to a whole new world. I soon connected with its potential to help transform human and environmental health and spent the next decade training in an eclectic mix of Ayurvedic, Chinese and western herbalism. After experiencing a few too many disappointing cups of herbal tea, being inspired to bring the best organic and pharmacopoeial herbs to as many people as possible and meeting Pukka’s co-founder Tim Westwell, Pukka Herbs started life in 2001 as a simple idea: connect people with the incredible wonders of herbs and do as much good as we possibly can.
at the Rio+20 Summit. In their place leading-edge companies are stepping up to the sustainability challenge. The commitments Tesco, Unilever, Dupont and Toyota have made to environmental goals might be altruistic but it’s clear too that preventing waste and increasing energy efficiency boosts profitability and competitiveness. Sustainability goals are good for the financial bottom line and brand loyalty, and they hit social and environmental targets at the same time: the legendary triple bottom line. Businesses dedicated to wellbeing and pure plantbased products – such as Pukka and Weleda – are leading the way.
© Journal of holistic healthcare
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This story is about the journey of creating Pukka Herbs – a quest to help bring healing herbs to the many – a vision of how business can regenerate people, plants and planet. It’s about how, from humble beginnings, we grew in 15 giant years to become the fastest growing organic herbal tea and supplement company in the world; an adventure that has been healing on many levels – ecologically, socially and personally. With a degree in Hindi, followed by a decade of studying the traditional medicine systems of Ayurveda, Chinese and Western herbalism – as well as the organic farming experience I gained to fund my studies – my path ahead was clear: to do my best to promote the benefits of herbs and natural medicine. As well as practicing in clinic, I knew that one of the best ways to achieve this would be to set up a business that would champion herbal medicine and the healing power of plants. I met Pukka’s other founder, Tim Westwell, through an advert he had placed in Bristol’s monthly Venue magazine. It was business-dating at its best. Tim, with a background in sales and marketing, had completely different skillsets from mine, but we shared a common thread of values and mutual trust. We had never created a business before, but we knew we wanted Ayurveda and herbal health at its heart and for everyone who came into
Volume 15 Issue 2 Summer 2018
contact with it to profit: ecologically, socially and financially. We knew the idea had integrity, passion and essence. We just needed a name. A name carries such importance! They are the words that symbolise who you are. After some hilarious nonstarters (such as Holy Cow!) we came up with Pukka Herbs. We loved it on so many levels. In Hindi pukka means ‘real, authentic or genuine’. It also means more colloquially ‘ripe, juicy, tasty and delicious’. So Pukka symbolised all we stood for in life. Being pukka was our aspiration! On 22 August 2001 we registered at Companies House, went to the cashpoint and withdrew the maximum our credit cards would allow…and set about creating our first range of three organic herbal teas. As our teas and supplement ranges grew we began to articulate what is at the heart of Pukka and what has made our journey quite so healing.
The Pukka mission Conservation through commerce ‘In the end we will conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught.’ Baba Dioum, environmentalist
Realising that we could contribute to conservation through commerce was a
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