Adapting to Change during COVID-19 Pandemic - A humbling experience

I started 1001 Remedies as a way to help protect my family, myself and the people around me. In the context of one of the biggest sanitary crises of our lifetime, one quickly gains perspective on his or her role in society and purpose in life. With doctors and nurses as selfless as ever on the frontlines helping save lives, while people are doing their part in staying home, I think there is something extraordinary in how humanity came together and united during Coronavirus. 

I knew early on in this pandemic I had to contribute and realised I could help by producing and distributing hand sanitizers. I could rely indeed on our laboratories in France with well-established supply and logistics networks that we use for 1001 Remedies wellbeing products. 

1001 Remedies wellbeing range is specifically crafted to only use organic, sustainably harvested natural ingredients in order to produce essential oils that are then used in our products for air detox, boosting immunity, sleep and skin wellbeing. Our motto is using nature for our wellbeing without adding any chemicals, parabens or synthetics. Although we already have a strong anti-viral product and Natural Health award winner called PurAir, which includes 19 antiviral essential oils, we have decided to go a step further and enrich our range with a hand sanitizer. 

Hand sanitizers need to be created in a certified laboratory and are complicated to produce as they qualify as biocides, which means more testing and regulatory steps required in order to prove the antibacterial and disinfectant claims beyond the usual cosmetic scope. In addition to the EU regulation, we had to comply with the local regulation of each country. We were able to leverage on a production facility unit with the required certification and on the fact that our products are aromatherapy based with proven health benefits.

I therefore made the decision to temporarily focus the effort of my business on producing first necessity products and becoming a supplier to our beloved NHS and other health centres in Europe. We decided to go for a hand gel formula that is not only endorsed by WHO, but also by the French and the English Public Health as well as the NHS in order to ensure maximum efficiency. The decision remained though in line with the core principles of 1001 Remedies which I initially founded with the goal of helping people's wellbeing and protecting them from harmful bacteria, viruses and bad habits. 

After that sweet victory came another reality into the picture and that reality was that the sanitary context made hand sanitizers worth their weight in gold. Let us emphasize that even more, the whole supply chain was already impacted by the lock down and what made it even harder for things to go smoothly is the scarcity of alcohol at that time and the safe transport of hand sanitizers which have been stolen at several ocacsions :). The key to our success is fantastic partners we built a great relationship with over the years and the belief we could achieve this as a team.

Thanks to the digital platform we have built in the past two years, we were also able to reach out to both businesses and retail directly. Leveraging on my quantitative skills & financial trading background and with the help of an incredible international team, we have indeed built over the past quarters an algorithmic e-commerce platform at the heart of the new age e-commerce.

We realized that in these times of pandemic, many people were locked and thus stressed out, overwhelmed and even lonely for some. We needed to find a new way to address our customers and their needs, to reconnect with them and offer them something new and different. We came up with the idea of creating new content about wellbeing, how to deal with stress as well as home made recipes and DIYs. We wanted to raise awareness on the importance of wellness during these times and give our customers the tools they need to protect themselves and their loved ones. This was one of the most beautiful things we did as a brand.

What we learned was not only about crisis management, it was about trust and coordination within a team but it was also about how we wanted to give back to our customers for all the support they had shown us. We wanted to share feelings of comfort and relief and pass on the message that we are not alone in this and that even if we are far away we are still together.

Stay safe!

Sincerely Yours,

Sofia, Founder and CEO of 1001 Remedies