At GANTEC we seek to maximize the quality of interactions between cultures, continents, technologies and industries.  It is in such interfaces that the "foreign" becomes "familiar" and the beauty of that which was once overlooked is revealed.

The utilization of GANTEC Advance products not only allows the users to produce healthy plants in their own homes, but it impacts the environment by reducing the synthetic chemical footprint, and helps to create opportunity for the people in the villages of Africa.

The founders of GANTEC Advance are committed to a triple bottom line of economic opportunity, environmental improvement and community development. In developing a business with these goals, we have traveled the world looking for opportunities. One of those opportunities centers around a unique tree which grows in Africa in some of the most difficult conditions on the planet. As we began to evaluate this tree, some of the questions our scientists asked about the tree were, “Can the essence of this tree which thrives in a very austere environment be removed and applied to plants cultivated in greenhouses, and will plants treated with the essence obtain the attributes of this tree?” The good news is that the answer is yes.

Our scientists have developed a high tech process using natural materials and gentle processing discipline to extract the complex biochemistry from the seed of this tree, and to formulate this biochemistry with other natural ingredients, creating an easy to use emulsifiable concentrate that can be sprayed on plants. Plants treated with this spray are healthier, have more blooms, and produce more fruit than plants grown conventionally with synthetic chemicals. In addition to the spray, a soil concentrate containing a slow release formulation of the bioactives and other natural ingredients creates a natural growing system that is superior to the conventional growing methodology.

These products are renewable, biodegradable, effective, safe, and sustainable. GANTEC continues to develop increasingly robust ways to use neem and other plants that grow under extreme conditions to make an impact on health and agricultural practices worldwide.

We can specifically identify ways to measure our triple bottom line goals of economic opportunity, environmental improvement and community development in the following ways.

Economically, we are creating jobs and businesses in Africa and the US. There are over 100 individual entrepreneurs in the villages of Africa collecting and processing seeds. We have created over a dozen new jobs in Michigan in the manufacturing and marketing of our products.

 Environmentally, we are offering a safer and greener way of growing plants with a significant reduction in the amount of synthetic chemicals needed to grow plants. The plants are healthier and produce more fruit, providing a greater yield per input of material. Instead of cutting down these trees for firewood in Africa, trees are being planted and recognized as having value. These resources are renewable, biodegradable, and sustainable.

Community development is occurring in Michigan as we utilize some of the great human resource pool of scientists, engineers, and manufacturing talent. In Africa, the communities are being strengthened by creating a new source of community revenue from a material that was not previously valued.

As consumers of the GANTEC products, YOU become a part of the story. Your involvement is helping to create healthy plants, healthy people, and a healthy planet. The users of these products benefit from more beautiful and productive plants. The people who live in Africa are benefiting by being able to create businesses and enjoy the nobility of work. The health of the planet is improved by encouraging the planting of trees, the use of natural materials, and the reduction of the use of synthetics. We invite people in to become part of the GANTEC story.

The origin of this company is in relationships. Three men came together in 1999 to explore the concept of establishing businesses in third world countries that would create economic opportunity for the people in those countries. Through relationships we began to explore business opportunities in Tonga, Fiji, Indonesia, Nepal, and Mauritania. Some business investment in these countries occurred, but the business enterprises were not sustainable.

In early 2001, we were invited to come to Mauritania at the request of a friend who had a humanitarian relief project in this dry and poor Muslim nation. The friend had asked government officials what the people of Mauritania needed, and the reply was: “We need jobs." Our initial meeting with the US ambassador indicated that our timing was good. The President of Mauritania had recently convened his leadership and instructed them to look to the West for economic development. We showed up and had great favor in meeting with many business owners and entrepreneurs. We visited businesses and received dozens of business plans for review and investment. We also visited portions of the city where thousands of people live on less than $1 per day and need to choose between food or water. The plight of these people grabbed our hearts.

On the last day of our visit, one of our teammates asked about the green trees in the boulevard of the main street in Nouakchott. The taxi driver said the trees were neem trees and they were good for shade and kept the bugs away. Our teammate owned a nursery business and had used neem oil to help produce better plants. He immediately wondered if the neem tree might provide some business opportunity. We hastily set up a meeting with the University of Nouakchott and drafted a research plan to identify the neem resource in Mauritania. My friend paid for the research out of his own pocket. The research was conducted and as many research projects recommend, more research was suggested. A plan to conduct more research, plant trees, and develop businesses was put together with a $1 million price tag. Corporate, government, and non profits participation in this project was sought, but no one was able to fund the project. After 3 years of trying, we decided to have a final meeting to close the project. Shortly before this final meeting we had interest from a US company for neem seed technology, and from a large foundation that was interested in African projects. We decided to keep going with the project.

In March of 2005 we visited Mauritania again to rekindle the project. During this visit we decided that a high tech business model would be more likely to succeed than other models. In order to work on the technology and business model, we chose to relocate to Senegal. We quickly set up shop in Senegal and found some people to help us. The neem resource in Senegal is very large- perhaps 25 million trees- and underutilized. Neem trees are not indigenous to Senegal and have only be introduced in the last 50 years. Villages were approached at the chief level and they were quite happy to sell neem seed to us.

The neem trees stay green all year and produce a wonderful fragrance when in bloom. The blooms turn to fruit which is about the size of an olive and green until it ripens and then turns yellow. Birds and bats love the sweet fruit and after eating the fruit, the seed falls to the ground under the trees. The villagers simply pick up the seed under the tree. Until we came to the villages, the seed was not valued in the villages. When we offered to pay them for the seed, they were surprised and pleased that we would pay them. We partnered with USAID to conduct a training program for villagers to show them how to collect, process, and store the seeds. Nearly 120 people attended the training and received certificates. These people are small business entrepreneurs who can purchase seed at the village, process the seed to meet our quality standards, and then sell the seed to our buyers.

The price we pay for the seed is often about the price the villagers get for crops like yellow corn and millet, which require seed, fertilizer, and labor to produce the crop. The neem seed is like a free gift to the villagers.

As we meet with the villagers, we develop friendships and begin to understand some of their needs, dreams, and desires. We want to join with them in accomplishing things like building better schools, providing educational opportunities, providing wells and clean water, and offering economic opportunity.