SUNSHINE NUT CO.
QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER
2nd and 3rd Quarter 2016
2nd QUARTER
The second Quarter of 2016 continued the progress of moving the company forward in the grand fashion that we
experienced in the 1st Quarter. The second quarter was spent travelling to all corners of the world to spread the
message of the Sunshine Approach and the progress made using this business philosophy in our first food company—Sunshine Nut Company—based
in Mozambique, Africa.
In early May, I was invited back to my old employer, Hershey Company, to
do my 2nd TEDx talk - this one to all 22,000 Hershey employees. Their
theme was “Walk the Talk”. I left Hershey on a whirlwind tour around the
world with my 4th paid trip to the World Economic Forum / Grow Africa Summit - this year in Kigali, Rwanda.
I then went to Oxford University for 2 days at the Said
Business School’s 1st Annual Responsible Business Forum. I was invited to a private dinner by a few Mars executives (imagine that as an ex-Hershey exec) who were hosting the forum with Oxford University. I met so many wonderful people and sat next to some of the world's leading
academics who teach at the same school where Adam
Smith graduated (author of 'Wealth of Nations') - the Balliol College. I was
able to stir the minds of some of the best academics in the world. They left with a new appreciation for social impact business.
Next was Minneapolis where I sat on a couple of panels at
the Nobel Peace Prize Forum with the 2014 Peace Prize
winner, Kailash Satyarthi. It was hosted by PBS Newshour. I had more influence with thought leaders around the
world as the Chatham session following the conference’s
conclusion had many questions directed to my efforts to
help the poor and orphaned through lasting economic transformation.
We had two food shows in the second quarter. The first one was late May in Chicago at
the Sweets and Snack show. The second show was the Fancy Food Show in NYC where
my wife, Terri, and our QA Manager, Tarryn Govender, from the factory in Mozambique
were able to attend with Ryan Shenk, our US Operations Manager, and myself. This was
Tarryn’s first trip out of Africa so we treated her to a star-studded show of America culminating in a 4th of July experience.
VALUE DRIVEN BUSINESS—HOPE, OPPORTUNITY, TRANSFORMATION
3rd QUARTER
NEW PACKAGING!
What Makes Us Different?

We used our Founder’s (Don Larson) 25 years of experience in the corporate
American food industry to develop our business model that builds food factories in
3rd world nations to bring lasting economic transformation.

We have been based in Mozambique, including the founder’s family, since 2011.
This allows us to develop relationships and live among those we are inspired to
help.

We give 90% of distributed profits from the sales of our cashews to the poor and
orphaned through transformative projects managed by the Sunshine Approach
Foundation.

We oversee and partner with international organizations to work in their areas of
expertise to help us achieve the vision of the Sunshine Approach, our business
model.

We emphasize working with smallholder farmers (instead of large scale farms) to
develop a market which will pay them fairly.

We intentionally strive to transform lives with all that we do – from healthcare, to
education, to quality of life, to our Sunshine Houses and factory operations.

We provide employment for young men and women who were orphaned or abandoned in their youth – giving them hope, opportunity, and a future.

We make promoting from within a priority, providing the proper training for excellence.

We emphasize manual work and hiring people compared to automation through
equipment. Our motto is, “We are putting machines out of work”.

We roast and package in-country where the cashews are grown to lock in freshness
and flavor.
Don Larson receives Silver Medal The United Nations and the Religious
Freedom and Business Foundation
holds 1st Annual International Peace
Awards Ceremony in between Olympics and Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro
on September 6.
Don was one of 17 CEO finalists from
around the world picked for their work
in bringing peace through business
with an interfaith understanding and a
desire to have an impact on people’s
lives. Don placed 2nd among the 17
CEO finalists.
The government of Mozambique had
business forums in Washington DC
and Houston, Texas in mid-September.
Don was asked to speak alongside the
President of Mozambique on his experiences as a businessman. Don was
able to share his business model to the
oil and gas industry as an example of
how to take care of those in need.
A Miracle in the Making: 2,000+ stores less than 2 years after first container hits US shores...
NEW BUSINESS:
1)
Wegmans has been voted the #1 retail store in America for 2 years straight. We performed very
well in a single Wegmans store we entered in January of this year. That allowed for a meeting in
Rochester at their headquarters where Don Larson told the story of our work in Mozambique.
Wegmans agreed to take our product into all their stores starting September 1st. They have
over 90 stores in the Northeast—most are in New York and Pennsylvania.
2)
HEB visited our booth at the NYC food show, read up on all the articles written, and watched the
videos—including Don’s TEDx. They sent for samples hoping our cashews tasted okay as everything else was perfect. The buyer told us they were overwhelmed with how fresh and tasty our
product was during their sampling test. HEB has agreed to bring Sunshine Nut Co. cashews in
more than 300 stores starting January 1, 2017. All stores are in Texas.
3)
A friend of ours made the introduction of Don and his work to a senior executive at QVC. He was
asked to visit the QVC park in September. After telling his story to the buyers, they remarked that in
all their years of buying, this was one of the easiest decisions on whether to put someone on air
with their product. Look for Don to be on QVC selling our cashews and telling his story in January
2017 and hopefully every 6 weeks afterwards if results are good.
A WORD FROM SNC’s DIRECTOR OF SOCIAL IMPACT
Our 501c3 charity, the Sunshine Approach Foundation, financially supported by the
Sunshine Nut Company as well as generous, caring donors, continues to make progress in transforming the lives of those in need in the communities and orphanages
surrounding our factory in Matola.
We continue to financially support several orphanages through monthly donations that enable the directors to
purchase what is needed at their centers. We also work in conjunction with Soapbox Soaps, distributing soap to
650 children each month.
Our partnership with Berta and her project is flourishing with all good things!! This
quarter we enlisted the help of one of our Sunshine Nut employees, Gito Paulo.
Gito is a very talented young man who is able to instruct the children on making
arts and crafts (jewelry, paintings, wood carving). He also is a positive role model
for them to look up to as someone who had a difficult start in life but overcame the
obstacles to live a successful life.
Our greatest joy as of late has been a feeding program for the children in the community of Matola-Santos. We began in March by feeding a
hot, nutritious meal to the 39 children in Berta’s project.
In April we opened the door to an additional 40 children
from the community. This number quickly grew to 100…
then to 120…and it keeps growing. Last Saturday, 135
little bellies were filled.
We partnered with the Humble Smile Foundation in September to educate children in the schools and orphanages about oral health. We hosted a team of 4 dental students (from Latvia, Germany,
Serbia, and Sudan) from the International Association of Dental Students. They
were led by Humble Smile’s Dr. Darren Weiss from Israel. Employees of the Sunshine Nut Company were also part of this team - Prescila, Sebi, Aida, Gito, and Binario proved themselves to be natural-born teachers as they worked with the students.
During the three week project, 1,274 children participated in the preventative program which focused on habit change and included the introduction of tooth brushing
to the daily school routine, handwashing, and education to make healthy food choices. All were screened for oral disease and hundreds were treated with Silver Diamine Fluoride to stop active tooth decay.
PROVIDING HOPE NEVER TASTED SO GOOD
Sunshine Nut Company highlighted among 2,000 companies……..
Food Dive: 8 natural food trends that consumers love
Market research shows which items are most likely to go from niche to necessity
By Megan Poinski | September 23, 2016
The natural food products movement has been growing — right into space on mainstream store shelves and in mainstream consumers' kitchens. And, according to research presented Thursday by New Hope Network at their Natural
Products Expo East (http://www.expoeast.com/ee16/public/enter.aspx) conference in Baltimore, the stories behind those
products are getting a place in consumers' hearts. Products with missions behind them are the top trend that
can be successful with the mainstream consumer, according to the analysis. "This makes me feel good about
humanity," said Eric Pierce, director of business insights at New Hope Network. "These products work to stand
out in the marketplace by standing for something."
New Hope Network identified seven other trends in natural products that are likely to do well with consumers. The trends
come from ongoing monthly research, where about 1,000 consumers are told about the concept behind several products.
They are asked if they think others would buy the product, and whether they would buy the product. The concepts that
Pierce shared at the conference were those that had the highest market prediction — whether others will buy it — and
purchase intent.
With more than 2,000 vendors showing products at the Baltimore show, Pierce said that the opportunities in the natural
food space are plentiful, but a study like this can help light the way to the best paths for manufacturers, investors, innovators and retailers to find success. "The problem sometimes in this industry is prioritizing opportunities," he said.
Mission­based products
The products which have a deep core mission got some of the highest
scores in the analysis. While consumers are not given actual brand and
product names during the research, Pierce said they are inspired by real products
and presented slides of the products that did the best.
He said that Marley Coffee EKOCups, which are recyclable pods for a K-cup machine, epitomize the successful mission-based product. The product not only has non-polluting cups — which Keurigstyle machines have been vilified for — but they also do a lot of giving back. Also scoring high were products from the
Sunshine Nut Company, which donates 90% of its profits to the communities where the nuts are sourced, and
Endangered Species Chocolate, which donates 10% of its profits to conservation.
http://www.fooddive.com/news/8-natural-food-trends-that-consumers-love/426886/#.V-ZGQ5priRs.facebook
Contact Us
Sunshine Nut Co.
16192 Coastal Highway
Lewes, DE 19958
Sunshine Nut Limitada
Beluluane Industrial Park
Lot 13
Matola, Mozambique
[email protected]
[email protected]
Visit us on the web at
www.SunshineNuts.com
Article appearing in Forbes on July 10, 2106