Ivar van Dorst

Ivar's story:

The foundation of Ekoto is based on a frustration of anonymous products that we buy in our every day life. With every product I buy, I wonder what practices I am supporting. Perhaps child labour, modern slavery or highly polluting industries. The documentary “dead donkeys fear no hyenas, a film of Joakim Demmer that I watched in the winter of 2018, fired up my frustration. In the documentary I saw modern slaves working on a rice plantation for an estate owner from Saudi Arabia. The impact of the documentary sticked with me, but slowly it slipped away from my attention. Two months passed by. I went to a local Turkish supermarket, where I bought, together with other groceries, a 5 kg bag of rice. The idea of buying staple products in bulk was on my mind for a longer period already, and in this local supermarket I saw that this bag was from jute instead of plastic. Even better! Well… not really? In my enthusiasm of the packaging, I forgot to look where the product came from. Once at home, I saw that the rice came from Saudi Arabia. Though I have still no idea in what conditions it has been produced, one thing I know for sure. Rice is not largely produced in the Saudi Arabian climate… Straight away I envisioned the indigenous people working like slaves on a factory farm that once was their jungle home. Over the course of time, I have set the business mission to accelerate the transition to a transparent, sustainable, and short food supply chain. With a strong drive for this mission, I am happy to work hard with Ekoto to bring the better alternative to your table. We do the research behind the products, so that you can just enjoy its goodness without worries!

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