Apply to be a Featured Lady

Founders, Arbre De Vie Products
www.ArbreDeVieProducts.com

These stay-at-home moms with MBAs are on a mission to bring pure, unrefined shea butter to the masses. Kalle Diarra and Laure Morsli launched Arbre De Vie Products in 2004 and now offer a wide selection of lotions, body treatments and hair care products that all include shea butter.

According to Diarra and Morsli, pure unrefined shea butter has been shown not only to moisturize, but also to help prevent stretch marks and wrinkles, heal skin ailments, ease cold symptoms and relieve muscle and joint pain. Their products are designed for all ethnicities and ages, from babies to baby-boomers. And, in a fun twist on typical beauty products, you can personalize their lotions and creams with one of 24 fragrances ranging from Anise to Ylang Ylang.

Here Diarra and Morsli describe the moment they discovered their business idea and offer a special promotion for Ladies Who Launch subscribers…

Hello Kids, Goodbye Career

Kalle: “We both have MBAs (Kalle’s is from George Washington University) and we both had careers going on in different areas. I was working on international development dealing with women’s reproductive issues in Africa and the Middle East for a major non-profit.

“When I had my daughter, I continued to work, but then I had twin boys. My job entailed that I travel once a month every three months to very faraway places, and I just couldn’t keep it up. After a two-month trip abroad, I decided that was it! I’m a mom now. That was a reality check for me. I couldn’t keep the career and the mom thing going. I made a choice to stay with my kids and focus on that.”

Quitting the Corporate World

Laure: “I received my undergrad degree from McGill in Canada, and the equivalent of an MBA in France at a school in Lyons. I was working in the U.S. for a large IT company in marketing communications, and the company was going through a lot of restructuring. It was right when I came back to work after having my second child. I decided I wanted to get away from the corporate world for a while and focus on my children. I decided to take a little breather.

“Kalle’s family and my in-laws have been friends for a very long time. When I decided to put my daughter in school, I called Kalle for advice and we became good friends.”

Discovering Shea Butter’s Benefits

Kalle: “How I grew up… I was born in France to parents who came from Mali in West Africa. I spent four years in Mali, went back regularly on vacation and was very close to relatives there. I grew up in D.C. speaking three languages – Bambara (Malian language), French and English. My father was in international development.

“I have used shea butter all my life. My mother used it to relieve fevers and colds, and I have continued to do that with my children. My twins were born with severe eczema and were put on steroids, so I started researching what natural products could be used instead of steroids. After I put shea butter on them, within three days, their eczema was gone.”

Business Planning in the Parking Lot?!

Kalle: “I was talking to Laure about my experience with shea butter, and she too had used shea butter. She said, ‘Great! Let’s market it!’ We were in the parking lot of the school where our kids go, and within two minutes, we had the name of the company, the name of the brand… we went home, e-mailed each other all day and all night and never stopped ever since.”

Laure: “We use true, pure unrefined shea butter, which is yellow or beige and has a nutty fragrance. A lot of people think all shea butters are created equal. But most are white and odorless, and that means the shea butter has been refined. In the process of refining, it loses a lot of its healing properties. We want our products not only to moisturize really well, but also to treat skin and hair. And to do that, you have to have unrefined shea butter, that’s why our products are excellent shea butter bodycare.”

Most Popular Products

Kalle: “It depends on the season. In the winter, the Extra Moisturizing Body Lotion and the Hand and Foot Cream have been very successful, and in the summertime, the most popular product is the Body Lotion, which is lighter.”

Laure: “We just launched our hot oil treatment for hair, and that’s getting rave reviews. It works for all types of hair.”

Source of Start-Up Money: Credit Cards

Kalle: “We used both of our credit cards equally to fund the company at the beginning. Basically now we’re using funds that we’re getting in to grow the company. We have paid most of (the debt) down. We just have a little bit remaining. But we haven’t paid ourselves beyond paying our credit card debt. It cost us about $20,000 to get started and we’re looking to raise additional funds through VCs or angel investors.”

Future Goals – Getting Funding and Fame, Giving Back

Kalle: “We want to get additional funds so that we can increase production and distribution. We would like to set the stage to target natural product chains. That’s our plan in the near future. We always say that our ultimate goal is to be on Oprah and always fantasize about that. In the next few years, we want to find ourselves in the major distribution channels – major natural food and online channels. We want to have extensive distribution in the U.S. within the next two years.”

Laure: “What’s also meaningful to us is to give back to the women in countries that produce shea butter while we provide great bodycare in the U.S. We import high-quality shea butter ourselves from Mali in West Africa and the production of the Arbre de Vie line is done here locally in Gaithersburg (Maryland).”

Family Influences – An Overnight Entrepreneur

Laure: “Two big influences that led me to start my own business… one is my mother who I greatly admire. Both of my parents were born in France. When we moved to the U.S., my mother was in her early 40s and followed my father, who had gotten a position here. Sadly, he passed away a year after we moved.

“She hadn’t worked in 14 years, and my mother decided to become an entrepreneur overnight. She had just moved to a foreign country, she had a thick accent, but decided to get into business on her own to support herself and us. I admire her dedication. She is no longer an entrepreneur, but was for many years. She owned and ran several fashion stores in the 80s in the D.C. area. She just decided to start a new life and was very successful at it.

“My second big motivator is my husband. He is an entrepreneur as well and has been a great support. He started his company (opening the first call center outsourcer in Ghana) a few years ago, and it has been difficult at times. I had (the entrepreneurial spirit) in me, but I needed the ‘kick’ that my husband gave me. Having met Kalle, believing in our products and believing in our partnership has made all the difference.”

Power of a Good Partnership

Kalle: “I would have never done this had (Laure) not encouraged me and brought the energy that she brought to the business. That partnership aspect has been key for me. I needed someone to exchange ideas with.”

Laure: “We all have our moments when we’re wondering whether we’re following the right path. When that happens, one always re-motivates the other one and helps the other one to see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Greatest Success

Kalle: “Our biggest reward is the great feedback we have received on our products. I think we have mastered the right formulations and the right product mix. We had to improve fragrances, and we did that. Now we offer four standard fragrances and have something for everyone. Feedback shows our products are really good.”

Greatest Challenge

Kalle: “Probably not enough time. We have so many things to do, and we do everything ourselves and are also moms. Thankfully our kids are all in kindergarten and pre-school right now.”

Words of Advice – On Partnering and Listening

Kalle: “Team up with someone who has the same ethics and drive that you do.”

Laure: “You need to have complementary skills, and you need to help out each other. You also need to partner with someone you can have fun with. Another lesson we’ve learned is that we do not represent all of our customers. Just because we like a product, doesn’t mean our customers will like it as well. Always have a diverse panel of people you can tap into to really test your products and see what their feedback is. Encourage very honest feedback. I tell people ‘Don’t worry about hurting us. The only way you can hurt us is by giving false feedback or no feedback.’ ”

20 % Off for Ladies Who Launch Subscribers

Arbre de Vie is offering Ladies Who Launch subscribers 20% off any purchase of $25 or more. Promotion code: ADVLadies

Use your code to receive your discount online at ArbreDeVieProducts.com. Code must be used before April 15, 2006. May not be combined with other offers. Limit of one code use per customer.

Apply to be a Featured Lady