Nama Harvesting
Meet Ana and Siteri of Somosomo village, who harvest Nama for their families’ needs, and to support the economic development goals of their entire village.
Nama "sea grapes": Through extensive research, we’ve found that Nama (“sea grapes”, Caulerpa racemosa), a unique type of seaweed from the pristine waters of Fiji, has much higher percentages of trace mineral elements like ionic mineral salts, which support longer lasting hydration on an intracellular (within-cell) level. Nama, along with all of our other active ingredients, have been carefully selected to deliver the optimal ratios of essential nutrition to promote healthy and naturally beautiful skin.
Benefits of Nama for the Skin:
Dehydrated Skin- Symptoms – Fine lines, tight, dull complexion Causes – Often caused by external elements (weather), unhealthy diet and lifestyle choices (consumption of alcohol or caffeine), or simply not drinking enough water, resulting in a less supple appearance Nama Results – Provides moisture to the cells, hydrates & plumps the skin, minimizes fine lines
Our Founder:
Debra Sadranu first came to Fiji in the 1990s and established a Spa School and Senikai Spas, a chain of spas in luxury hotels and resorts. Debra’s passion is helping women in Fiji gain access to training and employment to improve their quality of life. Spa Academy Fiji, now a CIDESCO International accredited school, sponsors, trains, and provides students with workplace training. Many are single mothers, often from remote and rural areas, and have struggled to get training and secure employment in the past.
Founder's Story:
Watch to hear more from our Founder and how the Nama Fiji brand was created to further her mission to support women and the local communities of Fiji.
Health & Wellness:
In 2014 Debra took her passion for skin care into designing skincare formulas, founding Essence Group Fiji, a health and wellness business centered around supporting local economic development goals. Debra’s extensive knowledge of the benefits of sea minerals for the skin led her to explore the various types of local seaweed. Through her partnership with James Cook University in Australia, Debra learned that Nama, a long time local Fijian delicacy, has incredibly beneficial properties for the skin due to its high concentration of minerals and vitamins.
Sustainable Nama Harvesting:
Debra then embarked on a journey to figure out how best to sustainably harvest and incorporate Nama into her skincare formulas. Being mission driven, Essence Group built the world’s first sustainable Nama harvesting program alongside the Australian Government funded Market Development Facility*. The sustainable Nama harvesting program was designed to create opportunity for the women of the Yasawa islands. It generates a new income source to compliment that of the traditional village system and safeguard an important natural resource in a pristine environment. *MDF is a multi-country initiative which promotes sustainable economic development through higher incomes for women and men in their partner countries.