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Dragonfly Effect Naturals

A Holistic Products Company with a 1:1 Giving Philosophy

Stardust-Startup Factory Sustainability Project
Founder
donations jamaica poverty sustainable natural products toothpaste toothbrushes sustainability transparency health sustainabrush spartan silver zero waste third eye

Adam Riva

Location:

Awarded:

Areas:

Oneonta, NY

Spring 2018

Health, Learning, Sustainability

Adam Riva and the rest of the Dragonfly Effect Naturals team is crafting and selling radically unique holistic products in order to empower struggling communities through a 1:1 giving philosophy.

For every product they sell in stores and online, they give an oral health product, clean water, or school supplies to a child who needs it. As of May 2018, Dragonfly Effect Naturals has provided clean drinking water for about 40 people for the rest of their lives and provided school supplies for around 100 students in Brown’s Town, Jamaica through one of their non-profit alliances, and those numbers are growing.

Dragonfly Effect Naturals products range from body care to medicinals and even food and beverages. They are currently trying to expand their product line into many categories to diversify what they can offer to different types of consumers. What separates them from other companies is the quality, the sourcing, and the philanthropic business model. Products are sold both on their website and at around 150 retail locations across the northeastern coast of the U.S.

A selection of Dragonfly products

Spartan Silver

Third Eye

Sustainabrush

Detox Toothpaste

Most companies are trying to hide what goes into their products, but Dragonfly Effect Naturals embraces full transparency and pride in what ingredients they use. The Ingredient Transparency Initiative is an original project to create a full ingredients sourcing page for each product, including the country, city, or even farm of origin and what the ingredient is actually doing in the product.

donations jamaica poverty sustainable natural products toothpaste toothbrushes sustainability transparency health sustainabrush spartan silver zero waste third eye

The company is also looking into a Zero Waste Initiative where all of the shipping boxes and bubble wrap that they send out to retail locations could be shipped back to them for reusing and recycling.

It’s been an uphill battle to form this company, so to have assistance from a third party feels so special. I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to grow what I know can be a powerful force for good in the marketplace.

— Adam Riva, founder and CEO

Adam Riva, founder and CEO of Dragonfly Effect Naturals, has worked in just about every aspect of the natural foods industry in the last 12-15 years—organic farming, working at a number of health food stores on the east coast and managing some of them, doing marketing and advertising, and now starting his own company. He is soon publishing a book called Humans Are Herbivores: A Medical, Anatomical, and Ethical Case for Veganism, which is a comprehensive look at diet and nutrition with tons of research to back it up.

The Stardust-Startup Factory is so proud to support Adam’s company because we know he has the passion and determination to make anything happen. Ethical sourcing, philanthropy, plant-based nutrition, and zero waste are just some of the values we share! In Adam’s words, it will be a rewarding and fulfilling journey and we have so much more to accomplish.