Social Responsibility
Although Scents of Namibia is a community owned business it takes the issue of social responsibility seriously. Social responsibility starts by guaranteeing that any traditional knowledge associated with any plants is acknowledged, respected and protected. This is facilitated through entering into Access and Benefit Sharing Agreements with potential partners. These agreements are important in that they set out the roles and responsibilities of the different entities involved in the value chain. The KCINP Trust was also established to specifically act on behalf of the conservancies and community forests as well as the harvesters.
Scents of Namibia ensures that harvesters, who are the managers of the resources, are directly and fairly compensated for the material they supply. In addition the KCINP Trust has also put in place a Benefit Distribution Plan that sets out how profits from the business are shared with the contributing entities.