••• OUR JOURNEY •••

Over the years, there have been moments that shaped the natural products industry. One such
moment occurred when Olowo-n’djo Tchala met Prairie Rose Hyde. No one could have
imagined a young woman from rural Washington and a young man born and raised in rural
Togo, West Africa with a sixth grade education would go on to build one of the most successful
fair trade body care organizations in the natural products industry. No one except them, that is.

Olowo-n’djo Tchala was born and raised in the village of Kaboli, Togo where he shared a single
8’x10’ room with his mother and seven siblings. After failing to afford school tuition, Olowo-
n’djo dropped out of school in the sixth grade. In the years after, he worked alongside his mother
on her farm. In 1996, Olowo-n’djo met and fell in love with Peace Corps Volunteer, Prairie Rose
Hyde, while she worked in Kaboli. After her service ended, the couple moved to the United
States with a shared goal: finding a way to alleviate poverty in West Africa.
Rose entered a graduate program at the University of California, Davis studying International
Agricultural Development and Ethnobotany, the scientific study of the relationships that exist
between people and plants. Olowo-n’djo studied English and earned a degree in Organizational
Theory. Determined to make a difference in his home country, Olowo-n’djo applied for a
$50,000 business loan and, not familiar with the American banking system, did not understand
why the bank could not fulfill his request when he had no personal financial assets. Eventually,
Rose’s brother offered his house as collateral and the couple obtained the loan, traveled to Togo,
and formed what we know today as Alaffia.