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for the construction industry had destroyed the topsoil. Rock-lifting was one of the few means of employment. Building a viable company there would be no light task. Impact Teatulia's garden uses reclaimed water, no chemicals, pesticides, or fertilizer. It is the only USDA-certified organic farm in Bangladesh. "Now the region is a lush paradise," Lipsius reports. "Through our organic farming, it's helped restore the ecosystem. Wildlife and plant species that had disappeared have come back." Teatulia employs more than 600 women as pluckers of tea leaves and another 1,700 people in other areas of production. "Women get paid a fair wage directly; it doesn't go through their husbands," she says, and emphasizes, "Our tea garden is just a job. They get to go home at night and be with their families. A large part of the tea industry is not like that, with companies settling people in isolated work camps, separated from their communities. At a lot of them the conditions are shocking." Most of the workers who came to Teatulia were illiterate and without math skills. Teatulia instituted a literacy program that includes libraries and technology training for children. "A woman told me, 'I will never get cheated at the market again because now I can count to 10.'" A cornerstone of Teatulia's social advocacy is lending cattle to women in exchange for dung used as compost on the farm. The company needs tremendous amounts of manure and did not want to go into the dairy cow business, so the loans were a symbiotic solu- tion. Families get to keep calves that are born. All tea sales support a farming co-op, the Kazi Shahid Foundation, dedicated to improving the lives of the local community. In Teatulia's mission to be sustainable in every way possible, Lipsius designed packaging that uses minimal waste. Tea canisters are compostable. Unbleached corn-silk tea bags are biodegradable, made without strings, staples, or tags. Labels are printed with non- toxic, water-based ink. All tea is sold within a year of being picked. "We believe in tea being very pure and don't add f lavors, fruits, or colors," she says. There are 18 types of tea in their portfolio, including Ginger Green Tea, Oolong, Chamomile, Lemongrass, Rooibos, and Earl Grey. "When people taste our tea it's clean and it's fresh, with f lavor profiles that are super unique." The Future "Tea is growing massively but we're still tiny compared to coffee," Lipsius says. "The biggest challenge is lack of tea knowledge, but we're gaining steam." She divides their customers into "tea geeks" and "tea-curious" and does everything she can to educate people. "We try to present tea, both hot and iced, as being accessible and unintimidating and are promoting new ways to drink it, such as tea sodas and tea cocktails." In 2015, Teatulia launched a new and well- received Energy line of tea (Energy Black, Energy Green, and Energy Red) infused with the herb eleuthero root, which is said to have energizing properties. The garden in Bangladesh is about 3,000 acres and will grow as demand for tea increases and more surrounding land becomes available. A large portion of the farm is devoted to certified-organic crops of vegetables and fruit. "We want to get Americans excited about tea," Lipsius says. "Our story is authentic and unique and the impact we're having is unrivaled. When we can get in front of people and explain what we do, we have customers for life." 2016 LEADERSHIP AWARD: VISION Josh Tetrick, CEO, Hampton Creek B reaking up the egg industry has been Josh Tetrick's goal for the past four years and he has 34 eggless SKUs to show for it. Inspiration Tetrick, 35, is an ambitious entrepreneur with no previous experi- ence in the food industry, yet he's raised in excess of $200 million from investors. His vision is not to convert the world to veganism, he says, but for everyone to buy and love his dairy-free products, regard- less of their diets. "I want to throw out the typical rules, do things faster and deeper," he says. This man in a hurry is from Birmingham, Alabama, and grew up on a diet of chicken wings, biscuits, and grits. The seven years he spent in sub-Saharan Africa greatly affected him, first as a Fulbright Scholar in Nigeria, then working with the Liberian government on investment policies, and with the United Nations in Kenya. In South (continued on p. 38) 36 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE specialtyfood.com