It was in 2010 that Violaine Percie du Sert chose to quit her job in human resources for
“
an activity that was more like [him]
”
.
She then took over Ile aux Plantes, a company that has been marketing, since the early 1990s, leaves of aloe arborescens cultivated in the Canaries.
Less known than aloe vera, this plant is notably consumed for its benefits in the form of juice, according to the recipe of the Brazilian father Romano Zago.
"
The amalgam is often made with aloe vera which is more productive but less rich and less concentrated in active principle", develops Violaine Percie du Sert.
3000 square meters of greenhouse more
Joined in the adventure by her husband in 2015, the idea quickly came to repatriate the plantation.
"
We offered a healthy and natural product with a high carbon footprint and we also lost freshness in the leaves,
" she
explains. Today, after several years for the plant to adapt and offer a quality similar to that cultivated in the Spanish islands, between 2000 and 3000 feet of aloe arborescens therefore grow in the shelter of a greenhouse, in Thil, about thirty kilometers from Toulouse.
Which makes it one of the most important in France and
"
the only one to control the entire chain, from the plant to the finished products
"
, the couple welcomes.
Certified organic, Ile aux Plantes indeed offers a wide range of products from aloe arborescens leaves: juice, solid shampoo, soap, food or cosmetic supplements.
From next year, other plants will fill the 3,000 m2 greenhouse and Violaine Percie du Sert and her husband plan to set up their laboratory on the same site, while creating a shop.