Nexira’s 100+ years of sourcing: Unveiling core values and strategies

25 Jan 2024 --- Nexira’s more than 100 years of experience in sourcing raw materials and providing solutions for the food and nutraceutical industry has yielded significant learnings. In a webinar hosted by the US Sustainable Herbs Project (SHP), Mathieu Dondain, Nexira’s VP and managing director, details what is unique about being a family-owned business in a global botanical sector, the strategies the company follows to maintain independence and the values that guide it.

During the webinar, Dondain tells Nutrition Insight how company values ultimately affect sourcing strategies and the search for new additions to a growing ingredient portfolio. “If it can be ethically sourced and sold, it might seem very simple, but that will make it successful and efficient.”  

He adds that diversification is crucial to the future success of the company. “We’ve learned to diversify as much as possible, with more regions to get raw materials, working with more partners and routes to ship from.” 

“We started 20 years ago to diversify outside of Acacia gum, obtaining other products from the same sourcing areas, such as Baobab and hibiscus. We are also expanding in other parts of the world, sourcing from South America, North America and other parts of Europe.”  

International partnerships  
Established in 1895, Nexira was a trading company until WWII, building a more elaborate international network in the 1970s, expanding its industrial know-how and reinforcing the sourcing of its ingredients, with Acacia gum as its core product. 

“We have been very present in Africa, where the Acacia gum comes from. We built partnerships locally with families, suppliers and different partners in multiple countries of the gum belt — the origin of Acacia gum,” shares Dondain during the webinar. 

“Having solid and reliable connections with your partners is important, which takes decades. It’s something that you build over time. We still work with families that my grandfather and father worked with.” 

Dondain adds that it becomes challenging to monitor everything after reaching a particular import volume. However, to keep high standards, “you must be even more involved on the ground to ensure everything is made in the best conditions.” 

He explains that with its partners, Nexira works to improve product quality and supply infrastructures, raising the standards of raw materials coming to France, where most of the company’s manufacturing occurs. 

“In the past years, we worked very hard to increase the portfolio of products we are selling and sourcing. The control of the supply chain is key as we source, manufacture and market products.” 

Support for communities along African gum belt
In the webinar, Dondain shares details about the Acacia project, in which Nexira partners with key customers and an NGO as the implementing partner. The project covers harvesting regions in the African gum belt, working with farmers and stakeholders in the Acacia gum supply chain. 

“The project started in 2008 with an NGO, the EU and one customer that wanted to include Acacia gum in one of their products and thought it would be interesting to work directly in Africa to improve the quality and living conditions of the harvesters and to obtain a larger quantity.” 

“A second key customer joined the project in 2015, and we extended the areas where we worked. We initially had a couple of hundred villages; then we doubled the villages involved and the quantities that could be produced.” 

He explains that the project aims to support the ecosystem around the Acacia tree, gum and products. “The number of people involved in the harvesting, sorting and cleaning — we’re talking about millions of people. We want to ensure they can harvest the products in the best conditions, protecting the trees, helping them generate more revenues and improving their living conditions to sustain their lives.”

To support the ecosystem around the Acacia tree, gum and products, Nexira participates in the Acacia project in Africa.Balancing risk with growth
As a family-owned business, the company wants to keep its independence, so it has complete control over its business model. Nexira focuses on long-term strategies, which Dondain illustrates is part of his grandfather’s vision, who is still active in the company. 

“It’s important to have a long-term vision and ensure it stays sustainable for everyone. That is the Nexira family, all the employees and stakeholders we work with, our suppliers, the farmers and all the people involved in harvesting acacia gum — it can be everyone involved in our business.”

He explains that to stay independent, the company must balance risk-taking with growth. “We all want to grow, but there is a point where you need to take risks. It helps to decide how much risk you will take to keep your independence. At Nexira, we are very cautious; we take risks but will not expose the company by over-risking it.” 

Passion, reliability and ethics 
In the webinar — “Over 100 years of sourcing herbs” — presented by SHP director Ann Armbrecht, Dondain emphasizes that passion, reliability and ethics are among Nexira’s key values. 

“This passion of finding and sourcing products and natural resources to make the highest quality products for our customers and tell a story they love.”

“Reliability is something Nexira was always attached to — ensuring that we can supply products continuously,” he continues. “It’s not always easy, but we’ve been able to be a reliable partner in quality, supply and the technical support we can provide, improving the science around the products we manufacture.”  

For example, he illustrates how the company markets branded ingredients based on Acacia gum, known as Acacia fiber. Last year, Nexira shared the results of a clinical trial on its Inavea Pure Acacia ingredient, revealing that it improves constipation and has a high tolerability on sensitive people with irritable bowel syndrome. 

Moreover, Dondain underscores the importance of ethics in its business operations. “It’s worth ensuring you work in a profitable environment but are not strictly profit-driven, working with partners with the same philosophy as what you are practicing — that you’re selling what you are claiming or are claiming what you’re selling. That needs to be aligned.”

By Jolanda van Hal