The Island Institute, in partnership with the Chebeague Community Forum, is pleased to announce that two great Maine companies, Lobster Unlimited and Herbal Revolution, will be receiving $3000 each as part of their participation in the preliminary round of the Greenlight Maine competition.
In 2014, the Chebeague Community Forum and the Island Institute worked together to organize the incredibly successful SustainME Entrepreneurship conference. As a follow-up to that conference, organizers decided to partner with Greenlight Maine during their preliminary round of competition to highlight companies who have strong business plans, are unique, scalable, have strong management, and plan to have an impact on island and remote coastal communities.
Lobster Unlimited is a new company based in Brewer that is finding innovative uses for lobster components currently discarded as waste at lobster processing plants. The company’s principal-founder and Chief Scientist, Dr. Bob Bayer, has over 35 years of lobster research experience and is tapping into the lobsters’ unique biological properties to develop products that will add value to an already successful and sustainable lobster catch. Their product, LobsterRX, is a healing cream that builds on this research to quickly and naturally aid in the recovery of several skin diseases and abrasions. In receiving the award, Dr. Bayer said “Lobster Unlimited is so thrilled and honored that the Chebeague Community Forum and the Island Institute are supporting our efforts to create products that will add value to the lobster catch.”
Herbal Revolution, based in Union, Maine, makes high quality herbal teas, tonics, and elixirs all hand crafted in small batches. The company’s owner, Katheryn Langelier, ensures that all of her products are organic, non GMO, and pesticide and chemical free. “It’s such a great feeling to hear that someone else believes in what you are doing and it feels so good that an organization I have so much respect for believes in me and my business,” she said upon receiving the award. “I am incredibly grateful.” Katheryn will use the award to help expand her production capacity.
Tune into Greenlight Maine this September to see how these companies fare in the official competition. We wish both of these companies luck with their fantastic products and are thrilled that we were able to support their growth.