SHEBOYGAN COUNTY – Dan TenNapel was this year’s winner at the Accelerate Sheboygan County Pitch Competition for his farm-direct company, Nature Packaged, which aims to connect customers with the stories behind its natural products.

TenNapel won a $10,000 grand prize and advanced to the regional pitch competition, NEW Launch Alliance Pitch Event, in Green Bay last week.

Although Nature Packaged didn’t win anything at the regional level, TenNapel said the Sheboygan pitch competition was fun to participate in.

“I love the 'Shark Tank' show. And I've always been big into that, and it was kind of like a mini-'Shark Tank' episode,” he said.

In partnership with groups like SCORE — a network of small-business mentors — the Small Business Development Center at University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and Lakeland University, the Sheboygan County Economic Development Corporation’s business challenge program aims to build business resiliency, diversity and inclusivity by giving entrepreneurs in the start-up stage an opportunity to receive feedback on their pitches.

After applications are accepted in October, five idea finalists win a $1,000 grant to move their business ideas forward, but more than five can advance to the November competition.

This year's entrepreneurs — Nature Packaged, AntiMussel, Juniper Athleisure LLC, The Sheboygan Collective, LLC, POMster, TAU’s Skin Care LLC, Get to Gather, Raw-Tek Innovations and Actlive Life — had a four-minute pitch period followed by a two-minute Q&A from the judges.

Israel Squires, managing partner with Midpoint Ventures, who was a judge at the Sheboygan competition, said Nature Packaged’s background helped the company stand out.

Nature Packaged is an outgrowth of TenNapel’s family’s company, Simply Earth, which does essential oil subscription boxes, TenNapel said.

“Kind of the big complaint of their (Simply Earth) customers was that ‘Hey, we love what you're sending us. We love the oils. We love that you're teaching us how to use them, but we want to know the story behind them,’” TenNapel said.

Simply Earth went to its distributors to see if it’d be able to visit places where its essential oils and products are sourced, so stories and photos could be shared on its website, he said.

“All of the distributors that they currently work with said, ‘No, we will not share that with you because we're afraid that if we share that with you, you’ll go and just source from them yourself,’” TenNapel said. “And so, we thought, ‘Why don't we just do that?’”

Nature Packaged connects consumers directly with the farmers who source natural ingredients like essential oils, aims to increase farmers’ brand recognition, works to support farmers who may have been mistreated by distributors and ensures it partners with farmers who have fair wages and working environments for their employees, TenNapel said.

Squires said Nature Packaged has done a good job of setting up its infrastructure to expand.

“The kind of spinning this off a different company where they've identified a gap … it's very easy to see those two clear paths to revenue,” Squires said.

Through Nature Packaged, customers will be able to connect directly with farmers, like Bulgarian Essential Oils, Arulussa Farm and KwaZulu Botanicals.

“So, when the customer buys their lavender essential oil, they will be able to see that farm's label 'Bulgarian Essential Oils.' They'll be able to go on the website and see pictures and videos and interviews of the people actually from that farm and making their product," TenNapel said.

He said Nature Packaged is going to continue replacing distributors that Simply Earth uses and building the business with a big launch in the spring.

Future growth will also include an annual membership option for interested customers, getting them a access to 20% discounts, new releases and virtual events with farmers.

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Contact Alex Garner at 224-374-2332 or agarner@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @alexx_garner. 

This article originally appeared on Sheboygan Press: Sheboygan County pitch contest prize goes to natural products company