top of page

Meet the Team

The Founders

Umeeda was born in Uganda to a family of entrepreneurs, her father managed an insurance company and her mother ran a Montessori school, BOTH raced cars!

 

During the 1970s, a dictator terrorized the country and our family fled Uganda for Canada as refugees. Umeeda arrived with 1 suitcase at the age of 15. They all started a new chapter in their lives.  

 

Umeeda’s mother, known in the family as Mamajee, cooked to help keep the stories of home alive over the dinner table. Our family finally convinced Mamajee to write a cookbook called ‘Mamajee’s Kitchen’, (which you can buy on our website).

 

Nareena, Umeeda’s daughter grew up in Vancouver, Canada. Her mom and mamajee taught her how to cook and instilled in her a strong sense of social responsibility. While she was learning how to make chicken curry they would tell stories of Uganda and ask Nareena what she was going to do to make the world a better place. A young social entrepreneur was made!

 

edAg-8sA.jpeg
160A8790.jpg

Naledo was founded in 2015…

Umeeda first went to Belize to volunteer with the Belizean government through CUSO International to share her business skills with youth.

 

While in Belize, Umeeda traveled the country and met other people of Indian ancestry. She learned the story of how their ancestors had come to the country as indentured servants over 200 years ago. As they were sharing stories, of course cooking came up, one farmer showed her the turmeric that grew wild on his land. Their ancestors had brought the golden root with them! It was the most vivid orange and the best quality Umeeda had ever seen! After months of experimenting she came up with the recipe for the world’s first wildcrafted, whole root turmeric paste – Truly Turmeric.

 

We decided to build a social enterprise that would support growers to earn extra income, employ youth, improve health around the world, and produce products sustainably.

 

Our company’s name comes from the district in Belize where our turmeric is sourced, Toledo and Nareena’s name… Na + ledo = Naledo. Embarrassing for Nareena, proud mom bragging rights for Umeeda.

The Team

At Naledo our operations are run by our incredible team. We provide training and mentorship on everything business, from accounting to marketing. It is our hope that as each team member grows with us, they branch out and start their own social enterprise or influence other businesses, increasing our impact.

edAg-8sA.jpeg

Umeeda Switlo

Co-Founder/CEO

Umeeda has enjoyed a varied career that includes working as a marine biologist, entrepreneur, concert promoter and artist manager, non-profit and international development sectors.  Umeeda created Truly Turmeric and manages operations in Belize. 

IMG_3108.jpg

Nayomi 

Operations Manager

Naledo’s new operations manger came to us with  extensive experience in the Cacao industry. 
Nayomi loves preserving her culture and traditions. she has 4 children and a farm that intercrops with focus on permaculture. She joined our team to help Naledo grow and continue its work with farmers and young people. 

Romelia.JPG

Romelia

Assistant Production Manager

My mother use to make coconut oil to sell in the caye where we lived. From her labour she bought her own property and built us a home. My father was also a hard worker he taught us that respect is very important and to always work decently. I now work at Naledo Belize where I know I will excel.

image0.jpeg

Keyron

Production

Keyron was brought up in Punta Gorda. He studied agriculture and is passionate about football and basketball.  He joined Naledo to learn new skills and help his family.

IMG_5373.jpeg

Finn

Security

Finn helps keep the team safe and entertained. He likes chasing chickens and cats. He was adopted as a puppy when his family no longer wanted him.

edAg-8sA.jpeg

Nareena Switlo

Co-Founder/COO

She is an experienced project manager and business development specialist with a background in Anthropology.  She has worked with innovative organizations in Zanzibar, Kenya, Ghana, India, and Canada. At Naledo Nareena manages sales, distribution, and marketing.

Belkis.JPG

Belkis

Production Manager

Belkis is from Mafedi in Belize. She loves to cook and one day hopes to open a restaurant. Her passion for food makes Belkis the perfect production manager! She is always experimenting with new ways to use our turmeric.

Ally.jpg

Ally

Shipping Manager

I grew up in a beautiful village in Toledo. I like experimenting with new things and love to travel!

IMG_3110.jpg

Emelda

Production

Emelda loves her  wonderful family with brothers and sisters. She is passionate about making handicrafts and painting. She joined team Naledo to get some experience and help support her family

IMG_4736.jpeg

Bella

Nature Relations

Bella recently passed away, but she will always be a founding member of team NaleBella was found living under an ice cream shop. She is sassy and loves hanging out with the team at lunch and going into the field for grower inspections. 

Volunteer Team

Thank you to our volunteers for helping us increase our impact and empower our team to make Truly Turmeric and all the communities we work with even better!

IMG_0356.JPG

Tim Collins

Planning/Contruction 2016

Tim Collins met Umeeda through Cuso International where he has served in Vanuatu. Tim is an amazing person able to work with computers to construction. Tim came to Belize for 2 weeks and helped us set up our first small factory.

23659464_10156073461286802_5073545090148

David Crichton

Systems Design Volunteer 2017

David used his expertise in anthropology and IT to design our first farmer database to track our impact! He was in Belize for three months.

Thank you David. 

IMG.jpg

Angela Niesing

Food Science and Safety 2016

Angela joined the Naledo team as a volunteer for three months. With 2 Masters degrees in Food Science from Germany and Canada she was well equipped to ensure that we met and exceeded all food safety regulations.

IMG_20191208_185740_341.jpg

Alison Chadwick

M&E Volunteer 2019

Alison volunteered with Naledo to create a Monitoring and Evaluation Framework to measure our impact in Toledo, Belize. She worked alongside our partnering growers, production staff, CEO, and COO to produce our impact report for 2019! Alison also collaborated with our COO to complete the B Impact Assessment, the first step to becoming a certified BCorp!

bottom of page