by Toni Din

We speak to Hannah Phang, co-founder of Rain CBD about the importance of transparency and honesty in business, the meaning of greenwashing and her own personal journey as a business owner and advocate of natural wellbeing.

What element of RAIN are you most proud of?

I'm most proud of the effectiveness of our products. The feedback that we get from customers often makes me really emotional, because they've been searching for solutions and our products are the first time that they've actually found something that works. For example, I just use our balm as a hand lotion but we've had people tell us it's the only relief they've gotten for their arthritis, another wrote to us that she can't sleep without rubbing the balm into her shoulders to release tension before bed, and another who said it's the only thing that's helped with a skin irritation around her nose that just wouldn't go away until she used the balm.

What challenges have you encountered as you develop a sustainable brand?

Having a really big vision but not having the capacity or resources to bring it to life in the time we want. I imagine that's the same with most small businesses, but our vision also means knowing the people who farm our CBD, products that are produced closer to the customers who buy them, and creating really beautiful and informative content that supports our community's wellbeing. It means taking extra steps and often incurring extra costs at every touchpoint of our business. But we don't want to run our business any other way so it's a challenge we are completely up for.

Any advice for spotting greenwashing?

A few tips. Look at the language. Is a brand saying something vague like 'sustainable,' 'conscious,' 'clean'? If they don't explain what they mean by these terms or explain how exactly they are being 'sustainable' it's probably greenwashing. 

Another is looking at if it's a one-off initiative, collection, or campaign, or is it part of a bigger business strategy? Doing one campaign but not addressing the main impacts of a business and their core offering is probably greenwashing.