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Buy Better Globe trees

Trees are the foundation of the entire Better Globe business. Buying Better Globe trees is good for many reasons. Tree planting is especially important for life on earth, and planting trees is not only profitable but also creates jobs. Better Globe plants your tree at its plantation in the semidesert, where almost nothing else can grow. Your tree does not compete with anything else—it serves solely to improve conditions.

For each Better Globe tree that you buy, you will know that you are helping to prevent desertification and making it possible for people to survive where they live, which means working towards solving or preventing many of the challenges that we face in Africa every day.

When you buy a tree in Better Globe, your are the rightful owner of the tree. Locally employed workers are hired, who are thus offered the opportunity to work in an area where no other jobs are available. For many of them, this is the first time in their lives that they have been offered a permanent job with a salary.

They can stay with their families, on their land in their communities. Better Globe’s workplaces and plantations also create other jobs and income opportunities for people living nearby.

The life cycle of a Better Globe tree

Your tree is planted and cared for by Better Globe for 20 years. The trees are managed on a commercial basis and eventually sold as wood products. The life cycle of a Better Globe tree can be simplified as follows:

Year 0:	You buy the tree for 15 euros.
Year 1-4:	The tree is planted, cared for by Better Globe, and grows to later provide a return in the form of harvest.
Year 5-19:	The tree yields fruit, nuts, rubber, oil, or other products, depending on the species, during a 15 year period.
Year 20:	The tree is felled, and the timber is either sold or processed into various products, such as hardwood floors, fine joinery, or the equivalent.

The above life cycle is profitable and self-generating, allowing Better Globe to share some of the surplus from its activities each year.

The business model for a Better Globe tree

To engage the thousands of people we need to achieve our goal of planting five billion trees by 2026, we need to create an incentive, one that causes people to be altruistic. By being a profitable commercial business and sharing the profits with those who have bought and own the trees, we believe that we create this incentive.

We have created the following, somewhat simplified economic model for a Better Globe tree and its yield.

Year 0:	Purchase of the tree for 15 euros	€ -15.00
Year 1-4:	The tree grows and later yields a harvest, e.g., fruit, nuts, or rubber.	€ 0.00
Year 5-19:	15% of the purchase price of 15 euros for 15 years (i.e., 15 years x € 15 x 15%)	€ +33.75
Year 20:	The tree is felled. You get an expected return of 10 times the purchase price of 15 euros.	€ +150.00
Total expected return over 20 years:		€ 168.75

The interpretation of the business model for a tree

The business model above shows in figures that by buying a tree for 15 euros today you will have an expected return on this tree of about 168 euros over 20 years. Starting with the fifth year following the purchase of your tree and then annually for 15 years thereafter, the expected return is 15% of 15 euros – that is 2.25 euros.

This means that after about 11 years, you will receive the 15 euros that the tree cost you. For the remaining nine years, you will have an expected profit, both in the form of an expected annual return of approximately a further 18 euros and after 20 years, when the tree is harvested; you will receive an additional expected return of about 150 euros, depending on the price of tropical trees.

If you buy 10, 100, or 1,000 trees, the expected result will be greater in proportion to the increase.

The interpretation of the business model for a donation package

Although we think it is good that our stakeholders are buying trees, we highly recommend purchasing our donation packages. because they serve to truly make a difference for the entire community and their needs. The package contains two trees for you plus two trees for the community,, 500 liters of water and a contribution to both school and microcredit activities. For a donation package, the expected return is as follows:

Year 0:	You buy the donation package for 49 euros. 500 gallons of water is given away, and 3 euros is earmarked for school and microcredit activities.	€ -49.00
Year 1-4:	Your two trees are planted and grow with an eventual harvest of, for example fruit, nuts, or rubber. The two donated trees are also planted in the community.	€ 0.00
Year 5-19:	You receive 15% of the original cost of the two trees that you own 2 x 15 euros for 15 years (i.e., 15 years x 30 euros x 15%)	€ +67.50
Year 20:	The trees are felled. You get an expected return of 10 times the purchase price of 30 euros.	€ +300.00
Total expected return over 20 years:		€ 318.50

The interpretation of the model for the donation package is thus very similar to that of the individual tree, with the difference being that the total expected return is somewhat lower. You are then buying the donation package for 49 euros, and for the next 20 years you can expect a yield of approximately 317.50 euros. This means that after 15 years, the expected return will have paid for your donation packages, and the returns for the following five years will be your profit.

What is the basis for the model, and what are the risks?

Calculations are based on currently known prices of timber and labor and other known factors. Market forces will affect the course of any price, but rest assured that never again on earth will there be a surplus of logs and trees. We are consuming timber as never before, and the negative numbers (such as the fact that 1 tree is planted in Africa for every 28 that are cut down), speak for themselves.

Better Globe can never guarantee any returns, and there is always a risk associated with an expected return. We always try to eliminate and minimize risk, and we feel confident that the models above should work in the coming years. On the “Frequently Asked Questions about Better Globe“-page, we’ve compiled some of the most frequently asked questions; read more there!