Going nuts for ‘Coconuts’

Thanks to young entrepreneur, Mario Turton, tourists and locals alike, are going nuts for coconuts.

Turton, who is the founder of ‘Go Coconuts’, explained that he got the idea for the alcohol-infused coconut water when he was in Miami and saw persons doing branded coconuts at hotels, and started to do research on how he could bring that to Barbados.

He recalled that the following year, he then saw a video of a Hennessy branded coconut going viral and furthered his research.

He stated that, finally, in 2018, he was able to obtain the machine needed to help shave the coconuts, and decided to launch for Crop Over last year.

Ever since his launch, Turton noted that the response to the product was incredible. He noted that he initially thought that this product was going to be popular with the tourists, however, he is also receiving a great response from the locals.

He revealed that he plans on taking the business further, as they currently did not have a permanent location.

“So, right now we are looking into getting our own location; perhaps a beach party vibe location,” he said.

He stated that it was his hope to create this permanent location so that persons are able to come to one spot to enjoy this novel idea.

Meanwhile, Donavan, founder of Donavan’s Crafts, showed that the shells of coconuts had many uses.

He explained that he was able to take coconut shells, sand and varnish them and turn them into beautiful bags for young women.

“I love to use coconuts to make crafts because they are from the island and in Barbados they are used to do many different stuff and in Jamaica we have a lot of coconuts as well; so I saw where I could use them to make my unique purses,” he said.

“I usually take one day to make two or three of these purses, depending on the size.”

He highlighted that thanks to CARICOM he was able to bring these unique products to Barbados.