Our history

The pre-story

The history of neem in Germany began in 1959 in Sudan.

At that time, the young biologist and entomologist Dr Heinrich Schmutterer was employed as a research officer at the Ministry of Agriculture in Khartoum.

There he witnessed a natural phenomenon of biblical proportions: an immense swarm of locusts moved over Khartoum, darkening the sky as if it were night. The locusts were everywhere and attacked all the plants - or rather almost all of them, because the neem tree was the only plant that was spared!

The neem tree was already omnipresent in Khartoum at that time, as it can withstand the heat and dryness of the Sahel region very well. The locusts also attacked the neem trees, but left them very quickly after nibbling on the leaves. When the locust swarm had moved on, it left behind a devastating picture: all the plants apart from the neem trees had been completely eaten bare.

The young scientist drew his conclusions from this experience: the neem tree must contain active substances that are not compatible with locusts or could even destroy them.

The beginnings of neem in Germany

This experience laid the foundation for Dr Heinrich Schmutterer's many years of research into the neem tree in Germany:

After his stay in Khartoum, he returned to the Justus-von-Liebig University in Giessen and worked there in the 1960s at the Institute of Tropical Sciences, where he also initiated the first research on neem.

In 1971, he was appointed full professor at the Institute of Phytopathology and Applied Zoology at the same university. Here, until his retirement in 1993, he carried out in-depth basic research into the numerous aspects of the neem tree. As part of this research, several hundred dissertations and doctoral theses were written under his supervision.

And this is where the beginnings of our company come into play: one of the last diploma theses under Prof Dr Schmutterer with the topic "Side effects of neem on beneficial insects" was written in 1993 by Gerald Moser, the later founder of Niem-Handel.

The founding of Niem-Handel

After successfully completing his diploma, Gerald Moser was convinced of the benefits of neem raw materials for a more natural and ecological agriculture and saw great potential to make a difference and change things in the right direction with natural products. He therefore founded Niem-Handel in 1994 and began to build up business relationships with producers in developing countries.

Cooperation with the FAMA environmental foundation to establish fair trade relations

The first partner was the environmental foundation FAMA from the Dominican Republic. The neem tree was cultivated there in the arid regions for reforestation and erosion control and is now a widespread tree. FAMA has organised the seed and leaf harvests for the neem trade with small farmers' cooperatives. From the outset, the aim was to establish fair trade relations and thus guarantee local farmers an additional income.

Further trials and tests on the use of Neem raw materials

At the same time, Mr Moser was involved in numerous trials with neem raw materials. Together with FAMA and the local farmers, the best options for harvesting, drying, processing and packaging were developed in order to maximise the shelf life and usability of the raw materials and products.

A further laboratory test carried out together with the Institute of Phytopathology and Applied Zoology demonstrated the efficiency of neem press cake in the soil. Here it was shown that substrates and soils mixed with Neem press cake are avoided by soil pests. This trial also demonstrated for the first time that young germinating plants can actively absorb the Neem active ingredients through their young root system and are therefore not attacked by pests in the initial phase of growth.

Great media attention through the TV programme Hobbythek

In 1995, one year after our company was founded, the popular and well-known television journalist and environmental activist Jean Pütz became aware of the neem tree.

In his search for natural raw materials, he contacted us at the time. Together with him and his scientific colleague Dr Ellen Norten, we developed numerous simple recipes for products that we could make ourselves, which were subsequently presented to a wide television audience on "Hobbythek".

Many of these products are still popular today and form part of our range:

• Crushed Neem Seeds for the production of simple water extracts
• Neem Press Cake as a soil additive for the prevention of soil-borne pests
• Neem Tincture from Neem Tree Leaves as a base product for the manufacture of cosmetics, household products and animal care products
• Neem Oil as a repellent for humans and pets

The Hobbythek programmes made neem known to a wide audience in Germany. 

As a result, many people recognised the natural alternatives to conventional products, helping us to establish ourselves as a company.

Establishing further trade relations with Indian suppliers

With the increase in demand for neem raw materials, it became necessary at the end of the 1990s to establish trade relations directly with Indian suppliers, as the farmers' co-operatives could no longer manage the required quantities on their own.

India has a traditional collection system for neem seeds. The "Free Tree of India", as it is also called, is collected by the free harvesters between their orders and offered at weekly markets. Many of the neem-processing companies stock up on neem seeds at these markets and process them into neem oil and other products.

Our company now has long-standing trading relationships with some of these companies, and in addition to fair trade, we have also established the necessary quality assurance measures.

Constantly growing range of professional products

Since the turn of the millennium, our range of garden products, home care products, cosmetics and animal products has grown steadily and, together with our partners, we have constantly developed new useful products for use in the aforementioned areas:

In horticulture and agriculture, the effect of neem as a nature-friendly and environmentally friendly means of controlling and repelling pests and diseases on plants comes into its own.

Many users today value neem press cake for the organic enrichment and fertilisation of soils, which harmonises and improves soil life.

Other useful areas of application for neem are personal hygiene, animal care and home care. As in gardening and agriculture, the focus here is usually on defence and hardening against parasites and pathogens. For humans and pets, however, the aspects of skin and coat care and harmonisation are also increasingly appreciated and in demand.

Neem is particularly beneficial for allergy sufferers, as triggers such as mites can be successfully combated. Soaps, shampoos, creams and skin lotions help to soothe allergically irritated skin. And special detergents can be used to treat textiles in an allergy-friendly way.

There is also a range of neem products for dental care, such as toothpastes, gels, mouthwash, dental floss and toothpicks.

Strategic partnership with Hanseatisches Neemkontor and Dr Martin Neubauer

Shortly after the turn of the millennium, we also entered into a partnership with Hanseatisches Neemkontor in order to better utilise our respective strengths.

The founder of Hanseatisches Neemkontor, Dr Martin Neubauer, developed many high-quality neem products at the time, particularly in the areas of personal care, household and animal care.

Acquisition of Hanseatisches Neemkontor

When Dr Neubauer decided to specialise fully in the development of cosmetic products in 2010, we took over Hanseatisches Neemkontor and integrated it into our company a few years later. Many of the outstanding products are still offered by us today.

Dr Martin Neubauer is still closely associated with the neem trade and supports us in the development of new products as well as in regulatory applications and quality assurance.

B2B business and online retail

In the 2010s, it was not only our own online shop for private customers that became increasingly important and was further professionalised and optimised. Due to the strong growth of online retail as a whole, our B2B business also grew from year to year.

It's hard to imagine today, but until well into the 2000s we received the majority of our orders by phone, fax and email. And until around 2014, our annual brochure sent by post and other postal customer information was one of our tools for reaching customers.

The new decade begins with special challenges

The coronavirus crisis began at the start of the new decade and the Ukraine conflict escalated two years later. Both led to general uncertainty in the markets (in addition to the suffering of those affected) and to constantly rising prices in many areas that also affect our business.

Sudden and sometimes inflationary price changes in transport costs, production and purchase prices for our goods presented (and continue to present) us with challenges in dealing with our product range and our own pricing policy.

The neem experts

Today, in 2024, we can look back not only on 30 years of company history, but also on over 30 years of intensive involvement with the neem tree, neem raw materials and all their useful applications.

Over the years, we have become experts in our field thanks to our long and intensive involvement with the subject, our many own trials and feedback from users of our products.

We are pleased and grateful that our vision of natural alternatives to conventional products has now become truly recognised and proven alternatives in many areas.

In our eyes, the most important aspect of this is that we have been able to contribute to a certain extent to a more conscious approach to nature. In addition, our work also helps many people in the Dominican Republic and India to make a better living.

Thank you very much!

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank our current team and all former employees, all business partners, business customers and, last but not least, all private customers: without you and all of you, our 30-year journey would not have been possible!

Despite all the crises, we look forward to the coming years with confidence and thank you for your loyalty!