The Ojon tree grows only in northeastern Honduras, a world away from Denis Simioni’s Oakville, Ont., home and career as an advertising exec. But when Simioni witnessed the miraculously reparative effects of a jar of golden balm given to him by a relative—it was made from the tree’s nuts—he boarded a plane to find the formula’s makers. A decade later, the success of Ojon hair care (now a jewel in owner Estée Lauder’s crown) is a combined effort of Simioni and the Miskito people, who sustainably harvest the nuts.
