We have, for many years, been getting sesame for the NATURATA Demeter sesame oil from Sekem, a Demeter project in Egypt, on the edge of the desert, which was founded by Dr. Ibrahim Abouleish in 1988. Today, many agricultural products such as sesame, rice, cotton, herbs and tea are grown on the biodynamic farm. In December 2005 the initiative was awarded the alternative Nobel Prize from the Right Livelihood Award Foundation. In the laudation, Sekem was praised as a business model of the 21st century which unites financial success with social and cultural development in society with an “economy of love”. Besides agriculture, the Sekem project also includes a series of processing sites and social establishments.

In Sekem, Abouleish has managed to show that the soil in this extremely dry climate can, with treatment with biodynamic compost, gain in fertility from year to year. The project is, therefore, regarded as a role model for other Demeter initiatives in North Africa, for example also for the olive growers in Tunisia from whom the NATURATA native extra olive oil from Tunisia comes.