If the banana has made its way into our bathrooms, we owe it a lot to Shirley Billot and her militant DNA. The one who grew up in Martinique has commitment in her blood. . On the island, where the young girl will flourish until the age of the baccalaureate, life after school revolves above all around the garden, cultivated with respect for the seasons and the climate by her parents. These happy years in the West Indies, in contact with an exuberant nature, but also in touch with the reality of a territory crossed by social and racial tensions, are followed by the Parisian years of a slightly gray student. “But I'm curious, and I loved the freedom and cultural richness that Paris offered me,” she says. Very quickly, after a cycle of economics at the Sorbonne, this hyperactive specializes in consulting for industry where she finds an opportunity to express her go-getter temperament. She multiplies missions, trips, teams, contacts and successes.

A few years pass and her return to Martinique – with the aim of giving her young son the same chance of quality of life – brings her face to face with the inequalities from which the French West Indies suffer. In 2013, when Shirley Billot faced a bad professional patch, she decided to turn the ordeal into an opportunity and created her box, a startup that aims to recover waste from the agricultural sector and in particular bananas.

A tropical French touch  

The banana industry stakeholders supported her in launching a study on the use of extracts from the famous fruit, which is known for its cell-regenerating properties. Shirley already had her goal in mind: to shake things up and give a second life to agricultural waste. Kadalys then became one of the pioneering brands of upcycled, organic, and vegan cosmetics , thanks to extracts of green, yellow, and pink bananas grown exclusively in Martinique and Guadeloupe. Through waste recycling, a shareholder base comprised of producers, training women in scientific fields, and a commitment to inclusivity, the company instilled values ​​ahead of its time in a French market that was initially unreceptive.

Kadalys then turned to Asia and the United States, playing the “tropical French touch” card and French legitimacy in the beauty sector. A positioning that succeeds: Kadalys has just won its listing in six hundred points of sale of the American brand JCPenney. An open door to a market, but above all, for this insatiable fighter, the opportunity to transmit human-oriented values, to continue her scientific research work in the service of the circular economy and to participate in the revival of the French West Indies. .