IB Woman
Issue No. 21 - February/March 2005
Passionate Purpose
Vince & Silvana Santucci
Vince and Silvana Santucci are a team. They share their lives and their business in a 50:50 partnership that works to keep their livelihood and their relationship together.
Diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy 12 years ago, Vince accepted his fate. He accepted that eventually he would be in a wheelchair for life; so he decided to get in as much drinking, smoking and partying as he could.
"I figured that it was my life so I could do what I liked with it," relates Vince. At the point where his legs were giving way under him, Silvana insisted Vince visit a naturopath.
"I thought it was a load of crap, quite frankly," says Vince. "I had never heard of organic food and I didn’t have any idea about promoting healthy body cells. But the more I learned the more interested I became."
Vince started to change his diet by gradually introducing organic products. He gave up smoking and drinking and started taking responsibility for himself and his family. The effects of his muscular dystrophy started to subside; he regained control of his legs, joined a gym and enjoyed a quality of life he had never before experienced.
Vince was determined that no-one should have to go through what he went through, nor Silvana’s frustration in accessing organic food.
"I kept asking Silvana to only buy organic products and she kept telling me that the few organic stores in Adelaide weren’t open long enough, weren’t child friendly, didn’t home deliver, you couldn’t order on-line, the parking was hard and that she’d have to visit two or three different stores a week to get everything she needed. So I decided I was going to open the best ‘one-stop’ organic supermarket around."
And so Organic Solutions was born — or at least the idea. Vince spent two years researching his new business, whilst continuing to work full time. He engaged a variety of consultants in marketing, finance, business development, branding a...
