Co-Founders Helene Queguiner and Noriko Shindo met in August 2020 and started a project to make sustainable choices accessible to all. It is notoriously difficult to be an eco-conscious consumer in Japan, but the 2 Co-Founders - each through their personal experiences - see things differently. Japan is already home to a lot of small, local, and flexible family-owned businesses where most of them are more than happy to accommodate different customer needs such as wanting to shop zero-waste (i.e., happy for customers to bring their own container), or organic, plant-based etc. Incorporated in Dec 2020, Ekolokal is on a mission to make visible the accessible choices already on the market, and support eco-friendly and local consumption options.