Do the statistics tell the whole story?

Well, after making the last post about the correlation between the Human Development Index (HDI) and GDP a good friend who works at the UN pointed out that while the statistical relationship may be there, measuring GDP can distort the whole picture when much of the growth is concentrated with the elite. It would be interesting to see if there are instances where GDP is growing dramatically but HDI is not keeping pace. That said, I still think more money, time and energy should be spent working to solve the problems of poverty rather than on determining the best way to measure its alleviation.

Is measuring "human development" redundant?

An interesting perspective from FLOW hit my in-box today that talked about the correlation between GDP and the Human Development Index (HDI), a measure of child mortality, literacy, education, and standard of living. As FLOW pointed out, "economist Miles Cahill shows that progress on human development, as measured by the HDI, is statistically indistinguishable from growth of Gross Domestic Product per capita. "

Since populations in developing countries are growing rather than declining the only way to increase per capita GDP is expanded economic growth. In other words, more growth will mean less poverty. When you factor in the fact that more women in the workforce leads to lower birth rates you have an additional positive contributing factor. I don't want to put any HDI researchers out of business, but maybe more money and effort should be put into building businesses than into measuring poverty statistics?

Powerful Peace Weapon: Free-Market Prosperity

This headline is the title of a new article by Steve Forbes that is available in his online newsletter. He uses the example of Northern Ireland and how three centuries of violence have given way to peace and prosperity after about three decades of economic reform. As Mr. Forbes points out: "Things started to change dramatically in the 1970s. Dublin aggressively courted foreign investment, using tax cuts and tax holidays as bait. Other tax and regulatory changes were made. Result: Ireland today is the most vigorous economy in western Europe. Its per capita income is now larger than that of Britain, France or Germany. The great boom in Ireland did not go unnoticed in the North, and in fact that region has benefited greatly from the Republic's prosperity. A vigorous, new middle class is rising in all of Ireland. As people become more prosperous they tend to focus on bettering their lives more than on blowing up their neighbors." (Emphasis added.)

At Economic Development Imports and at our partner company One World Projects, we've made a point of sourcing products from conflict and post conflict countries as a way of building peace. Our baskets from Rwanda, made by genocide survivors, and Phil's current trip to Afghanistan where he is sourcing jewelry and textiles are two examples of our peace through business approach.

The dominant architecture in Kabul is Early 21st Century War

This headline is pulled from the blog of my partner, Phil Smith, at One World Projects. He's in Kabul looking for new groups from whom he can purchase fair trade goods. While the buildings are uniformly bombed out and the security situation is "tense" to put it mildly, he has only positive things to report about the people and products he's finding. One such item I am looking forward to learning more about is this necklace from Medina Handicrafts, made from lapis and carnelian.

Medina’s mission is to empower vulnerable and disabled women through building their professional skills, providing literacy, health training and capacity building to help themselves and their families to reach self sustainability. To see other products and learn more about Phil's trip check back on his blog throughout the week.

25th Anniversary of World AIDS Day

December 1st is World AIDS Day and today marks its 25th Anniversary. Unfortunately, over 25 million people have died from the disease, but at least the numbers seem to be dimishing annually. If you'd like to find out what you can do to help there's a handy brochure with tips and a pledge card.

According to UNAIDS, 2.5 million people contracted HIV/AIDS this year alone and 95% of all cases are found in developing countries, particularly Africa. I know that several of the groups we work, such as Kenana Knitters, with had fought hard to keep their employees healthy, often sponsoring testing and providing transport for those who need access to medications.

This year's theme is "Stop AIDS: Keep the Promise" and highlights the need for innovation, vision and perseverance in the face of the AIDS challenge.

A Novel Idea

There's a recent article on All Africa.com about a woman, Bibi Bakare-Yusuf , who is has a publishing house in Nigeria. The article details many of her struggles to keep her business afloat and also her commitment to finding and cultivating African authors which make for an interesting read. What really struck me, however, is that this is one of the few African business stories I've read about a company that is trying to sell a product that in developing markets might be considered "frivolous," unlike mobile phones or microfinance institutions.

While newspapers, magazines and text books all have a specific purpose, the idea of buying a novel is one that appeal mainly to people with reasonable disposable income and a good education. Here in the West we buy books for pleasure all the time, but as Ms. Bakare-Yusuf points out, in Nigeria "someone will spend 5,000 naira (~$43) on a self-help or management book, but ask them to pay 850 naira (~$7) for a novel and they will moan and groan." To me, this is a good sign that the population is both becoming more educated and has the necessary income to spend on books. This should bode well for many other businesses and investment opportunities.

Holiday Shopping Begins!

After all the turkey (or in my case , turducken!) had been eaten the focus turned toward holiday shopping and it was a mixed bag in terms of "black Friday" this year. While on the one hand people lined up for "door busters" at the big electronics and toy stores, the regular stores at the mall were not all that busy--which oddly could be good for green and organic retailers who are not typically found in traditional mall settings. EDImports set up a table at the 3rd annual WESPAC holiday fair trade gift fair and we had a very successful day selling handmade jewelry from Kenya, baskets from Rwanda, scarves and bags from Ethiopia and all kinds of samples I've collected from throughout Africa. I also noted a big article on the cover of the New York Times Style Section all about "green" shopping and how this year will be the biggest ever for not only green gifts, but also educating friends and family members about how they can do more for the environment with small changes. Maybe re-gifting will become more acceptable now that it can fall under the category of recycling?!

A Report from the Ol Malo Trust Fund Raiser

I had the pleasure of attending a fund raising event at the Soho House in New York City this past Monday for the Ol Malo Trust, an organization set up to " to contribute to the preservation of the Samburu people in terms of qualities and health in such a way that the Samburus are independent, strong and empowered to live their lives in the way that they strongly desire and choose." I have come to know the trust's founder, Julia Francombe, through our work importing wonderful beaded products made by Samburu women in her workshop. Her workshop also supports a fantastic painting program where children create whimsical watercolors that are signed as originals and then sold to support the trust.

The trust (funded in part by the sales of the beaded goods) supports several programs in the areas of health, education, water and the arts. The event attracted a wide array of people including guests who have stayed at Ol Malo lodge, a contingent from the UK and New Yorkers who are interested in Africa. One such New Yorker (or NY transplant!) was Toby Tanser, founder of Shoe for Africa, a nonprofit that sends used shoes to people living the Kibera slum (for more on the slum, see the "vivid example" video in our September blogs). As an organizer of the NYC marathon he has great access to whole lot of shoes and with the help of actor Anthony Edwards and his wife, Jeanine Lobell, they have sent thousands of shoes to some of Africa's neediest feet.

It's All About Entrepreneurship

As seen in the last couple blogs, attention on the African economy is growing. This weekend there were two more interesting articles on this theme. First in the Wall Street Journal Weekend Edition, there was an article about investors making high risk investments in "treacherous" places such as Zimbabwe -- essentially on the theory that things can't get much worse and Mugabe can't live forever so why not get a toehold now. And lest you think the dollars are not significant, "Foreign direct investment has rebounded, reaching $103 million in 2005, up from just $4 million in 2003, according to the most recent figures available from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development." With natural resources (gold, platinum), natural wonders (Victoria Falls), and the natural desire to talk (booming cellphone industry) there are myriad opportunities for those with the stomach for daily changing exchange rates and runaway inflation.

No matter where the investment is flowing--Zimbabwe, Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Rwanda, etc.--there seems to be increasing agreement that investing in businesses and entrepreneurs is the was out of poverty for the Continent. In a really interesting article in the New York Times' Week in Review section (that looks as though it was sponsored by from, the John Templeton Foundation) people provide an answer to the question "Will Money Solve Africa's Development Problems?" Longtime proponent of entrepreneurship over aid, William Easterly of NYU, to Iqbal Quadir, founder of Grameen Phone in Bangladesh, all make strong arguments for investing directly in people and companies and avoiding--at all costs--the funneling of funds to governments. The link above has full transcripts from the article and even those who answer "Yes" qualify their answer by saying the money must come in the form of investment, not aid.

Useful Toolkit for Small & Medium Size Enterprises (SMEs)

I just stumbled upon the SME Toolkit for South Africa, a very thorough and useful tool for businesses in not only South Africa, but any developing (or that matter, developed) market. Put together by the IFC and IBM, it offers loads of resources and tools to address accounting and finance, business planning, human resources, legal and insurance, marketing and sales, operations, and technology needs.

Among the specially designed free tools are:

• an online calculator that helps small businesses determine their readiness for financing

• free software to build a web site

• fee business forms used for employee performance evaluations

• community tools such as online conferencing, blog capability, group calendars

• survey and quiz builders to help small businesses make decisions, and

• a multilingual business directory to help small businesses link locally, regionally and globally

There are links to many other countries and regions and while the basic information stays the same the case studies and local resources change making it a very functional tool.

My friends at MBAs Without Borders could use this tool as part of their training when working with their clients which would really help bring many of the concepts to life--I'll have to let them know!

Good Economic News from Africa

The World Bank is reporting that macro-economic reforms along with improved governance and better trade policy has led to vast improvements in economies throughout Africa. As stated in the report: "For the first time in three decades...African economies are growing with the rest of the world. Average growth in the sub-Saharan economies was 5.4 percent in 2005 and 2006. The consensus projection is 5.3 percent for 2007 and 5.4 percent for 2008.”

While the credit is due in large part to oil, the results indicate that there are at least 18 other "non-mineral" industries that are contributing to this growth. While fair trade, handmade goods probably didn't make the list, at least we're doing a small part to give people the income needed to participate in these growing economies.

Further, countries internationally-recognized for “good performance” in macro-economic management and trade policy rose from 5 to 15 from 1999-2007, and 27 of 36 countries evaluated had improved their performance. Of course, civil unrest and corruption in places like Côte d’Ivoire, and Zimbabwe bring overall numbers down. It is great, however, to see positive economic news coming from the continent!

Green Business Conference - Review from San Francisco

I just came back from the Co-Op America Green Business Conference, the leading conference for green businesses that was held in San Francisco last week. While there were lots of small companies full of enthusiasm to "change the world" the conference was a bit light on real business issues. There were, however, a few very good speakers, one of whom was Eric Friedenwald-Fishman from the Metropolitan Group, who gave the highlights from his recently published book: Marketing That Matters: 10 practices to profit your business and change the world. Not only is it printed on post-consumer recycled paper, it's also available in it's entirety online--for free! Definitely worth a look if your business is trying to do well while doing good.

Africa: Kenya, Ghana Top List of 'Doing Business' Reformers

According to a new report by the World Bank and International Finance Corporation (IFC) Kenya and Ghana are ranked among the top 10 business reformers worldwide. Says the report, "These changes introduced by Kenya have streamlined business start-up and cut both the time and cost of getting building permits. The programme will eventually eliminate or simplify at least 900 or more of the country's 1,300 licenses." As someone who imports from these two countries along with 5 others in Africa I would concur that they are among the easiest from an export perspective. The general feeling in these countries is one of commerce rather than "aid."

Interestingly, the report also finds that good rankings on the ease of doing business are associated with higher percentages of women among entrepreneurs and employees. "The benefits of regulatory reform are especially large for women," said Sylvia Solf, one of the authors of the report. "Women often face regulations that may be designed to protect them but that instead force them into the informal sector. There, women have little job security and few social benefits," she says.

It's nice to see some positive headlines for African business!

Kenyan Outsprints Moroccon to Win the NYC Marathon

It was a glorious day in New York yesterday for the running of the famed NYC Marathon (now known by the sponsor name "The ING New York City Marathon"). Thousands of spectators, including yours truly, lined the avenues to cheer on runners who ranged from World Class to "why in the world am I doing this." I was there to cheer on a friend and former college roommate, Kim Levin, who posted an excellent 3:53:33 in this her third marathon.

The headlines, however, went once again to Kenyan Martin Lel, 29, also the 2003 champion, who sprinted to the finish in 2:09:04. For those of you trying to do the math, that's an AVERAGE pace of 4:55/mile! It has taken me longer that that to put up this blog. Kudos to the Kenyans!

PS I should also acknowledge Ethiopian runner Gete Wami, who finished just 22 seconds behind Paula Radcliffe for second place in the women's race at a blistering pace of 5:28/mile.

Samburu Beaders Featured In Travel & Leisure Magainze

The good folks at Travel and Leisure magazine are running an excellent story this month called Women at Work that highlights women in four collectives in India and Kenya, including the Samburu women at Ol Malo who make our beaded bowls and lidded pots.

As you can see from the photo, they have done a wonderful job showing the richness of the culture and the products. The story also provides a very nice profile of Julia Francombe, the woman behind the beading project, detailing many of her efforts to help the local people both preserve their ancient traditions and flourish in a modern world with all its inherent problems and incredible opportunities. There is also a slide show and links to the collectives. Enjoy!

In the Land of Mountains and Construction Cranes

Kazakhstan might look a bit different than expected if your only context is Borat. The city is ringed by the Tian Shan mountains and is packed with upscale stores. When you have a plethora of natural resources like oil and gas, you can borrow against it at cheap rates (about 6%) and re-lend at much higher ones (upwards of 12%), providing plenty of cash to finance development. This is exactly what has been going on in Kazakhstan for the last several years and the result is a city under the siege of construction cranes. There are shiny new malls, an area called the “financial center”, a soon to be constructed subway (despite a propensity for earthquakes in the region), and the piece de resistance, an under renovation ski resort and winter sports park playground called Medeu at the base of the Chimbulak Ski Resort that will be host to an upcoming Asian Winter Games—and maybe someday the Olympics. Almaty is definitely booming and makes Bishkek seem like a quaint small town.

There has, however, been a slowdown of sorts as the US mortgage crisis has caused many banks to call in loans and there is little ability/desire to restructure Kazakh debt. It appears the banks here are handling the pressure, but investors have slowed a bit as they wait to see how things shake out. And Almaty is not the only city sprouting buildings like mushrooms after a spring rain, the capital, Astana, has so much development going on that my host has commented that if she visits every three months she feels like she’s going to a different city each time with new buildings and roads sprouting up all over. It’s amazing what a preponderance of natural resources and an insatiable global demand can do for a country that is now free to make its own growth and development decisions.

As for my key purpose of this trip, sourcing products that could be sold as part of our fair trade collection of goods, the Kyrgyz seem to have an upper hand on their Kazakh neighbors. While there are certainly skilled artisans who draw from their traditions, I have yet to see the level of production and consistent quality in the handcraft sector that I saw in Bishkek. Perhaps I haven’t met the right person to show me this market, but from what I have observed, there are some very talented individuals, but they don’t quite fit our fair trade model. Another challenge in this market is that some of the best crafts come from wood, silver, fur pelts and leather – all items that are basically forbidden in environmental circles.

While the handcraft sector may be limited, the cultural choices are not as I was able to attend both the ballet and a classical music concert. The city is also sprinkled with painted camels which are auctioned off for charity. Here I am with my host Dana with one such camel located at the top of a cable car ride that provides a great view of the (smoggy) city of Almaty.

From Workshop to Workshops

With my workshop behind me, it was good to finally get out to the artisan workshops and see the products being produced. With felt being the specialty of the Kyrgyz it was good to finally see how this product was produced and the different quality levels that exist in the market. While some artisans buy dyed pieces in the market, most are making their own colors. The plain (white) felt is produced in several regions throughout the country but Naryn seems to be a favorite location to buy good quality felt.

While there are many interesting scarves, bags and hats, the products that seemed to have the best opportunity for sale in the US given the mix of quality, style and price are ornaments and jewelry. Adorable fish, birds, angels, stars and more made from felt and embroidered with cotton and glittery beads certainly have a market in the US and I was particularly intrigued by rings made from felt that look like different types of flowers. One major advantage of these items is that they are lightweight and won’t break in shipping! Since there are limited options for getting these products out of landlocked Central Asia this is a bigger deal than one might normally factor in.

I was also able to coax a few stories from people and learned that many artisans have incorporated home work into their business model, making an effort to hire women, who for reasons ranging from being disabled to having to care for children, can’t leave home to come to work on a regular basis. Some groups, such as the one who makes the birds and fish and the angels in the photo above, have also reached out to the migrant community (people who have moved from the villages to the outskirts of the city to find work) who are living in makeshift homes with no plumbing or proper services, giving them much higher than average wages to produce items based on set specifications. Once again, however, it was not the artisans relaying the stories so much as the people from CACSA passing along this information after the fact. The artisans, did however pose for some photos, like this one of Oaxana wearing a silk and felt scarf.

Driving around Bishkek helped me further understand this emerging market, where people are clearly living fairly comfortably and there is a reserved confidence about the economy. It seems the prevailing attitude is that if the government doesn’t get in the way this market has unlimited potential. At the same time, people are a bit concerned that prices will jump too quickly (e.g., cooking oil has more than doubled in the past year) and wages will not keep pace.

On a personal note, I was very pleased that my wireless connection at the hotel allowed me to log in and see that the Red Sox pulled off a rally to make it to the World Series--and at the time of this posting are actually leading two games to none in the fall classic! Though the talk of this town was much more about the World Rugby Final, which went to the South African Springboks over the English Roses.

E is for Embroidery, F is for Felt

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan: Here I am in a land full of mountains and challenged for vowels, where I have come to give a workshop an how to work with US buyers, addressing issues such as pricing, marketing and communication. The workshop, this past Saturday, was sponsored by the Central Eurasian Leadership Academy (CELA) and brought together artisans from Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. For those readers who are geographically challenged, this is an area West of China, North of India and Northeast of Afghanistan. Travel note: This is the first country I’ve visited that shoots USD out of the cash machines?!

Felt items, and anything one can embroider, from clothes to hats to change purses, is in abundance here and there is quite a bit of “competition” among the Central Asian countries for who is known for what crafts and who is merely copying others. Prices also vary widely with Kyrgyzstan coming out somewhere in the middle and the Uzbeks supposedly taking the prize for having the lowest costs.

Sunday was spent visiting both a fairly standard shopping mall (indoors and warm) that had washing machines and cell phones along with traditional crafts (read: felt hats and mini yurts), and a local market (outdoors and chilly) that sold everything from three inch thick carrots and eight varieties of apricots, to cheap Chinese clothing and Russian dolls (read; typical market bazaar). It gave me a good sense of what I’d be seeing over the next couple days of visiting artisan workshops.

Not surprisingly, things here are quite different from Africa—except for the fact that every country is landlocked and all have different shipping and export laws. When I made the comment that this was in fact one similarity to Africa I was quickly told not to compare Central Asia to Africa as it had nowhere near the poverty, war, disease, etc. I guess it would be unfair to label Central Asia as a “developing” market so I’m going with the term “emerging” and staying a long way away from “third world,” for reasons that go way beyond the PC factor!

The most interesting thing I’ve learned thus far is that the people are very proud and do not like discuss their troubles. This issue arose when I asked about the ‘stories” behind the products or workshops, i.e., do they support women in some way or help the sick or needy or anything along these lines. Their response was “is this important?” Even getting them to elaborate on the history of a product or the design tradition is proving difficult. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that marketing is the norm for former Soviet Republics. Fortunately, the woman who runs the Central Asia Crafts Support Association (CACSA) understands the importance of having some stories associated with the products, though she is having a hard time convincing the artisans of this.

Oct 17 is UN World Poverty Day

In addition to Fair Trade month (and Halloween) October also has UN World Poverty Day. UNIFEM along with the Women's Funding Network have put together a pretty cool e-card to spread the word about this. In 2000, as part of the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) world leaders pledged to cut poverty by half by 2015. Yet mid-way to the deadline, it is clear that many countries will not reach this goal — unless they do something radically different. The focus on women as economic drivers is one that EDImports has certainly seen first hand. We've watched children be educated, homes be built, medicine be purchased, and behind it all, self-esteem be nourished as women have become integral contributers to their both their family and local economies. The Economist called women “the most powerful engine” of global economic growth, estimating that over the past decade, they have contributed more to such growth than China. For more information on this, visit this list of facts and figures that show in real terms how gender equality can lead to economic growth.

I hope you'll have a chance to view the e-card and stand up for the rights of women to be economic contributors around the world.

Fair Trade Month is Great for Our Artisans

October is fair trade month and it has been quite a good one for many of the artisan groups from whom we source. And now another group, Muya Ethiopia, that makes our light and sheer scarves from Ethiopia, has been recognized as a new member of IFAT.

IFAT, or the International Fair Trade Association, is a global network of Fair Trade Orgnizations. Like the Fair Trade Federation in the US, (of which EDImports and our partner One World Projects are members), recognition by this group means that one's business practices uphold the principles and practices of fair trade. There are fewer than 25 companies from Africa recognized by IFAT and Muya is the first from Ethiopia.

When we visited their workshop in 2006 we were impressed not only by the organization and clearly pleasant work environment, with gardens and airy workshops, but also by the extra efforts Muya makes to help the artisans, such as a hot meal served daily and much above average wages. The quality of the place and people shows through in the final products as their weaving is among the very best in the country. Congrats to Muya on their acceptance to IFAT!

Debt AIDS Trade Africa (DATA)

A couple weeks ago, Bono, accepted the Liberty Medal for his humanitarian work in Africa and exhorted Americans to keep working to solve the world's problems and spoke of those who are without freedom.

"When you are trapped by poverty, you are not free. When trade laws prevent you from selling the food you grew, you are not free...When you are a monk in Burma this very week, barred from entering a temple because of your gospel of peace ... well, then none of us are truly free," Bono said.

Bono and the organization he co-founded, Debt AIDS Trade Africa (DATA), received the award from former Liberty Medal recipient Pres. George H.W. Bush at the National Constitution Center and he donated the $100,000 prize to DATA.

While some people don't agree with Bono's approach to solving the problems in Africa, as they often involve large amounts of aid, DATA also engages in product development projects through PROJECT RED. Though EDImports has not had the pleasure of creating any products for PROJECT RED, Hallmark recently announced that it had created some bags in Mali that will be featured, along with some cards and other items, at their stores this fall. The vendors who supply our mudcloth bags and much of our West African jewelry both participated in the program.

We congratulate them on their success!

Rwanda Baskets In the News

The New York Times ran a nice article yesterday in the Home & Garden section about the women of Rwanda and their handmade baskets which are available at Macy's. Believe it or not the group that was featured is the same group that we began working with back in 2003.

The president of the cooperative mentioned in the article, Irene Dukuze Mugaybzu, who we affectionately call "Duku," is shown in this photo, which can also be seen on our partner website, One World Projects.

Through our partner you can buy our wonderful Rwandan baskets made by this group. Often it takes small companies like ours to pave the way for larger companies like Macy's to come in. We're thrilled to have them as they certainly help improve quality standards and give a lot more work to the artisans than we could on our own. But, we still hope you'll consider our assortment of Rwandan items if you don't see what you want at Macy's!

War Is Expensive

This latest tidbit of disturbing information comes from a report recently posted on All Africa a good source for news from and about the continent.

"A new study shows that conflicts in Africa cost the continent over 300 billion U.S. dollars between 1990 and 2005 – an amount equivalent to all the international aid received by sub-Saharan Africa in the same period.

The results of the study were released Thursday in a report by Oxfam International, the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) and Saferworld. The report is the first to show, on a large scale, the effect of conflict on Africa's gross domestic product (GDP).

The report, entitled "Africa's Missing Billions: International Arms Flows and the Cost of Conflict", compares the economies of countries at war with those of countries experiencing peace. According to the report, an average "war, civil war, or insurgency shrinks an African economy by 15 percent," and the continent loses about 18 billion U.S. dollars a year to conflict."

This is yet another example of why it is so important that people have access to employment and capital to create productive and thriving businesses rather than having to turn to war and arms dealing as a livelihood. Fair Trade businesses, though often small in scale, give rural and often uneducated people access to the income needed to both educate their children and participate in a growing economy, thereby letting medium and large sized businesses grow and prosper.

Live from the Green Festival in DC

I am standing here in our booth at the Green Festival in Washington DC where hundreds of vendors like ourselves are selling everything from fair trade coffee to semi-powered bicycles. We've got a full display of fair trade baskets, jewelry, home goods and fun gifts and are located next to one of the stages where speakers such as Ralph Nadar and will be speaking. It's a pretty cool event and also occurs in Chicago and San Francisco so maybe some of you readers will get to a Green Festival someday. Well, someone wants to make a purchase so I better get back to work.

PS. For those who think global warning is a crackpot idea...all I can say is that it's October 7th and it's going to be nearly 90 degrees here today?!

It's all GOOD

Saturday night I, along with a couple thousand other people, attended the GOOD Magazine NYC Anniversary Party. For those of you who have not yet flipped through an issue of GOOD, they describe the philosophy of the magazine as follows: We see a growing number of people tied together not by age, career, background, or circumstance, but by a shared interest. This revolves around a passion for potential mixed with fierce pragmatism and creative engagement. We sum all this up as the sensibility of giving a damn. But to shorten it, let's call it GOOD. We're here to push this movement and cover its realization.

Playing on the theme of "giving a damn" they had plenty of sponsors at the event promoting everything from t-shirts made from bamboo that encouraged people to invest to end poverty and hunger, to instant messaging for a cause, not to mention Izze soda and Abosolut vodka which made everyone feel better. I took advantage of the opportunity to make a short video (about a minute) about what I give a damn about, namely fair trade. Who knows, maybe they'll post it on the GOOD Magazine blog in the coming weeks?!

2nd Annual African Tourism Forum

Today I attended the 2nd Annual African Tourism Association (ATA) presidential forum at the NYU Law School's Africa House in New York City. There was a distinguished collection of Ministers, Excellencies, Heads of State and the like, who came together to promote tourism to many of the 53 countries of the African continent. From Ancient Egypt to Zanzibar and everything in between, there are tremendous vacation places throughout Africa. ATA not only showcases these wonders of the continent, it also worked in partnership with the recently launched African Channel that creates programming for USA Networks and The Discovery Channel. For those of in the UK you can watch the Africa Channel on Sky Digital ch 281.

The content of the forum itself seemed less important than delivering the main message that Africa can be an incredible destination for tourism whether you want to shoot a photo safari, climb to the peak of Kilimanjaro, trek with Gorillas or simply lay on beach. As a person who only needs to hit the famed sands of Zanzibar to check off all the items on that list, I can say it's well worth the trip!

Something From The Lighter Side

Sometimes the whole "green thing" can go a bit to far!

Enjoy this comic from the Wall Street Journal.

Good weekend to all!

A Vivid Example of How Fair Trade Changes Lives

Special thanks to my friend Adam Black at DoubleWide Media who posted our company video on his YouTube site. He has a number of great examples of how fair trade and other sustainability practices can both make a difference in the world and be viable business models. We hope you enjoy our video and feel free to post your comments or suggestions.

Flow Matching Grant - Deadline is Thursday

For those of you not familiar with a website called Flow it is the home for "an emerging movement dedicated to liberating the entrepreneurial spirit and focusing it on the goals of sustainable peace, prosperity, and happiness for all, in the next 50 years." If you're a business person like me that may sound a little flowery but who can argue with entrepreneurship leading to peace, prosperity and happiness - sounds almost like the definition of capitalism! The site is worth checking out and there are just a few days left to donate to their challenge grant (if they raise $75K they get a matching donation in the same amount) to support peace through commerce. Also featured on their website today is one of our customers, the Amber Chand Collection, which will soon be selling some wonderful mohair scarves from Rwanda. This is another way to support peace through commerce.

It's About More Than Fair Wages

Often when people ask me about Fair Trade I tell them that in simple terms it means that the artisan or producer who makes a good is paid a fair wage for his or her work. Like most things in life, however, it is not that simple. Fair Trade means a lot more than just fair wages and can include such factors as paying 50% upfront when placing an order, engaging in long term relationships, ensuring the health and safety of the workers, preserving or even improving the environment, and the like. (See the Fair Trade Federation for more specific information.)

This is an important distinction because when you speak only about wages, people start asking questions like: "How much to the artisans or producers get?" or "What percentage of the sale price do they get?" This is not at all where the focus should be. If I import a product for $5 and sell it wholesale for $15 then I could say that the artisan got it 1/3 and you might think that doesn't sound fair because I got 2/3. What this doesn't tell you though is anything about the additional costs to get the item here like shipping, duties/fees, etc. or anything about the relative amount the artisan got based on her cost of living or market conditions. Five dollars in a village in Africa is no doubt more valuable than $10 (less shipping, duties etc.) in New York City. Further, this number can also be misleading because I might sell the item at retail for $30 in which case I would get 5/6 and the artisan would get only 1/6 or I might not be able to sell it at all in which case the artisan got 100%! The bottom line is that it's not about what percentage the artisan gets, it's about the relationship between the artisan and the buyer and whether the terms of that relationship are fair and respectful.

Next time you see something with a fair trade logo think about the fact that the person was paid upfront, that they likely have a long term relationship with the buyer, that their working conditions are safe and don't exploit children, that production was not damaging to the environment, and feel good about supporting both that artisan and the company that is taking the time--and spending the extra money--to source goods in a way that truly is fair to all.

Pangea Day

For those of you who are not familiar with the TED Conferences it's worth spending some time at their site (and don't forget to visit the TED Global site which has great highlights from the conference held this year in Arusha, Tanzania). Right now one of their undertakings is to promote a film called "Pangea Day" whose theme is about getting ones news and information about the world from the people themselves rather than the established news media and they are calling for filmmakers to create content. You can watch the video below.

Growth of Fair Trade

After four years of building a fair trade business it's great to see that people are really starting to think about the source of the products they purchase. I'd love to hear from those of you who are new to the concept of fair trade and get your opinions about the concept and how easy or hard it is to find products -- whether consumables like coffee and chocolate or items that we sell like gifts and home accessories -- in your community.