Today, we celebrate World Fairtrade Day!
The Fairtrade system works to ensure the sustainable and ethical working conditions for farmers and workers through a fair pay and a safe work environment. As a brand with conscience, impact and sustainability at its core, we uphold these values through our ethos, Trade - not Aid.
Fairtrade to us simply means doing the right thing, by our suppliers, our staff, our customers and our stockists. Our philosophy is that if we all do our bit, if we treat people how we want to be treated, honestly and fairly, regardless of their location, gender, beliefs etc, then fairtrade becomes the norm in our world!
Over the past few decades, the aid development model being used in Africa has not been working effectively. Africa has received billions in aid, and yet they have been unable to reach the levels of economic self determination to deal with issues such as poverty, disease and chronic dependency. African nations are rich with natural resources and development potential. What they need is Trade - not aid.
There’s a well-known proverb that we believe in and practice, “give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”
Over 16 million rural African women rely on the shea industry as their main source of income. We collaborate with and empower the women of Essan in Nigeria who ethically source our main ingredients, including Shea Butter. We empower these women through employment in our shea facility, which provides them with the infrastructure needed to ensure quality, and the training that will help them to progress. This collaboration brings economic benefits directly and indirectly to at least one hundred thousand rural women in Essan.
For these women, this means having the opportunity to make a stable income, which they have used to pay bills, their children's school fees and even start their own businesses!
For our Tribers and our stockists, this means knowing that every purchase made has a direct impact on these women, their families and their community.
We are transparent with our tribers, and so we take you through our Source to Jar journey, meaning that when you pick up a product, you can see the journey from the Kingdom of Essan, to the jar in your hand. From the collection of our shea nuts, to the processing, our UK manufacturing, to selling our products through our website and our stockists, Our ‘Source to Jar’ ethos means that we ensure our end-to-end supply chain is as seamless and as conscious as possible. Learn more about our ‘Source to Jar’ journey here.
Fair trading is just the right thing to do and the empowerment of our women in Essan is a part of our DNA
We are sustainable. We are ethical. We are made by women. We are led by women. We are a Tribe.
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