Shared Interest / Fair Trade Business Development Report

The following is a weekly report from Rachel Ngondo, Market Development Executive – E. Africa.

There is always something new I learn from producers with whom I work and I’m always in awe of how much impact Shared Interest and Fair Trade make in their lives. Last week I told you about the Namayiana Maasai women’s group whose officials I met with at my office. I had the opportunity to visit them right in their village where they make all those wonderful beaded products. Did you know that it takes a skilled woman two weeks to make one necklace? And that every Maasai man must give this to his bride otherwise she would not go home with him?

These beautiful cultural items have become an important livelihood for the 112 member women’s group I visited. It took me about 1 hr to drive to the village not because of the distance but the state of the road. I arrived to find 50 women seated under trees at their centre working on beautiful earring samples for an order for Ten Thousand Villages (TTV).

These women walk for 4 hours to and from the center every week where they collect orders and deliver products they have made. It was encouraging to see how happy they were to be a part of the group. You see the Maasai do not till the land and they rely on their livestock for their livelihood. During the dry season, they get into problems because their livestock do not yield enough milk or die altogether leaving them with nothing.

From the group the women have regular orders from different buyers and they are able to earn a monthly salary like you and me. None of the women in the group have ever gone to school yet they are taking their children to school!

Apart from the Maasai women, I have had discussions with Tenses Africa, who are Macadamia nut producers based in Thika. They work with producers in central Kenya and the Coast of Kenya , actually in my ancestral home district. They are a subsidiary company of the Integral group which is a member of the International Fair Trade Association from Slovakia. This producer needs money to buy the nuts from the farmers association. Macademia had been a high value product in Kenya for some years, but unscrupulous middle men caused the market to crash after they delivered low quality to buyers. Today the industry is picking up and is very cautious about quality. Farmers are forming themselves into associations to take advantage of the new developments and markets. It will be an interesting project to work with.

Ok I am off now. Have a lovely weekend.

Cheers,

Rachel