Category Archives: Business Development

Coffee, Cocoa and Social Impact

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On Wednesday we left the banana plantations behind to visit Cepicafe to learn more about their Fairtrade coffee, sugar and cocoa exports.  When we arrived they were hosting an international conference but Finance Manager, Jose Fernando Reyes Cordova still found the time to show us around their facilities. Cepicafe is a fascinating model that really helps grass roots communities. Farmers are encouraged to work together in associations in order to increase the scale of production and reduce costs.  Once the association is large enough they are given assistance and staff to become independent. 

Cepicafe exports sugar, coffee, cocoa, marmalade and juice.  Shared Interest funds have been particularly helpful in this time of high coffee prices. During our visit we looked at the sugar and coffee processing, before heading out to see the cocoa farms.

Sugar cane needs a lot of sun to grow so the region is perfect. Cepicafe works with 700 sugar producers and by exporting sugar cane they have improved their quality of life and self-esteem significantly. Particular emphasis is placed on training the farmers to reduce their costs and maximise their yields.  Working with the farmers has also resulted in big reduction in alcoholism due to the sugar being used for other products and in addition, the increase in price makes alcohol less cost effective to make.

Cepicafe has seen a huge growth in cocoa production and export.  There are a number of factors that have led to this increase.  Firstly buyers are looking for a high quality aromatic cocoa.  Also the quality of the bigger cocoa producers has reduced but the most important factor has been the marketing of white cocoa “Porcelana” which is considered the best in the world.

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In Search of the Peruvian Northern Coffee

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It has been some time since my last visit to coffee producers in Peru. In November/December I travelled to Jaen and San Ignacio in the North Oriental Jungle of Peru to visit several organisations. I was joined on my travels by my colleagues Regional Office Administrator, Andrea Miguel de Priego who works with me in Lima and Andrew Ridley, Credit and Services Manager who travelled over from head office to meet us.

Coffee continues to be the same crop, it has not changed very much itself, however, the needs of the farmers have expanded to face different challenges. The need of working capital is always there and is very related with the expansion of production and sales. Shared Interest has recently adapted its lending policy and we are now able to lend more to coffee producers in this area so it was great to meet some potential new customers.

We also had the opportunity to visit current customers Aprocassi and Cenfrocafe. Aprocassi was the first customer I established for Shared Interest so it was great to catch up with them. They are growing steadily and have interesting plans for expansion. I hope that Shared Interest may be able to help them with those plans. I was really impressed with Cenfrocafe who have continued to grow and improve their activities.

One of the most memorable parts of the trip was learning more about the cupping process. We tasted fantastic coffee during our trip, although I do not think our abilities as quality graders are well developed yet. Nevertheless, it was a fantastic experience and great to see all aspects of coffee production.

I hope to be able to tell you about lots of new coffee lending in the New Year.

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Recent Lending FECAFEM

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Fecafem, in Ecuador, is a second level cooperative of three associations with a total of 250 coffee farmers. It is experiencing a significant increase in export sales following its achievement of Fairtrade certification this year. Shared Interest is providing the loan finance to help it expand.

Fecafem has also won its first order to supply Fairtrade peanuts. Some of the coffee farmers are also growing peanuts to diversify their income. Peanuts have a shorter production cycle and earlier harvest than coffee.

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Recent Lending APOQ

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APOQ

Apoq is a co-operative of over 250 banana farmers located in the northern coastal region of Peru. It is the latest of several banana co-operatives in the region to take out a Shared Interest loan to improve its production infrastructure.

By installing cableways and buying a water tanker and two new trucks Apoq will increase production and reduce losses.

This will enable them to pay the farmers more for their crops and invest more in social and environmental programmes.

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Supporting fair trade buyers in the uk

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WE’VE RECENTLY PROVIDED CREDIT TO TWO VERY DIFFERENT UK BUSINESSES

TWIN, UK
Twin is one of the UK’s leading fair trade organisations. Twin, together with Oxfam, Traidcraft and Equal Exchange, set up Cafédirect in 1991. Since then it has helped to launch three more leading fair trade brands: Divine (chocolate), Oké (fruit) and Liberation (nuts). Twin’s approach is to build long term trading relationships with producers. It runs a Partnership Programme to build professional capacity in producer groups to become more effective businesses, it manages the supply chain to develop more direct relationships with farmers, and it develops fair trade brands which are part-owned by producer organisations.

In 2007 Twin took another radical step in its evolution by opening its membership to producer co‑operatives. As a result Twin’s membership includes 24 farmer cooperatives in eight countries, encompassing a network of over 1,000 co-ops, who represent more than 163,000 farmer families. There are an additional 13 individual members who bring wide experience in the world of business and development.

Twin has used Shared Interest’s services in the past but not in recent years. However we have just approved a new credit facility to help Twin as it develops new sales channels for its coffee farmers. In the last 12 months it has gained 10 new customers. While Twin always pays the producer organisations within a week of the invoice, its new customers take very much longer to settle. As coffee prices are currently exceptionally high Twin needs the support of Shared Interest (and other social lenders) to maintain its cash flow.

ZURI DESIGN, UK
Shared Interest is also committed to supporting small fair trade organisations, such as Zuri Design, a family business which imports and sells craft items directly from 11 producer groups in East Africa. Zuri Design started in 2004 with one person selling from a market stall. Today it has a warehouse, 30 wholesale customers and an online shop, but the founder still sells from a market stall when she can.

Although Zuri Design is small compared with organisations such as Twin, it has a very significant social impact on the producers it deals with. For example it is currently helping a bone craft workshop in the Kibera slum of Nairobi to install new equipment with a safe electricity supply. Zuri Design is also involved in community work in Kibera and plans to do more of this as sales increase.

Making Beaded Jewellery For Zuri Design

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Peter Rowan’s daily work experience blog

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By Peter Rowan

Day 1 (18/07/11)

Fascinating. That’s how I would describe my first day of work experience at shared interest. I have been given an insight into the lives of producers across the world and the interaction between them and buyers in our own country. This includes the mechanics of global trade and Shared Interest’s very individual role in facilitating and overseeing it. But this was enriched by the personal quality of this work: they all have their own stories. There is the Pakistani fruit growers whose apricot crop were decimated by the 2010 flooding, but were saved by a mass order of almonds which were safely perched on the hills. It wasn’t just trade and money for them but their livelihoods.

Thankfully, I am not just brewing litres of coffee and tea, or being overloaded with photocopying; I have been given responsibility for producing documents which will actually be used. This includes collating a range of information about the various producers Shared Interest works with, from Peru to Nigeria to Costa Rica.

Day 2 (19/07/11)

It is the second day and I feel settled in. The team I’m working with are all lovely people, interesting and supportive. I have spent much of the day continuing to organise information; this is still absorbing as behind all the numbers are people and their lives and dreams.

Day 3 (20/07/11)

This morning I was taken through the daily process of payments, it is a very lengthy process. I was also introduced to other members of the team; all were very welcoming and happy to explain their role. The Shared Interest system is becoming clearer, it was really rather confusing at first.

Day 4 (21/07/11)

I have learnt more about how the Society works and I have been introduced to Shared Interest Foundation, a charity which invests in training and education.

Day 5 (22/07/11)

The highlights of today have to be speaking to the employees overseas; Paul in Peru and Rachel in Kenya. As Rachel is the operative on the ground she experiences first-hand the impact Shared Interest has throughout Africa. She spoke of companies who Shared Interest support and her delight when they develop into strong organisations which are self-sustaining and can take on the world themselves. She also explained how many of these co-operative companies invest in the communities; building bridges, providing education, healthcare, food, water. Unlike Rachel who deals mostly with handicraft companies, Paul deals with mostly commodities. These companies are seasonal, and the loans they require are for large investments in infrastructure, such as a cable system for carrying bananas!

I have come to realise that yes, there are many charitable organisations out there who are heroic in providing for third world countries, but it is through the fair trade design, and organisations like Shared Interest that the people are empowered into being able to provide for themselves and develop. Somehow this is so much more satisfying, not only because it is self-sustainable, but because they are doing it for themselves and have the ability to advance into the global community and prosper.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here at Shared Interest. It has been enlightening, a good experience and fun! Thanks to all the team for making it possible and being such wonderful people to work with!

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An insight into my visit to the UK

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By South America Regional Development Executive Paul Sablich

A very cold, extremely rainy, almost snowy Newcastle was not waiting for me upon my arrival to the UK this year. On the contrary, it was a particularly sunny and warm Sunday. The gentle Northeast weather had decided to be kind with the overseas travellers and embraced us with some compassion. Good starting point!

Monday morning. The 2 week trip initiated with a presentation on Bribery and Money Laundering, which are topics of importance when dealing with customers and developing our activities. Something to think about! However, the warm and kind greetings of my colleagues were good enough to season the rest of the week. It was particularly good to meet new staff in the Business Development (BD) and Customer Services areas, which I’m in constant communication.

Although this trip was not going to be crowned by the AGM, it also opened the possibility of having an intense set of meetings and multiple chats to improve our work and be more efficient. There is always space for improvement and that way we fulfill our mission and goals as a social lender in the best possible way. Nevertheless, there was also space to have fun with some staff friends and enjoy an expected bowling game. Although I did not obtain the coveted winner cup, I was able to do some breathtaking strikes! Lucky me!

Later, the second week started with an interesting team-building activity with my colleagues in Business development. Sometimes geographical distance, cultural differences, (5/6 hours of time ahead in the UK comparing to Peru), among other factors, create challenges. It was also a great opportunity to understand each other as people with various types of personalities, and work better as a team.

Despite the weather being gentle, the time is savage and merciless. The trip has passed at a blink of an eye and the 2 weeks have come to an end.

Lesson of this trip: we have a willingness to improve, now we need to put these wishes into practice. Well, that is what we are doing!

Finally, I cannot go without mentioning my visit to Alnwick Castle, walking near the beach and hugging the Angel of the North. They were also part of this trip thanks to my attentive colleagues.  I also found the Moroccan, Spanish, Vietnamese and Mediterranean food (among others!) loyal companions in the evenings, without forgetting the well-known Sunday English lunch. Having gained around 4 pounds, but with a happy smile, I returned home.

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Lending approved for Mexican coffee co-operative Huatusco

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Huatusco is a small town in the Veracruz region in the south of Mexico. The co-operative is very important to the local economy and has 43 producer groups with over 2,000 individual coffee farmers. 56 people are employed at the processing plant where the coffee cherries are washed, dried, bagged and transported to the Port of Veracruz.

The coffee farmers of Huatusco grow high quality arabica coffee and they aim to sell into the speciality market. However two large transnational coffee businesses are buying up most of the coffee in the surrounding area and the co‑operative is under pressure, especially when the market price of coffee is currently so high.

Shared Interest is providing Huatusco with an export credit facility so that the co-operative can pay its farmers in advance of the harvest.

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Lending approved for two Peruvian banana co‑operatives

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Shared Interest has made loans to two banana co‑operatives in Peru, BOS and CEPIBO, to help them improve production and increase export sales. BOS is owned directly by some 500 individual farmers. CEPIBO is a larger operation, and is owned by 12 farmers’ associations representing 1,300 individuals.

Both are using the loans along with other sources of finance, to invest in new infrastructure – packing stations, cableways, cooling rooms etc. – to increase production and reduce losses.

Both are planning to more than double their cableway systems which allow workers to transport 20 bunches in one trip rather than one  speeding up production and improving the health of the workers.

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“Their Innovation Knows No Bounds”

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As Supporter Relations Officer part of my role involves promoting Shared Interest to potential new members. Fairtrade Fortnight in particular usually means the opportunity to speak to a myriad of different groups. I often find that case studies are the best way to illustrate the work that we do.  One group that I tend to talk about is Apicoop. I recently had the opportunity to meet Apicoops’s Manager, Chino Henriques, I love meeting the people that we work with as it’s great to put faces to names as well as hear their stories directly.

Apicoop was established in 1980 and was a direct result of the challenging political situation facing Chile at the time.  There was little trust and communication among the population so the idea of Apicoop was to work with insects, in this case bees, to encourage co-operation among the people.  Chino explained this concept: “Bees organise themselves in a way very similar to that of a co-operative with the Queen Bee as the CEO with Worker Bees working together, with a 97% female workforce and 3% male, who are kicked out once their work is done anyway.”

The co-operative’s 300 members cover an area of 1,200 km2 to reduce the risks associated with beekeeping.  By covering a wide area any localised issues, such as weather conditions, may affect some honey production but not the entire co-operatives supply.  Due to the widespread membership the co-operative requires trucks to be able to deliver the hives and reach their members, they started by hiring trucks but with their first Fairtrade premium they were very pleased to be able to purchase their own truck.

Another clever investment Apicoop made was buying 20 hectares of land, they didn’t initially know what they would use it for but they thought it would be a good investment.  Now they operate a blueberry farm there where 80 women work as part of Apicoop.  They earn 100% more income than other blueberry fields and next year they will need more women and every woman who works there has vowed to bring a sister, daughter, mother or friend to work.  Apicoop aims for the blueberry field to be an example of good work to others in the country and around the world. 

Chino explained to an audience in Nottingham that without finance from Shared Interest Apicoop would not have been able to set up the blueberry project but since setting it up three banks have visited the blueberry field and asked how they can help.  Apicoop’s first crop of blueberries produced 80 tons, 50 tons of them going to their main Blueberries UK buyer, the Co-operative, with fellow North East organisation, Traidcraft, among their other buyers.

After the blueberries are collected, they are sent to Apicoop’s local exporter who packages them before sending them on to the UK. There is a risk that the exporter may be unable to fully support Apicoop in the future and so they plan is to build their own packing station…their innovation has no bounds!

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