A fair trade gift company prepares for market with products mostly generated from women in developing countries.
WHAT DO a rock climber, fashion designer, filmmaker, drummer, Peruvian ballet dancer, snowboarder and hip hop instructor all have in common? In this case, they're all working to build a World of Good. And no, it's not some new attraction at Disney's Epcot Center; World of Good is a for-profit, nonprofit hybrid business that imports and distributes fair trade artisan handcrafts (scarves, handbags, jewelry, house wares) from 34 countries around the world. In three short years, it has attracted a group of employees as eclectic and original as the business - all who share a passionate desire to try and make the world a little bit better and believe that World of Good is the way to do it.
It all began when Priya Haji, cofounder and CEO first conceived the idea for World of Good while in business school at the University of California, Berkeley. Knowing she wanted to make a global impact and knowing that empowering women was the key, Haji set off on a year-long global journey to develop her plan - what she discovered was herself. "As I met these women I thought - they could be me. It's an accident of birth. Why was I born in America? Why was I born to educated parents? Why was I raised with the opportunity to go to Stanford?' I can't answer those questions, but the one thing I can do is use my privilege in a way Juicy Couture Earrings that makes life a lot better for them," Haji said. The other challenge these women faced, whether they were in India or Mexico, was their lack of access to larger more stable consumer markets. Haji realized she needed to build a company that could serve as a bridge for these women as well as build a profitable business to serve as an example of using capitalism to create positive social change.
World of Good was founded in Berkeley, California, in 2004 by Haji and her business school partner, Siddharth Sanghvi. Haji convinced Sanghvi to leave a successful position as a consultant to come and work for no money, building a for-profit business selling handcrafts made by women in developing countries. For Sanghvi, it was a no-brainer, "When Priya came to me, I saw World of Good as an opportunity to do many different things while creating an entirely new way of doing business." In the beginning, when it was just Haji and Sanghvi working out of a tiny incubator space, Haji was responsible for choosing the products and opening new accounts while Sanghvi processed orders and developed the brand. Within nine months, they had 40 accounts around the San Francisco Bay Area and were getting additional help from student interns to handle all the orders. In 2005, they won multiple business plan competitions allowing them to expand the business with the award money. Thanks to pioneering partner Whole Foods Markets as well as visionary investors, World of Good can now be found in more than 1,000 retail locations nationwide, has experienced 300 percent growth each year for the last two years, and employs nearly 40 people.
Juicy Couture JewelleryWHAT IS FAIR TRADE?
Fair trade is the idea that when we engage in free trade, we do it in such a way that the person behind the product is empowered rather than exploited. Fair trade began in Europe more than 40 years ago and was built originally more as a charitable model rather than a profit-making endeavor. The basic principles of fair trade include paying a fair wage in the local context, ensuring safe working conditions, building long-term business relationships, providing market feedback and business development support and ultimately, maintaining transparent business practices. The
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