Olen omilla Intian matkoillani tutustunut Tamil Nadun osavaltiossa ympäristö- ja yhteiskunnallista työtä tekevään ODAMiin (organisation for maintenance and development). Heidän kanssaan vierailin myös Pohjois-Suomen Pääskyt ry:n kumppanin, mm. saippuaa tuottavan PALAMin sekä Tamil Nadun alueella reilun kaupan vientijärjestönä toimivan SIPAn toimistolla ja myyntiliikkeessä. Reilu kauppa jäi kiinnostamaan ODAMia, ja törmäsin vastikään heidän ja yhteistyökumppaninsa blogikirjoitukseen vierailusta toisen reilun tuottajan, Teddy Exportin luona. Alkuperäinen blogi osoitteessa: http://www.d-impact.org/blog/

Anastasia Lapintie

 

Business with a Conscience

“The Fair Trade movement shares a vision of a world in which justice and sustainable development are at the heart of trade structures and practices so that everyone, through their work, can maintain a decent and dignified livelihood and develop their full human potential. The Fair Trade movement believes that trade can be a fundamental driver of poverty reduction”.

The Fair Trade Charter, Fair Trade Labeling Organizations International


We recently had an opportunity to visit Teddy Exports, a fair trade company that designs and manufactures timber and textile products.  The visit was so valuable that we thought we’d share our thoughts from it.

About an hour from Thiruchuli, Teddy Exports is a multi-acre campus outside the town of Tirumangalam.  Its 700+ staff includes embroiderers, screen printers, designers, management staff, and craftsmen.  They create products such as wood massage rollers, ornaments, and fabric bags for companies all over the world (The Body Shop is one of their largest buyers).

For the employees that work at Teddy Exports, wages and benefits are far beyond that of typical employment opportunities available to rural Indians.   Fair trade standards ensure that the workers must earn significantly more than minimum wage. On the property, a health center provides free care for employees (and low-cost care for locals), a “fair-price” shop offers the convenience of picking up groceries at work, and the dining hall offers all meals on the house.  A school provides free education to over 500 students from Tirumangalam.  Students with disabilities get specially-trained teachers in the classroom, and then are offered jobs at the facility after they complete school.  Trainings are offered to provide low-skilled applicants with an opportunity to become skilled employees, while talented, skilled employees are offered professional development education if desired. And to top it all off, there’s free transportation to and from work.

So how does the company do all this?

By giving 50% of its profits back to the community.  The Teddy Trust was established soon after the company got its footing and distributes half of all the company’s profits.  It has made an incredible impact on the community it serves. Aside from the many services offered on the grounds, the Trust provides a multi-faceted HIV/AIDS awareness program that offers community education and prevention activities.

From our visit to Teddy Exports, we learned that the combination of fair trade practices and socially-conscious business strategies can produce astounding results. The successful operations we observed during this visit will continue to inform both our work here with ODAM and our personal choices as consumers.  Inspired by their humble beginnings (5 people, a hut, and a small order for wooden back massagers), we left with high hopes for our fair trade soap project.  More importantly, we left with a deepened understanding of something as simple and powerful as a fair wage.