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The (ad)Venture
February 2010
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Greetings!
New Year - Fresh Start
By the time you read this, we'll be en-route to the San Francisco International Gift Fair, then on to Honduras to visit our artisans in Trujillo. Look for lots of updated information about our Honduran suppliers next month.
We're starting the year off with some new products on our site! Check out the " New Products!" link with eight new STOPstart products (and new colors of another). We will continue to be adding new products over the next several months. Survey Feedback
The responses were "underwhelming" to our shipping survey, so we'd like to again ask you to consider taking our one-question shipping survey. Your input truly matters to us. Click to Take the Shipping Survey.
Glenn
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Quote of the month
"When people become economically empowered, they gain political and social power. Many of the groups that we work with do more than just produce crafts; they're involved in community development, health and education. For the women we work with, the effect is even greater. As they gain employment, they become able to leave abusive situations, to seek legal assistance, to acquire education, to become independent. Their work allows them to be economically significant in the family and gives them leverage to be considered an equal ."
~ Bob Chase ~
Executive Director, SERRV International
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Fair Trade 101
Class 3
Two More Fair Trade Principles
- Capacity Building
Fair Trade is a means to develop producers' independence. Fair Trade relationships provide continuity, during which producers and their marketing organizations can improve their management skills and their access to new markets.
This gets to the heart of Kingdom Ventures' mission! Our passion is creating economic empowerment for our suppliers by finding markets for the products they already make, and helping them to grow the capacities they already have. Most recently, KVI is working with Simon and Alice (Alisim Glass) to open new markets for their jewelry through both the website and our wholesale connections. In turn this enables Simon to increase production and employ several local young men who otherwise would have no jobs.
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Promoting Fair Trade
Fair Trade Organizations raise awareness of Fair Trade and the possibility of greater justice in world trade. They provide their customers with information about the organization, the products, and in what conditions they are made. They use honest advertising and marketing techniques and aim for the highest standards in product quality and packing.
Through our involvement in Rochester's International Business Counsel (Glenn is a Board member), our retail and wholesale shows, and our writing (this newsletter, our blog, etc.) we try to make people aware of the difference between FREE Trade, FAIR Trade, and Trade Fairness. We're committed to increasing our means of communicating about our suppliers and products and we welcome any suggestions YOU might have of how we can improve. |
