"Fair trade" is much more than just words. Fair trade means an equitable and fair partnership between a marketing business in North America and a producing business in other parts of the world. To Ojoba Collective it is what motivates us to serve others and the planet through providing our low income artisans in West Africa with not just a living wage for their work, but a decent wage beyond what they could receive in a local context.


Fair trade is a new, progressive way of doing business, A shift from the dominant paradigm of profit first at the expense of people and planet. Being a fair trade endorsed business means not just paying a fair price for a product, but engaging in environmentally sustainable practices. Fair trade is about long term trade relationships with producers and making sure to be open to public accountability. It is about offering employees technical and financial assistance and opportunites for advancement. Basically, it is economic and social justice for the world's disadvantaged and empowerment for producers, including women who make a lot of Ojoba Collective's products.


We at Ojoba Collective care about our 300 artisans in West Africa and want to improve their lives and their standard of living. To prove it, we are proudly endorsed by the Fair Trade Federation and Co-Op America as a "green business." Ojoba Collective never uses any exploitive middlemen to buy our products, nor do we ever buy from any market or person who we do not know and have built a relationship with in West Africa. In fact, we know all of our artisans personally and in many cases their families as well! As a consumer, one can make a difference through choosing to buy from a fair trade endorsed business. Look for the Fair Trade Federation logo below, showing fair trade certification. Buying ethically and fairly allows people on the producing side of products the ability to feed and clothe their families and educate their children. We are all interconnected, and buying from fair trade endorsed companies helps us all walk a path closer to a common vision of a world where all human beings are treated with respect and equality.

"Trade justice for the developing world and for this generation is a truly significant way for the developed countries to show commitment to bringing about an end to global poverty." - Nelson Mandela, November 2003

For more information, please visit www.fairtradefederation.org