QUARTERLY RETURN 93 Autumn 2014
BACK TO BACK WITH the BEES
MAKING HISTORY IN MAURITIUS
A LOVE FOR INDIA, A SEWING MACHINE AND A VISION
Honey and blueberries are helping to improve lives in Chile.
Using Shared Interest finance to create history in Mauritius.
Developing lifestyle products in South East Asia, Nepal and India.
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Welcome I hope you have had a great summer. It has certainly been a busy time, with many of you getting involved in our campaign to increase membership and investment. August saw us reach £31m in share capital – a record high, which sets us well on our way to reaching our target of £33m by 2015. Thank you for your support in achieving this latest milestone. Raising our limit from £20,000 to £100,000 has also helped people who want to invest more. Thank you to those who shared their thoughts on our Strategic Review. We have included a booklet with this mailing, which summarises our conclusions. In our last edition of QR we were looking back on a very successful AGM; now we are planning for next year’s event, which will be held on Friday 20 March. As it is our 25th year, we are inviting members to join us in our home region for a very special day held at the prestigious Sage music centre on the Gateshead banks of the Tyne. Fairtrade International’s Harriett Lamb is our keynote speaker,
and Chino will be joining us from Apicoop, a honey and blueberry co-operative in Chile who you can read more about on the page opposite. There will be more information on the 2015 AGM in your winter QR. In the meantime, your autumn QR is bursting with news from the UK and overseas. Our Foundation’s Access to Finance scheme has enabled Ivory Coast cocoa co-operative ECOOKIM to start a new chapter for everyone involved in their business. We were fortunate to have Global Groove join us all the way from Thailand and you can read about their innovative range of Fairtrade products on pages 8 and 9. Meanwhile, back on home soil, we enjoyed an event with Shared Interest ambassadors in Leeds. Without our ambassadors, investors and supporters, we wouldn’t be able to report on another quarter of great progress. Thank you once again for your continued support.
Patricia Alexander, Managing Director
Moving with the times At our recent meeting, Council members enthusiastically supported Shared Interest’s new Strategic Framework. Council has been involved since the inception of the review. We had the opportunity to consider the research and analysis undertaken for the review, debate issues and give our views on the emerging strategic themes. At the invitation of the Board, one of the Joint Moderators participated in the Board Sub-committee which provided oversight for the review. Council feels that there is an overwhelming case for change and offers the staff team its support as they begin to implement the new Strategic Framework. Shared Interest’s founding members were pioneer investors in fair trade. Almost 25 years on, producers and ethical investors face new challenges and opportunities in our rapidly changing world. With a strong and committed membership, Shared Interest is well placed to respond once more, adapting and extending what it offers to enable producers to trade under fair and ethical terms.
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As Shared Interest moves forward, a responsible pace of innovation will be important to safeguard the interests of both our current and future customers and all of us as investors. Council considers that the new Strategic Framework provides this. Holding to our core principles and values is also crucial. The strategy shows that fair and ethical trading remains the focus of our lending and members remain ‘at our heart’. Council has been delighted that so many members have contributed to the review, both at the Members’ Day workshops and in response to QR articles. As implementation of the new strategy progresses, Members’ Days and QR will continue to provide opportunities to inform and engage members. We look forward to that dialogue. Margaret Newens and Sue James, Joint Moderators of Council
Back to back with the bees
Organisation: Apicoop Name: Juan Eduardo Henriquez (Chino) Job title: General Manager Thirty-four years ago, Apicoop started out as church-led community project - now they are the world’s main supplier of Fairtrade honey. Shared Interest was one of the first organisations to finance Apicoop in 1997. We caught up with General Manager, Chino on how Shared Interest has helped their business flourish.
Q: When and how did you first hear of Shared Interest Society? Shared Interest was actually one of the first businesses to lend to Apicoop to upgrade facilities for honey processing. As the producers began to operate as an independent business, they began to look for help.
“We started knocking on doors. And Shared Interest was one of the doors that opened.” Q: What have you used your facilities for? Loans in 2007 and 2008 were provided to fund a blueberry project to allow Apicoop to diversify their products and generate additional income. We have also used a loan to invest in machinery to package blueberries.
does help is that we are coming to have a better understanding of the weather, or how wet and dry seasons are being affected. Knowing more clearly what to do and when is very important. Q: What has been the effect on people in your community? Our business is not really about honey or blueberries. It is about people. Education is the real outcome. Our producers are now sending their children to university. Their parents never had this opportunity, but to see engineers, doctors, and trained professionals emerging from their studies as a result of the income from honey and blueberries, is really the true meaning of success.
Q: What is your connection with fair trade? Fair trade was one of our stepping stones as we were beginning. Our blueberries are sold across the UK now, and are an ingredient in Traidcraft’s Geo Bars.. We chose to sell through the Co-op supermarket because of the fair trade connections. It was a statement we wanted to make. It’s what fits with what we believe in.
“The way we work we have learned from the bees. Back to back. Shoulder to shoulder. If we are capable of putting into practice 1% of the way that bees in a hive work together, I believe we could solve 99% of our problems.” Q: Does environmental change impact on your work? The climate we cannot control. But our producers reach across 1200km. This means that whatever the weather, we are able to source produce from at least some of our members. Human beings are the greatest threat to bees. Pesticides are a huge problem. What
“Honey and blueberries are just a tool. Improving people’s lives is the main thing.” Q: Do you have a message for Shared Interest investors? As customers we should be honest with investors. This journey with us will not be perfect. Never think your small contribution cannot make a difference. Every bee that enters one of our hives can only carry a very tiny amount of nectar. But when you open our hives and they are bursting with honey, you realise how each bee has played its part. It’s the same with Shared Interest investors. It’s when we all do our small part that we make the biggest difference. QR93 03
25 years of ethical investment Our campaign to increase membership and investment is off to a flying start Our goal is to increase membership to 10,000 investors, and to increase share capital to £33 million by 2015. We have gained over £1.8 million in member investments and over 360 new members this year to date. In order to achieve our goals we need just under £2 million in member investment and approximately 1,000 new members.
To give you an idea of what this means • If every existing member invested another £200 we would reach our goal of £33 million. • If 1 in 8 members encouraged a friend to invest we would reach our goal of 10,000 members.
HOW YOU CAN HELP: • Speak to a friend about Shared Interest and our campaign • Explain that with as little as £100 they too can open an ethical investment account • Visit ‘Your Share Account – Your Options’ page on our website and review your own payment arrangements • Ask us to come and talk to your church, voluntary, or fair trade group, or submit something for a newsletter
FLYING THE FLAG: Our five anniversary flags have now travelled to over 30 destinations across the globe collecting signatures and good wishes from members, partners and customers. You can follow the progress of the flags towards our member and investment targets on our website and on Twitter @SharedInterest #followourflags #25years
SAVE THE DATE: 25th Anniversary AGM 2015, Friday 20 March at the Sage, Gateshead 04 QR93
GOOD MONEY WEEK Good Money Week is running from 19-25 October. It is a great opportunity to talk about Shared Interest as the campaign, now in its seventh year, encourages everyone to consider green and responsible investment and finance options.
POSTCARD CHALLENGE We’re challenging ambassadors to distribute ten enquiry postcards during Good Money Week. If you would like to participate in this, get in touch to request your postcards or use some you already have. For more information contact Engagement Manager, Sally Reith at sally.reith@shared-interest.com
Chair of the Board Vacancy Due to the forthcoming retirement of our current Chair, we are seeking to recruit a new Non-Executive Chair to join our Board. Complementing our existing team, you will play an important part in shaping our future, guiding the Board in setting our new strategic vision, following best practice and supporting us to build on our successes. Candidates must be able to demonstrate a strong commitment to organisations with social aims and objectives and an understanding and commitment to co-operative values. You will need drive and enthusiasm, together with proven leadership, meeting facilitation and Chairing skills. Previous experience as a Board Member in an organisation of similar size and complexity is essential. Remuneration equates to £4,250 p.a. plus additional expenses. If you, or anyone you know, could be interested in this opportunity, please contact Margaret Woodhouse for further information. Closing Date for applications: Tuesday, 25 November. Interviews will be held in Newcastle on Wednesday, 17 December. Contact: recruitment@shared-interest.com or 0191 233 9138
Ambassadors
Join forces in Leeds On 14 August we held a meet up event in Leeds for our Ambassadors based in the North West and Yorkshire regions. Shared Interest Engagement Manager, Sally Reith said: “It was a great opportunity to meet up with supporters in the area. Some of the ambassadors who came along have been involved since the beginning of the scheme when it launched in 1991 as the Reps scheme.” After a refresher training session in the morning, more ambassadors joined the event in the afternoon to hear from Fairtrade Yorkshire and Fairtrade Preston as well as receive updates on recent activities and resources. Ambassador Anne Garsed said that she learnt a lot from the event: “I was most interested to hear that the average savings of an investment is £3000 pounds. This has encouraged me to invest more money into my share account. “ We also took the opportunity to get ambassadors to sign the Shared Interest UK flag, which you can read more about on the page opposite and the website.
If you would like to learn more about the Ambassador scheme and how you might be part of it, please contact sally.reith@shared-interest.com or call us on 0191 233 9103.
Similar events will be taking place in different regions over the coming year. QR93 05
Making history
in Mauritius
Gabriel Kamudu, founder and director of Craft Aid Mauritius, paid a visit to our Newcastle office earlier this year. We asked him to tell us what it’s like to be a Shared Interest customer. Craft Aid Mauritius is the biggest equal opportunities employer on the island of Mauritius. Off the South East coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean, Craft Aid has been using Shared Interest finance for 14 years, building up a workforce of over 200 individuals. The Craft Aid product range includes textiles, greeting cards, photo albums, and bookmarks. In addition, many of the staff are involved in sugar and vanilla packaging operations.
“We started with Five employees, now we have 225.” Q - How did you become a Shared Interest customer? It has always been easy for us to be a customer of Shared Interest. We were already in business, we undertook an assessment of our business needs, and requested finance from therm. It was Traidcraft who pointed us in the direction of Shared Interest. We have used loans as well as pre-finance over the years. Q - Why did you approach Shared Interest? I am a dreamer and I have dreams of empowering people. But you need collaborators, supporters, and benefactors to make a dream come true. Of course, initially I was using my house as collateral, so it was important to obtain finance to support our development. 06 QR93
“Initially I was using my house as collateral.” Q - How has your loan facility affected business? We have been able to invest in stocks of cotton. Before, we had to order the cotton for particular orders, which resulted in long lead in times. Now we have the cotton in stock, we can take the order and respond quickly. The impact of this has been great. Q - And what about beyond the balance sheet? We are able to provide employees with a medical allowance, free consultations with a doctor, transport, and a range of recreational activities. We have a pension scheme, and are financially supporting other organisations helping people affected by disability. This is in addition to the shared profits that everyone is entitled to. And of course our EmployAbility project goes from strength to strength, teaching people important skills in administration, IT, machining and retail. A big part of what we do is to educate and support employers too. The project will continue to provide means by which people affected by disability can be economically self-reliant.
“We have created history in Mauritius. This is real. This is success.”
Q - And what next for Craft Aid?
Q - A message for Shared Interest investors?
We have created history in Mauritius. This is real. This is success. But there is much more we would like to achieve. We have bought land upon which we want to build. We need more space, and so are looking forward to building an environmentally friendly building. Where there is a will, there is a way…
We have a good track record with Shared Interest. I think we have been a good customer. We started with 5 employees, now we have 225. I would encourage you to invest with Shared Interest and to continue empowering more and more producers who would otherwise not be able to develop and progress.
Also, we are planning over the next five years to rebrand our activities. We want to bring both our trading and training operations under the new name Illumina. It will be an exciting time for us.
Shared Interest is very useful to producers. We are one living example.
madre’s story One day, my parents received a letter asking me to come to work at Craft Aid. Because of my disability, my parents were not willing to send me to work, thinking I would not be able to manage on my own. But me, I was very much interested, as I wanted to lead a normal life just like my cousins of my age. Everyday I came home from school and was telling my parents ‘please let me go to Craft Aid.’ One day my uncle came across the letter. He told me he would try to convince my parents. I was happy to see at least one person agreeable to my decision to go to work at Craft Aid. He spoke to my parents and finally succeeded in convincing them. My parents phoned Craft Aid and I was requested to be there the next day. The whole night I could not sleep. I was waiting for the morning to come so I could go to work. The following day, as soon as I stepped in the yard of Craft Aid with my parents, I felt very excited and said ‘yes, this is where I should be.’ I was posted to the sugar department and to my surprise I met
some friends who had been with me at school. I felt reassured and also amazed to see how my friends were working. I felt I was the happiest person on this plant. I was eager waiting for the next day to come so that I may go to work again. Days turned out to be weeks, and weeks turned out to be months, and it is already 11 years I am working at Craft Aid.
“I am economically independent and I even help my parents financially.” Now I am able to stand on my own feet. I am economically independent and I even help my parents financially. Today, my parents and my uncle are proud of me. My supervisor and manager have given me all the necessary support in my job. I am grateful to them and also to my uncle. Now I can work as a helper in any of the departments of Craft Aid.
Dolores’ story My name is Dolores Marimoutou. I am a single mother with two children. I live under the same roof as my parents but do not depend on them for my living. The last job I had did not satisfy the basic needs of my family. It is through a friend that I happened to know Craft Aid, and I joined five years ago. I received training with the company, and am now able to work with t-shirts, gloves, head bands, socks, skirts, babywear, and more. With the salary I receive, both my children are going to school and I am earning a decent living. We do not work weekends and there is no overtime, which allows me to look after my family. We work with products that do not cause any harm to our health. Craft Aid is a fair trade company and there is an open door and transparency policy. When the company has done well, we share in the profit. With this I have been able to lead a better life. I had been handwashing clothes everyday, and finally I bought a washing machine which helps me a lot. I am happy in my work and wish to thank all the buyers who are “With this I have been buying our product. With your support, we are able to have a able to lead a better life.” better living and have come out of poverty. Thank you.
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A love for India, a sewing machine,
and a vision Global Groove develops lifestyle products in South East Asia, Nepal, and India. The producers are predominantly women, all from different ethnic minority groups indigenous to the hills of Northern Thailand and Burma. Greg and Gina Hope have been trading in fair trade products for over 15 years. In 2004, they decided to close their shops in the US and move to Thailand to work more closely with their artisan producers and to support them in the creation of their own networks and cooperatives. Greg explains: “Global Groove’s goal is to expand our reach and help women organise cooperatives in their villages. We aim to do this by developing a delivery network to bring work to the villages and thus give these women the opportunity to educate their children. “One of our first tailors, Naa, lives in a village in the district of Mae Chaem which doesn’t have electricity. We intend to find a product that Naa can work on that doesn’t require electricity so that she can develop a cooperative in her very remote village.” 08 QR93
Shared Interest is delighted to be working with Global Groove as it is it enables us to support producers in countries such as Nepal, where we are unable to provide finance directly due to lending restrictions. Hand loomed cotton is the traditional craft in Mae Chaem, a district of Chiang Mai province, where many old houses have a loom outside the front door and cotton growing in the yard. Women from the Karen ethnic group weave their scarves with looms using cotton and rayon thread. Dia is of Karen ethnicity and runs a cooperative in her home village on the slopes of Doi Inthanon, the highest mountain in Thailand. Dia distributes work to mountain villages, providing skilled tailors with regular work in their homes. Dia’s is the first successful cooperative Global Groove has built from scratch. The largest challenge Global Groove faces is that skilled and trained women, as they reach the age of 25, are culturally bound to marriage and the village lifestyle. Women leave their jobs and find themselves with no work, despite having the skills to be the breadwinner of the extended family.
Gina explains: “We’ve lost many highly skilled tailors. Once these women start having children, they realise that the cycle of poverty has not been broken and that their children have no more opportunity than they had. Most of the men are farmers with no other skills or means of support.” Beyond cotton weaving and production of clothes, Global Groove supports the production of wool, felt and knitted products, jewellery, and lotus leaf art. Global Groove’s relationship with a Nepalese wool network goes back 14 years. One of their producers, Krishna, has built a thriving business, Nepal Knitting House, which provides work for hundreds of women who would otherwise be without a means of earning. Knitting in the home is a convenient and essential means of earning extra income for many rural women. Greg says: “The challenge we have given ourselves working with the Nepali wool felt production team is to create a more comfortable and healthy production environment, followed by introducing payment incentives for staff including equal wages for women which sadly, is quite radical.”
Getting into the groove Our story “We met in Japan. Greg is from the UK and I am from the US. Our journey into the world of fair trade began when we started travelling in 1997 and purchased our first batch of Kashmiri Christmas tree ornaments. We opened our first shop in California the very next year. “The first time we took our children on a buying trip, we witnessed the natural spirit of giving and receiving one October day in India, when our then three-year-old son smiled broadly and handed his too-small clothing to a street boy in New Delhi. Completely lacking judgment, it was the true nature of giving and receiving. It was that gesture that initiated the decision to pack up the shops, sell the home and head to Thailand to raise our children in a world based on global community. Basically Global Groove started with a love for India, a sewing machine, and a vision.
Global Groove has also developed an eco-friendly speaker for iPhones and iPads. The boozik is a 100% bamboo portable speaker. It means people can listen to music, movies and Skype calls while keeping their hands free. Gregg explains: "We developed the boozik with travel, durability and of course the environment in mind. This is a very handy size for throwing into a bag or your car and it's so easy to move around the house too. “The producer we work with is called Khun Pitak. He comes from a small town called Bosang that is famous in the region for the creativity and artistry of its handcrafts. Pitak prides himself on having organised production in order to provide consistent work for many local artisans and subsequently preserves and promotes the skills that have been handed down from generation to generation.”
“Our manufacturing and business practices reflect our commitment to education and values based on human rights and dignity. Our products are created under fair trade conditions, ensuring a living wage and provide comfortable and safe working conditions.” Visit www.globalgroovelife.com Images supplied by Global Groove QR93 09
Echoes of a
better future
Enterprise Cooperative Kimbre – otherwise known as ECOOKIM (pronounced Echo-kim) – is made up of 23 member cooperatives. As one of only four producers licensed to export cocoa under new regulations, they provide provides a livelihood for almost 12,000 cocoa farmers based in rural areas of the Ivory Coast. ECOOKIM is one of the latest beneficiaries of the ‘Access to Finance’ project run by Shared Interest Foundation in partnership with Fairtrade Africa. During the training programme, ECOOKIM focused on improving the way they manage their financial accounts and learnt about the type of information social lenders seek in considering them for fair loans. Shared Interest Foundation Project Leader Jo Hall said: “The training programme has been crucial in assisting organisations like ECOOKIM to improve the way they present their finances, as well as introducing the concept of social lending as an affordable alternative for financial support.” ECOOKIM Managing Director, Bamba Mamadou says: “Shared Interest Foundation and Fairtrade Africa have given us training that has opened up so many new possibilities. Now we are able to organise our accounts in a professional way, which is far easier for everyone involved. It means we can better manage our finances, and set the strategic direction of the business. “This progress is vital, not just for ECOOKIM, but also for the 23 member co-operatives of the Union we support.We are delighted to have also become a customer of Shared Interest Society. Our loan will benefit the 11,859 farmers who work with us in some of the most remote parts of Ivory Coast. 10 QR93
“Some of the co-operatives we work with have never had access to this type of finance, so it is the start of a new chapter for all of us in some way.” Gaining Fairtrade certification in 2010, ECOOKIM has already improved the lives of people living in the local community as they use their Fairtrade premium to repair bridges, build boreholes, and support local schools. This impact can now only grow as the organisation becomes a customer of Shared Interest Society.
“It is hoped that their loan will help them grow their business, pay farmers upfront for the harvest, and look to the future with confidence.”
Jo continues: “ECOOKIM is now working with smaller co-operatives within Ivory Coast on an innovative collaboration where they act as a local buyer for their Fairtrade cocoa. This means that the smallholder farmers are able to access finance for the first time, which is a major development. Shared Interest Foundation have trained 111 businesses in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana and Ivory Coast. The businesses receive basic training in financial record keeping, how to prepare financial statements, and good budget management. They also receive support on social lending, including who and what are social lenders, and what do they require from loan applicants. This is the really specialised part of the training as it gives direction on where businesses can access fairer funding. To date 28 businesses have applied to the Society through the project, 16 have been awarded a loan, 12 more are still in progress. This has resulted in almost £2 million of lending being awarded. The project has six months left to run and concludes in March 2015. Thanks to funding from Comic Relief, the Access to Finance project aims to make fair finance more accessible for farmers in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ghana and Ivory Coast. Head of Shared Interest Foundation, Chris Pay said: “With improved access to appropriate sources of finance, farming co-operatives can invest in their businesses, and provide more secure livelihoods for communities across East and West Africa.
“Our partner Fairtrade Africa works on the ground to identify organisations working to Fairtrade standards but who need urgent support in improving their finances. These farmers will receive practical training and mentoring to understand the expectations of social lenders and other financial institutions, to learn how they can access finance without huge interest rates or unfair requirements.” Comic Relief Portfolio Manager Trade and Employment, Sian Herschel, said: “Comic Relief recognises how challenging it can be for farmers on very low incomes in Africa to not only obtain a fair price for their products but also to access the financial support they need to grow and strengthen their businesses. We’re extremely pleased to be able to provide a grant to support this important work.” “Fairtrade producers are unique because they have predictable contracts, are certified according to international standards of accountability and democratic governance, and are therefore most suitable for impact investment,” says James Mwai, Fairtrade Africa’s acting Executive Director. “This collaboration is timely and will greatly enhance the competitiveness of our members.”
IMAGES OF ECOOKIM SUPPLIED BY FAIRTRADE AFRICA
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Letter to
the editor I wrote in recently to withdraw some money from my Share Account and was asked for anot her form of ident ificat ion to verif y my signature. Why was this? Yours Sincerely, A Member
Dear member, The security of funds invested in Shared Interest is a priority for us and we need to ensure that we protect memb ers’ investments. Over time, we appreciate that people’s signatures may change slightly. However, we need to be absolu tely sure that withdrawal requests are from the Share Account holder. If we are not able to match a signature with the one we hold on our system, then we will contact you for another form of identification.
Shared Interest 2 Cathedral Square Groat Market Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 1EH
This could be a recent utility bill in your name, or a bank statement for the account into which you wish the funds to be deposited. If we have your telephone number, we may give you a call to verify that you have made a withdrawal request. Alterna tively, we will write to you explaining that we require one of the items above. We apologise if this causes any inconvenience but protec tion of your personal details and funds is a paramount concer n and these extra steps are sometimes necessary to achiev e that. If you have any questions about this, please contac t membership@shared-interest.com or 0191 233 9102 Thank you, Shared Interest
Are you struggling to think of a thoughtful gift for your loved ones this Christmas? Send them something meaningful with our Gift Pack. By opening a share account on their behalf, they can also get involved with helping farmers and handcraft makers in the developing world. Order yours today by visiting www.shared-interest.com/gift-pack or call our membership team on 0191 233 9102. Please do remember that we can need up to 14 days to process your application, so all Christmas orders should be made by Friday 5 December.
Contact us
Quarterly Return is the newsletter of Shared Interest Society.
Shared Interest Society
Shared Interest Society Ltd is a fair trade lending organisation which is a member of Co-operatives UK. It uses the pooled investments of its members in the UK to effect real and lasting improvements to people’s lives in the developing world.
2 Cathedral Square Groat Market Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 1EH 0191 233 9102
@SharedInterest membership@shared-interest.com www.shared-interest.com
Shared Interest Society Ltd is registered with the Registrar of Mutual Societies, number 27093R. The Directors decide on what the interest rate payable to members will be. From 1 October 2011 the interest rate has been 0.5%.
QR is printed on paper from sustainable, well managed sources certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.