The Mundi Group

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It has been a while since the last post, but we have been a little busy preparing for the opening of our 3rd shop on Monday. We were very lucky to be approached by the owner of the only other fairtrade shop in Guernsey with a view to taking it on so that she could devote a bit more time to the rest of her business. She was keen, however, to see the shop stay fairtrade and not lose any staff. We were very happy to be able to oblige and will be carrying out a light rebranding exercise and adding some new items to stock over the weekend. The shop is located in Mill Street, St Peter Port, and was formerly Jyra.??????

A revolutionary development in automotive transport has uncovered a fuel made from rice and banana skins that would allow cars to do a month’s avarage motoring on 1 grain of rice and 1 banana skin. The new technology, codenamed AP R1 L Fuel is to be tested today for the first time on public roads with a journey from Barking in Essex to Crackpot in North Yorkshire. A junior minister for transport confirmed that this unheard of new fuel would, for today only, be completely tax and duty free.

Rilap Loof

In what could only be described as an astonishing piece of inter-island co-operation, the major food shops in Guernsey and Jersey have got together and agreed to introduce a 5p charge for plastic carrier bags from May this year. This is not a money making scheme as the proceeds will all be donated to local charities, but a genuine breakthrough in the fight against the 10 million plastic bags used on these 2 islands every year. Somewhat predictably there has been a little bit of whining, but you will get that with any change however positive. For these islands however, the environmental benefits will prove significant, as they both have limits to landfill capacity, and being surrounded by sea, this will hopefully make an immediate cut in the number of bags that end up blown into the sea, causing untold damage to marine wildlife. It will be an interesting period to see exactly what impact this has, as local campaigns were already starting to cut the use of plastic bags. The Channel Islands are by no means first to tackle this problem, but a voluntary charge on the bags is an innovative step, and shows how perhaps it could be repeated throughout the UK, without the need for legislation. Perhaps what we are seeing is the start of a community led movement to have needs addressed by community action rather than government.

Fair Trade Phil

ps - shameless plug for a great selection of reusable shopping bags at ecomundi

As part of Fairtrade Fortnight in Guernsey, our Fairtrade Steering Group had arranged a visit by Shared Interest, the co-operative lending society that aims to reduce poverty in the world, by providing fair and just financial services to Fairtrade producers. It was really interesting to hear both sides of their work, the raising of capital, largely in the UK and the lending operations - in this case, their rep from Costa Rica talked about how ethical finance, alongside Fairtrade sales was enabling producers to succeed and expand, to invest in their community and bring benefits to many people. It was a strong and firsthand message that again refutes the nonsense talked by the Adam Smith Institute. A good crowd was present, asking interesting and perceptive questions and the key message coming out of the evening was how important it is to see ourselves as part of these communities, because the decisions we make today will affect their lives as well as ours.

Fair Trade Phil

Following my post yesterday, I am delighted to see a further robust rebuttal today from the Fairtrade Foundation here to the frankly ridiculous comments from the Adam Smith Institute. It will come as a serious blow to their credibility that someone was able to make these senseless and irresponsible comments on their behalf. Fairtrade has always and will continue to enable hundreds of thousands of producers to improve their own lives.

Time has rushed around and fairtrade fortnight has kicked off with a bit of a bang for the Fairtrade Foundation, no doubt a great achievement to get Tate & Lyle to convert all their products over the next year. What a great start to the fortnight! A sure sign of the success of Fairtrade is that people start to knock it - and let’s not forget, there are some powerful industry lobbies out there who have no interest in seeing Fairtrade succeed and flourish. Some of the comments in the media this week from supposedly intellectual institutes are so laughably ridiculous, it makes you wonder who authorised the statements.  How anyone can assume that paying a poor farmer more money for the crops he grows is trapping him into poverty is beyond me. By ensuring that workers earn enough to feed and educate their families will ensure that steadily over time and generation by generation abilities, wealth and expectations will rise, and the families will work their own way out of the poverty trap. Simply bullying small producers with no bargaining power to sell their produce for a pittance will not help anyone - it is neither fairtrade nor freetrade and some of these “intellectuals” should learn to tell the difference.

Personally I am kicking off fairtrade Fortnight with Ubuntu Cola - a great product, and the result of clever ideas - check out their website and keep your eyes open for it. We hope to have our first stock in a few days. Ubuntu Cola is made using Fairtrade sugar from Malawi and Zambia. Over and above the Fairtrade premium, The Ubuntu Trading Company is committed to returning one third of its profits to further development projects for African sugar growers and their communities. Launched last year in Universities, Ubuntu Cola has a distinctive and refreshing taste, perfect straight up over ice or as a mixer in a host of classic drinks.  Fans of the drink include Andy Cato of Groove Armada.

As for Ubuntu, - it is a bit like legal opinions, if you want three versions of what it means you need to speak to two people! Wikipedi gives a vauge description,    but I prefer the short version “I am because you are” - if you have any others, post them here!

 Have a good fortnight,

Fair Trade Phil

I’ve been talking to our friends at Ethical Junction this week, and they have exciting plans and a new web platform coming soon. They are the premier online meeting place for ethical businesses and will be expanding the community element of their site in the very near future - check out their membership offering here or contact them directly at membership@ethical-junction.org.

Here at Mundi Group we had a busy festive season, ten times more web orders and almost double the shop sales we had previously experienced - occasionally we goofed - I’m the first to put my handup and admit when we get it wrong. And we do our damdest to fix our errors pdq! But I have to say I am disappointed with the tone of some e-mails we receive - some of them contain things you wouldn’t say to your dog. Really - do we all expect perfection in other people - do we offer it ourselves. Does everyone realise another human will read that abusive e-mail we have sent? I have spent the last 2 years working for free for the fair trade cause and the consumer abuse I have seen by e-mail this year is enough to make me give up and do something else. Perhaps the answer is just to publish them here - when I can find time to edit them - I will allow you to pass verdict on the vitriol sent to us!

It’s probably no surprise to hear that I come across a great many “Ethical Businesses” in the course of my day job running the Mundi Group. I have to say my experiences at their hands are mixed. In my view, a true ethical business is one where the ethics are core to the business - in every decision, it must be ethical, how we deal with staff, suppliers, and customers must be ethical, how we advertise and portray ourselves must be ethical - and yes, of course, the products we sell must be ethical. I see an increasing trend for businesses to move into the “ethical sector”, with a bit of greenwash, and usually a bit of hogwash, but often the way they interact with customers or suppliers leaves a great deal to be desired. I have been left disillusioned by so called “ethical organisations” unwilling to discuss matters when we have been unhappy with substandard services. Success of course can often undermine the basic premise - as businesses grow and take in outside investors, it becomes increasingly difficult to stick to principles in the face of management targets. And perhaps as more staff are taken on, the original owners philosophy can get watered down. Is it inevitable? I hope not! At Mundi Group we are committed to maintaining our ethics - its more than a business strategy, it’s our personal beliefs and philosophy. 

 Fair Trade Phil