EOTV: One Mango Tree: A Fair Trade Sapling

Bobi camp - Mrs. Okot Margaret gets started on an apron (courtesy Glenna Gordon)

Let me first say I had no idea what I was getting myself into. While leading conflict resolution programs with Global Youth Partnership for Africa, the inevitable question would arise:

What is it going to take to see sustainable peace in Northern Uganda?

Jobs.

I'd not yet read Paul Collier's treatise on conflict traps and economic empowerment, but the reasoning echoed by so many Ugandans made sense. I had it in my mind from the first trips to craft markets in Uganda that American consumers would love the products. This was not a new idea; many successful fair trade retailers had come before me. The success of these other retailers strengthened my resolve, as I thought about how I could make this model work for women in Gulu District, Northern Uganda.

On hot Gulu afternoons, most people stay indoors to escape the sun, lingering after their lunch of malakwang, yams, g-nut sauce. Those were the afternoons I liked to spend wandering around the shaded marketplace - especially amongst the tailors. Glints of sunlight sift through the reed rooftops, and you can hear the flap-flapping of wax-print fabrics and the soft whirring of foot-treadle sewing machines. This is where I found Auma Lucy - a talented tailor and a single mother with a story like too many other women in the region. She lost her two brothers during the war, and now cared for their 11 children, in addition to her own two.

Lucy and I spent several afternoons together, designing small bags in a variety of colorful prints. I agreed to take them back to the United States to test the market. A year later One Mango Tree has 30 tailors in three locations and plans for building a center. During those early meetings with Lucy, I wouldn't have guessed the magnitude or the scale of the endeavor we were about to take on.

Working in fair trade means living in two worlds. This was something for which I was not prepared. Of course there is the production side - designing products, organizing the artisans, providing technical assistance - all of the things I anticipated and loved to do. Then there is the other side - selling the products! Welcome to the world of web design, PayPal, bank accounts, marketing initiatives, printing costs, customer service, weekends at local markets, end-of-year holiday madness. And finally there are the pieces that linger out there in international waters - where supply meets demand - customs, shipping, import/export laws. As you might imagine, tackling all of these simultaneous activities demands a lot of time, but also a lot of creativity. Success depends on a willingness to draw on a wide range of resources to seek advice and answer questions.

How do you know you're a social entrepreneur? When you have two bottom lines in your business - making a profit and making an impact. Further, making profits that can then be turned around to make a greater impact. Now that is a rewarding business venture. All of those post office runs and boxes held up in customs are quickly forgotten with a trip to Gulu to visit the tailors and their families.

In the coming months, I'll be posting about the ins-and-outs of running a social business - with the added twist that I just moved from Washington, DC, to Uganda to focus on operations.

Halle Butvin is the founding director of One Mango Tree and one of the four columnists for our new Entrepreneurs on the Verge feature on Change.org. OMT seeks to improve the lives of women in impoverished and conflict-ridden areas of the globe. They are currently working with a group of women tailors affected by the conflict to make purses, yoga bags, and other products using the colorful Congolese waxprint fabrics found in local markets.