Nathan and Cath George know that human trafficking and HIV are sour deals. For five years the pair has been banking on the best consumers in the world to create a fair-trade bid against exploitation and poverty, and on Black Friday they’re opening their first bricks and mortar boutique linking the U.S market to the crafts of AIDs victims and former sex workers.
“We believe that charity actually doesn’t fix problems, the only thing that does is job creation,” says Nathan. “After that they can figure out health care and education for their children, but without that income, they’re frozen and locked in a cycle.”
Trade As One provides that income, buying local products for international buyers and creating the demand that will keep people employed. Already the purveyors of a roaring internet trade, the Georges stock upwards of 500 products ranging through olive oil, chocolate, tea, house-wares, jewelry and bags—all from countries in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Central and South America.
“We’re looking at what people are buying and using everyday,” says Nathan. “So we don’t get into wooden elephants or anything, we do coffee and chocolate—more of what would be in a boutique like Macy’s.”
The entrepreneurs have visited small businesses already employing marginalized and disadvantaged people, and Nathan in particular recalls a chocolate farm in Ghana partially owned by the laborers, who invested their profits in local wells and roads.
“We’re creating dignified jobs for the poorest of the poor,” Nathan says, but they aren’t the only ones benefiting. The grand opening will be a soothing foil to the mayhem of post-Thanksgiving shoppers, and will put smiles on the faces of the stylish as well.
