Pangaea (def): the hypothetical landmass that existed when all continents were joined…
It’s a small world after all, and getting smaller. While international business is by no means a new concept, the concept of fair trade actually is fairly young. In fact, the Fair Trade certification is all of 12 years old. According to Inc.com, Fair Trade USA, the organization that certifies fair trade business was founded in 1998 by University of California Berkeley graduate, Paul Rice.
Fair trade has given a unique opportunity for mission-minded people to tangibly help people in third world countries, among them, Justin and Amy Bolger, founders of Pangaea International. Pangaea is still in the process of becoming fair trade certified, but in the meantime, clothing, accessories, and home decor items are already finding their way from Peru and into the hands of appreciative Americans. We interviewed Amy about what Pangaea is about and the process of becoming fair trade certified:
So, what is Pangaea?
Our mission is twofold: We aim to become a nationwide wholesale distributor of quality fair trade clothing, accessories, and home decor products from around the world, and benefit local and global communities through supporting local community-building non-profits and creating personal connections across cultures.
We want to buy directly from the people who make our products, through local, Christian non-profits that work to improve their quality of life/standard of living and further the spread of the gospel message in their area. In this way we can make sure our artisans are being paid a fair wage, and given opportunities for improving their business, education, health and spiritual well-being. We do NOT limit who we buy from based on religion; we DO choose to support Christian non-profit organizations that also focus on education, community health, and disaster relief. 10% of our gross sales go to support non-profits overseas. The rest, currently, goes straight back into growing the business.
We will also act as a link between Americans and the unique people groups who create the products we sell. Our goal is to expose Americans to other cultures and ways of life through “voluntourism” trips to the places we buy from. These trips give customers, employees and retailers opportunity to meet the people who make our products, see where their clothes come from, and do some hands-on work to serve the “local” community. Trips also include an opportunity to visit important cultural heritage sites, like Machu Pichu, in Peru, or the Taj Mahal, in India.
What inspired you to begin Pangaea?
I can’t think of a more interesting business than this! I love to travel and experience different cultures. I love people. I love clothes, interior decorating and design. I also couldn’t help but notice how CHEAPLY beautiful, quality products can be purchased for overseas, and have often wondered how much the people making them are getting paid.
How did you get the business started?
$500 worth of stuff, and a whole lot of connections. We’re now buying $5000 worth of product at a time and hoping to double that next year.
Basically, we have no idea what we’re doing. We just sell stuff when we have it and order more when we don’t. We go to Peru once a year and take as many people with us as we can. We try to stay out of debt, build great relationships with our retailers, and have lots of fun.
What are the challenges you have faced with fair trade certification?
So many! Mostly due to my ineptitude at paperwork. The Fair Trade Federation has a fairly straight forward application that I have yet to fill out because of, well, here’s an example: Application, “Please include contact information for your providers”. Me, “My ‘providers’ live in a mud hut on hillside two days walk from the nearest road! They have no phone, no address, and speak only a dialect of Quechua. What am I supposed to say here?!” No matter how many times I yell at that application, it never gets close to being done.
Second biggest problem: shipping. We paid $2500 to ship $2000 worth of product. This is killing our profit margin. And that’s just from Peru. We’d like to start buying from Burundi, Africa but we have to bribe 2-4 people before we can even get anything out of port there, with no guarantee that they won’t help themselves to some of the product first, not to mention paying for freight from a remote port on the opposite side of the planet! We want to economically stimulate the poorest people groups in the world, but they always live in such difficult to ship from places!
Third difficulty: Treating everyone we come into contact with like the infinitely precious creation that they are. When doing business for business sake, you work only with people who are good at what they do, and if they’re not good enough, you ditch them. When mixing business with charity, or in other words, Jesus’ love, this gets complicated. We have to take responsibility to help those who are falling behind get what they need to succeed. This can be anything from free product design help to marital counseling. Our local non-profits do most of this work, but you can imagine how tedious and financially draining this can be at times, yet always more rewarding in the end!
What are your long-term goals for Pangaea?
So many dreams, so few concrete goals. I want to be a certified Fair Trade Federation member and a legal non-profit by the end of 2012. I want to be getting paid something by the fall of 2012. I want to add India and Thailand to our partnerships by summer of 2012. I want to help our artisans in Peru form a worker’s co-op over the next 5 years. I want, one day, for Pangaea to help factory workers in Peru buy and operate a worker-owned and operated factory, probably 10 years from now. I want to build a strong team of local volunteers to help design new Pangaea Products, plan fundraisers, and trips, and invest in local community projects, like free art lessons for kids or after-school tutoring/mentorship programs, research eco-friendly ways to do everything etc. etc. I want to make our products more unique and “designed” feeling. I want to make money. Did I already say that one? I want to bring Christians to the forefront of the fair-trade/eco revolution and show the world that Jesus is every bit as applicable to our economics as He is to the rest of our lives.
What advice would you give someone who wants to start a fair trade business?
Since we haven’t actually succeeded at becoming fair trade yet, my advice is limited. I would say, don’t be afraid to accept help, but keep in mind what where you want things to go and don’t accept anything less just because it’s free. Avoid any debt. Don’t be afraid of growing slowly, if it means you can do it right; don’t be afraid of success either, just because you succeed doesn’t mean you have to be deathly afraid of failure. Continuously build your contacts and community support. You can’t do it alone. And don’t forget to have fun.
You can follow Pangaea International on Facebook.