Common values are the key to sustainable partnerships, say Samoa’s Women in Business Development, The Body Shop UK and New Zealand’s largest café, c1 Espresso.
The three partners spoke at the Private Sector Partnerships Forum in the lead up to the Third International Conference on Small Island Developing States.
Women in Business Development supplies virgin coconut oil to Samoa and also coffee and cacao to c1 Espresso.
Associate director, Alberta Vitale said having trade partners who have shared values means the partnerships are stronger and longer lasting.
“Our partners recognize the potential and limitations trading with a small island nation that is vulnerable to natural disasters and working with small family farmers.
“The Body Shop and c1 Espresso have shown a patience that many buyers wouldn’t but our relationship with them is based not just on what we supply but also our common values.”
Later, Vitale added the values related to looking after the environment and minimizing carbon emissions, empowering families and communities and respecting culture.
Alex MacDonald, who represented The Body Shop UK, says virgin coconut oil is a major product for the cosmetic chain so the partnership with Women in Business Development was also important.
“Sustainable partnerships focus on the partnership not just the product. You have to think about the art of negotiating the partnership. How can you add value to each other?
He added that you also had to “innovate and keep re-birthing the partnership.”
The Body Shop/Women in Business Development partnership then caught the eye of Sam Crofskey, owner of c1 Espresso.
He says eight years ago he called Women in Business Development and said “that thing you are doing with The Body Shop, can you do it with us?”
“We were inspired to form a partnership with Women in Business Development with ideas like sustainability, organics and fair trade.”
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Then in 2010, due to the Christchurch earthquakes, Crofskey lost his home, business and city.
“Up until that point, what we thought we were doing was riding in our horse to save the day. But everything has changed; we see we need to build resilience into this partnership to maintain our relationship.
He says losing his business also gave him the opportunity to make sure the business was more sustainable. This has included setting up his own dairy operation on an organic farm with a mobile milking machine to follow a nomadic herd.
Crofskey is also launching a tea company at the main conference. The tea ingredients will be sourced from Women in Business Development’s organic farms.
The sustainable agricultural session was moderated by The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Co-operation (CTA) director
Michael Hailu and also featured Seth Kaurua from Tanna Farms in Vanuatu, Shadel Compton from Belmont Estate in Grenada, Bruce Russell from Poutasi Development Trust in Samoa and Prof Clement Sankat from the University of the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago.
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