Fairtrasa Group celebrates 10 years of growth and impact
Founder and CEO Patrick Struebi—who launched Fairtrasa by shipping a container of organic, fairtrade avocados from Mexico to Rotterdam aboard the vessel Heidelberg Express on February 5, 2005— celebrated with members of his team, representing over 100 employees and 6’500 small-scale farmers across 15 companies in 12 countries.
Together they celebrated the first 10 years of a unique social enterprise, one that has grown from that single container of avocados into a global vertically-integrated group offering a large selection of premium quality organic and fairtrade fresh fruit.
"We started with the mission of helping small-scale farmers lift themselves out of poverty through good, innovative, and socially committed business," Struebi said at Fruitlogistica, "and we've created a model that's been extremely impactful. I'm amazed at how far we've come since our first container 10 years ago, but I'm even more amazed by where we still will go."
Pioneering Mentality
Fairtrasa was a pioneer from its very start: The first container in 2005 was, in fact, the very first container of fairtrade avocados ever in the world; while the company's second product, Soluna Wine, also launched in 2005, was the first fairtrade wine ever produced in Argentina.
Fairtrasa has maintained that pioneering approach throughout its first decade with its innovative approach to business and farmer development.
Among fairtrade food companies, Fairtrasa is the only one that partners with small-scale farmers at all stages of the development spectrum—undeveloped, semi-developed, and devoloped.
Its award-winning Three Tier Development Model gives farmers customized support and resources according to their specific needs, helping all of them develop into independent exporters and agro-entrepreneurs.
No for-profit company in the fruit space has such an inclusive, hands-on, farmer-centric approach to development. Income for Fairtrasa's farmers has risen by as much as 10 times, while yields, infrastructure, harvest and post-harvest skills, community investment, and overall independence have improved. (The company recently commissioned a team from New York University to quantify its impact more precisely in order to improve its model.)
"Small-scale farmer development is the heart of everything we do," said Struebi. "Our business is about helping these farmers take their future into their own hands, while sharing a direct bond with customers who appreciate delicious, healthy, sustainably grown fruit, and who want to make an impact with their purchase."
Another key to Fairtrasa's business-and-development model is its ownership of a vertically integrated supply chain with an increasingly global reach.
In addition to many supply and farmer-development companies in Latin America, Fairtrasa Group has its own import and sales companies in Europe the US, and since the beginning of this year also in China.
This comprehensive supply-chain control ensures fair deals and dependable markets for Fairtrasa's famers along with quality and traceability for its customers.
A Company of Entrepreneurs and Leaders
But Struebi says the fundamental key to his company's success and growth has been his team.
"From the beginning, I surrounded myself with fellow social entrepreneurs and leaders—passionate, mission-driven people who truly want to change the world. In every country that we've entered, I've found true leaders who share my mission and who have that unique Fairtrasa DNA."
Struebi himself has emerged as a leader in the broader social entrepreneurship movement, winning fellowships from Ashoka, Endeavor, and Yale University for his work with Fairtrasa, and being named four times Social Entpreneur of the Year by the Schwab Foundation, Univision, the abc* Foundation, and Visionaris. The World Economic Forum named him a New Champion in 2014.
"The recognition we've gotten is affirmation for our truly innovative and impactful social business model. We're succeeding in helping small-scale farmers transform their lives, and we're doing it through smart, sustainable business. The combination makes us unique in the fruit industry, and it's the reason we're going to continue to grow. After a great first 10 years, it's still just the beginning."
For more information:
FairTrasa
Account Management Team
Tel: +44 1952 460608
info@allfreschgroup.com
www.fairtrasa.com