GOOD BUSINESS October 1999

WET WET WET

AUGUST is NOT a good time to visit North India and Nepal. It rains heavily yet the temperature at night makes sleep virtually impossible. Kathmandu is cooler than Rajasthan but the monsoon flushes sewerage onto the streets and alimentary ailments are inevitable. Thus when David Turner returned from the sub-continent this summer anyone enquiring about his "holiday" was in danger of encountering a pithy epithet, or two, or three.

GRUMBLING aside, David's trip was very constructive. In early 2000 we fully re-incarnate as WONDERWORLD, a new trading name to replace our old trading name of 7 Wonders, with new original design products, new sales channels and dynamic development of our Fair Trade practise. David went to India and Nepal to lay the foundations of WONDERWORLD, we will tell you more in coming weeks.

HERE is a report of the trip starting in the City formerly known as ….

BOMBAY ......

…. BUT now called Mumbai by Hindu nationalists.

DAVID met International Resources for Fair Trade (IRFT), an Indian NGO which carries out monitoring work for businesses and other organisations. Their clients include Traidcraft and B&Q.

WE HAD a very positive discussion with IRFT. We plan to engage their services as we develop our Fair Trade practise. We believe that IRFT can analyse our dealings with silver, hand block fabric & wood producers in Jaipur, in the context of those industries & those areas as a whole, making any necessary recommendations. Culture and language means such detailed work can only be carried out by an independent Indian organisation.  We will publish IRFT's comments as well as general industry information which will assist other Fair Trade suppliers working in those fields to improve their Fair Trade practise.

JAIPUR ......

…… IS not yet threatened with the expensive, unnecessary rebranding suffered by other Indian cities.

DAVID visited all of our principle producer partners - wood workers, silver smiths, block printers, purse makers and tailors. Generally we were happy with the apparent working conditions we found except in one case.

OUR silver producer organises his staff into three groups. David visited one such group of 15 men from Bengal. The living and working space, which had been provided for these men, was far too small. Amenities like TV and air conditioning could not detract from this basic point.

Our supplier pointed out that silver work must be carried out within the old walled city of Jaipur where public security is relatively good. At any time these silver smiths have £15,000 of silver and stones in their charge. He pointed out that there were great difficulties in obtaining suitable premises because of high rents and other factors.  However overall he accepted that significant improvements for those silver smiths were essential. We expect to see progress on this matter quickly.

ON the positive side in respect of silver, we noted that our producer keeps exemplary records on the silversmiths remuneration's which will make the task of Fair Trade assessors straightforward.

OUR silver producer is also our agent for co-ordinating all the other producers we work with in the Jaipur area, we had lengthy discussions about all aspects of Fair Trade.  Especially - his role in promoting transparency, facilitating monitoring, engaging all our producer partners with the Fair Trade agenda, generating and administering Fair Trade premiums.

WONDERWORLD will rely on our agents to identify with the issue of Fair Trade. We believe that in Jaipur we have a relationship of sufficient depth and quality to expect this.

KATHMANDU .......

…… HAS 400,000 foreign tourists every year, essential to the Nepalese economy - only a madman would want to change an internationally recognised name and fortunately there are no signs that this is likely to happen.

DAVID'S first task was to participate in a Consultation Workshop & Networking Event on Improving Access to Export Markets for Nepalese Small & Medium Size Enterprises in which research carried out by Durham Business School was presented to a gathering of Nepali business and NGO people. Other participants included Nick Kightley of Traidcraft Exchange and Mohammed Islam of Oxfam Trading.

FOR David it was a lively, interesting day which enabled him to learn more about the Nepalese situation & acquire a string of new contacts including dozens of people willing to act as our next Nepali agent. (David says "In case you were one of those people who gave me a card and spoke to me that day, I apologise for not getting back in touch. I will be back in Kathmandu soon and will contact some of you. Feel free to e-mail or send me samples".)

IT IS open to discussion just how this kind of study & workshop can really improve the prospects of Nepali exporters. One noticeable fact was that all the participants in this event were Nepali, where as most of our quality, long term business in Kathmandu is done with Tibetans. If Nepalese need to learn about exporting then there are people locally who can teach them.

DURING David's remaining days in Kathmandu, activity was limited due to illness. Apart from the basic buying he did visit the producer of our excellent Tibetan Healing Incense. Tibetan Healing Incense was invented by a Tibetan doctor as an inhalant to reduce stress & headache. Following traditional Tibetan medicine he made a paste of 31 different herbal ingredients, then rolled them into sticks, which could be burnt. This doctor now resides in Italy but the incense is still made by his family using the original method at a small house near the Swayambhu stupa. About half a dozen people mix the ingredients, use a hand turned press to squeeze out the sticks, then lay them out to dry on long shelves, before packing in the distinctive yellow boxes.

GEOGRAPHY QUIZ

SOME famous old Indian cities have disappeared in recent years due to the rise of Hindu nationalism. Can you deduce the old names for:

Kolkatta ……………………………….
Chennai ……………………………….
Kochi ………………………………….
Mumbai ……………………………….
Pune ……………………………………
Tiruwandapuram ………………………

First correct answer to WONDERWORLD wins a very silly Dinosaur hat .

OLD GREY BEARD

Dave Hogg, is on holiday this month, but left the following message.

However good your staff are it is a fact of life for independent retailers that sales go up when the owners are in the shop.  All those little details get the attention that are needed, there is that extra effort to communicate appropriately with our customers, new stock gets onto the shelves quicker and replacements ordered just that little bit sooner.  So we take a holiday now, as the market draws breath and gets ready for that vital Christmas period when we will make most of our profit for the whole year.