African cooperatives promote women’s empowerment

In Africa, the tradition of hand-beaded jewelry has lived on for generations and in certain tribes such as the Masai in Kenya, women create beautiful handcrafted bracelets, earrings and breast plates that convey their social and marital status. Though the Masai have been creating these designs for generations, they are not just utilizing them for traditions sake, but now, with the help of certain cooperatives they can make a fair profit from the creations.

The Masai women belong to a cooperative that sells the group’s beading to European designers for higher prices than in their previous solely Kenya-based market. Entrepreneur Lisa Baratt started Safaribead with the mission to help the women from the Masai community with employment opportunities. “We have a team of skilled artisans who have received expert training through UNIDO (United Nations International Development Organization) who comprise the production team. The Safaribead team receives a fair wage, as well as access to loans and medical assistance when required,” says the company’s website.
The company provides workshops and training on a regular basis so the team can learn further skills and gain and get a better understanding of the market and product design.

Safaribead’s ethos

The company’s ethos is aimed at developing a sustainable enterprise and promoting fair trade principles in design and business development. It also aims to use organic and eco-friendly material and to continue to do research and develop products in an environmentally sound way. The company aims to explore the bead use and materials to create unique and eco-friendly products while helping to provide a sustainable business for the Masai women.

The company also has in-house and local designers who Baratt works closely with in product development.

Safaribead isn’t the only business acting as a cooperative for African women and is just one of a growing number of intermediary cooperatives whose aims are to bring fair wages to African women. Safaribead utilizes exportation of the product in order to make money. As the local market for beads is based on tourism, the market is small, making the exportation of beads a prime way to gain profits.

Global Mamas

Creating a sustainable business future for African women is a goal for Global Mamas, which is a non-profit organization and fair trade organization that assists African women to become economically independent. It does so by promoting their goods on the Global Mamas website.

Like Safaribead, when purchasing Global Mama’s products, the buyer is helping to offer sustainable livelihood to African women by giving them a fair wage for their work. All the proceeds go directly to the women and the non-profit assists them with business development.

The organization sells a number of products from jewelry to skin care such as Shea butter.

Women’s empowerment

Women in cooperatives have a powerful role to play in the empowerment of women in Africa. Having cooperatives in Africa geared towards women demonstrates leadership potential for women in business.

Cooperatives can provide opportunity for self-determination, empowerment and within it all members will see a profit that is fair. Cooperatives such as Global Mamas and Safaribead support sustainable development of women artisans in Africa and export fair trade products. Social responsibility is a main goal of cooperatives helping provide livelihood for workers that they wouldn’t have without the cooperatives support.  It can help to reduce economic inequality for women by increasing revenue for female-owned business in Africa.

With the sales of cooperative products abroad, African women are now able to earn an honest living through the production of their goods. In a sense cooperatives are helping women help themselves and taking steps towards ending foreign aid dependence. A part of the goal for cooperatives like Global Mamas is to help women in Africa to become completely economically independent.

Cooperatives and fair trade

Often times Fair Trade goes hand-in-hand with cooperatives. Fair trade means fair partnerships and fair wages for workers in many developing countries. Partnerships between North America and producers in places like Africa, guarantee fair wages under fair trade. Under the criteria of the Fair Trade Federation fair wages are paid to workers in a local context and healthy and safe working conditions are of necessity. In cooperatives, individually-owned businesses such as different women who make artisan work in Africa, are able to penetrate a larger market by having their goods exported.

Cooperatives are an ideal way for women to make fair wages from the goods they produce. With organizations like Global Mamas and Safaribead that promote women’s artisan work to the international market and are fair-trade supportive, women in Africa can look forward to fairer wages and sustained business practices. Cooperatives are helping women in Africa gain empowerment and sustain a business model that gives them a better quality of life and empowerment on a larger scale. Global Mamas and Safaribead are just two inspiring examples of cooperatives in Africa whose aims are to create sustainable businesses for African women.