The final days in Daresalaam are packed with activity. I am very excited to meet the artisan groups in Tanzania as the need in this country is tremendous. After the struggle against colonization, the government of Tanzania chose to nationalize all  industries (I hear a lot about this and the implications throughout the day). Over time the government has began privatizing various sectors and the economy is gradually rebuilding and stabilizing. There is an immediate noticeable difference in the export experience, communication infrastructure, and business readiness between the organizations in Tanzania and Kenya (where there was never a nationalization effort).

We start the day at Mikono, a worker owned artisan promotion cooperative, which was bought back from the government by the artisans themselves. They have a series of workshops on site where they coordinate tie-dieing, tailoring, wood carving and painting. Other crafts are done remotely like basket weaving in the homes of the women artisans. The coordinator Deo has a great presence and a very big smile, I had the chance to meet him briefly in Arusha and now he is really happy that I am at their offices. He is very happy that World of Good is aiming to bring the products to mainstream markets and he wants the opportunity to create products to compete on the product attributes itself, and that he feels in the past the fair traders have often purchased out of charity. He is concerned that the current product offerings may not measure up, but he really wants feedback and new designs. Then they show me around the complex, including a new gallery that they are creating to direct retail the Mikono products. They have some items that are really one-of-a-kind high end paintings which are amazing. They have a master woodcarver on site who can develop a product around any design and then they distribute the design out to the villages.

When I ask about sustainable forestry and the sources of the wood, they explain that the Tanzanian government is regulating the harvesting of all hardwoods. We discuss the challenges of assuring the sources of wood and World of Good’ focus on preserving the environment. The Mikono team is very interested to get this kind of feedback from the market. I collect a number of samples, but tell them frankly, that I do think the product will need significant designing to make it meet up to the standards that the World of Good expects. They are ready for the challenge. We then head to meet several organizing entities – once called SIDO which is funded through the United Nations to assist artisans all around Tanzania. I learn about their infrastructure and review the list of organizations they are assisting, and I am happy to find several that overlap with our partner list. I also meet with an American woman Kathleen who is based in Dar working with an international banking initiative to provide capital to different small enterprises including artisan groups. We have a quick meeting over samosas (a favorite dish even in Africa!) and she tells me about AGOA. This is a key initiative designed to help African exports compete more effectively in the United States whereby all of the World of Good imports should be able to come in duty-free because the work we are doing would qualify under the AGOA exceptions. Also, she and I have an interesting discussion about the fair trade calculator and the goal that World of Good has to ensure that fair prices are paid to the artisans. She tells me that from her perspective she thinks the access to capital is a key ingredient for ensuring fair prices, because when the organizations are capital starved, they try to squeeze the payments to the suppliers in order to generate higher cash flows because the promised revenues are out in the future. This is an important perspective for us to consider as we build our partnership with Shared Interest and try to work to help more producer groups become capitalized.

Next we meet Joyce from Footloose an initiative she started after many years working in international economic development work. She carries herself with an openness and interest in learning the opportunities in the US market. She has had some contact with bib box retailers in the past, and while she is excited to work with them because of the opportunity it brings, she is also concerned that they are not necessarily focused on building long term relationships and repeating orders. She shows me some of the products she has done for them, and we test some items on the calculator. The benefits of fair trade are clear. Joyce then takes us out to the outskirts of Dar to see the workshop where her organization works with artisans to collect and finish the products.

While we are in the car we drive past the place where my father grew up, the business that his family ran, and an interesting conversation ensues. He explains to Joyce how during the time of nationalization he was in India studying medicine with the intention of coming back to Africa to open a clinic. His father (my grandfather) was a strong supporter of the anti-colonial movement for the benefit of the Africans, he campaigned for Nerere in the elections in the late 60’s, and helped to garner support in the Indian community. During this time there was significant upheaval and social unrest throughout East Africa – Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda. When Nerere won the elections there was so much hope for the future of Tanzania and improvement for the Africans. Then at some point Nerere’s politics took a turn towards socialism/communism after he made a trip to China and saw how the political system there was working. He made a decision in the early 70’s to nationalize all the industries. My grandfather’s business and the building where my father grew up was possessed by the government and then redistributed to working class and poor Africans as part of the vision to build a more equitable society through reallocation of resources. My grandfather was initially moved to a two bedroom apartment with my grandmother, and then the police came to even ask them to downsize from there. When he refused he was taken to jail, where he stayed for two months until my uncles were able to get him released through their relationships at the UN and WorldBank. Upon his release my grandfather and grandmother left Africa, never to return.

Joyce then chimed in with her reflections, first expressing sadness at the process of what happened to my father’s family. She shared that while the vision may have seemed good at the time to the political leadership, in reality  the process did not create the desired results. Many of the farmers who received land had plots too small to create larger scale farming and overall production went down, real estate lapsed into disrepair, and many times individuals asked to run businesses without any experience found themselves overwhelmed. The colonial system had not created enough educated Africans to sustain the vision of a country that did not also rely on the educated merchant class of Indians who had held these posts. Joyce explained that from her perspective many Tanzanians still believe that Nerere did the right thing, but complain that Tanzania is poorer than Kenya where nationalization never occurred and so private industry thrives. She said that there still needs to be tremendous investment in education and infrastructure to help Tanzania compete as the country moves towards privatization. For me, I understood much more about my father and grandfather, and the impact this process had on their lives as well as many other Indians who left the country losing everything. As an idealist myself, who wants to work towards the empowerment of the poor, I could relate to the vision of the nationalization efforts to create wealth for the most marginalized. But, as a business woman, who is trying to create sustainable economic development, I also see the benefits of creating trade based on merit and performance – but where the equalization of opportunity comes through access to education, housing, and capital resources. At the end of the long car ride, I met several more producers including one who works with Aid to Artisans and has great designs on textiles, and got ready for my journey back to the United States.

I am going home happy to be back with the rest of my team. I will be walking back straight into the National Booksellers Convention in Washington DC. I am so excited to sell our program and products because I am more convinced than ever about the importance of what we are doing. Already the calls and emails of things that I need to do have started arriving for me, and I can feel the pull back to my daily responsibilities in the office – key customers that need attention, the final close on the investment, and so many other interesting projects.

At the Amsterdam airport I had to say bye to my Dad as he headed to Texas, and I cried. I really felt so lucky to have this time to share my work and thoughts with my Dad and learn more about his past. Also, I am so lucky to have a father that I admire in every way, who is also a very easy fun person to be around. For the entire two weeks everything just flowed and the energy between us was so easy. When I got to Washington DC after my long flight it felt strange not to have him right there with me. In DC I jumped off the plane and straight onto phone calls to finalize questions with one of our new investors and to help sort out the concerns of one of our customers. I also lugged two huge suitcases of samples back to the hotel, which I can not wait to show Jagadha and Margot. I felt right back in the groove! The shower at the Embassy Suites was amazing, and I am planning to get a good night of rest to get ready to set-up for the tradeshow tomorrow!