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Welcome to Good Market Info!
Click the logo to return to the Good Market app
Welcome to Good Market Info! Click the logo to return to the Good Market global app.
Welcome to the 36 social enterprises, cooperatives, responsible businesses, and voluntary organizations that joined the Good Market community in April 2020! This month’s roundup includes new community members from Ecuador, the United States, Barbados, South Africa, Kenya, the United Kingdom, Israel, India, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. More than 1,302 enterprises across 42 countries are now part of the Good Market community. ❤ See them all at goodmarket.global.
Archidona, Ecuador
Canopy Bridge is an online directory and sourcing network for businesses, producer associations, and community groups that buy and sell natural, sustainably sourced, wild harvested products and contribute to improved livelihoods, social empowerment, and healthy ecosystems. Their mission is help these businesses and individuals thrive by making discovery and relationship building easy and transparent. The directory provides a free way for potential partners to connect and start conversations about direct trade opportunities. Canopy Bridge also provides customized information and sourcing services and has developed relationships with leading chefs, restaurants, culinary schools, hotels, and specialty food markets. Popular products include coffee, cocoa, copaiba oil, quinoa, kapok, shea butter, Brazil nuts, sacha inchi, and macambo.
www.goodmarket.global/canopybridge
Gurugram, India
Breakaway curates unique, immersive travel experiences in India. They specialize in art, heritage, craft, and textile trails, culinary programs, plantation tours, farm stays, visits to social ventures, and bespoke “beyond the brochure” itineraries. Breakaway creates opportunities to visit and learn from artisans, underserved communities, and grassroots enterprises working for change around the country. The team has experience organizing tours for solo female travelers and people with physical disabilities. Their new service, Pet Breakaway, helps plan itineraries with pet-friendly venues.
www.goodmarket.global/breakaway
Christ Church, Barbados
FarmFinder is an international not-for-profit organization based in the Caribbean that aims to enhance connectivity, collaboration, and capacity in the global food and agricultural sector. They help marginalized farmers overcome barriers, participate in skill development, training, and cross-cultural exchange programs, and access seeds and other resources. Priority is given to sustainable techniques and organic practices. FarmFinder facilitates both south-south and north-south cooperation starting with programs in the Caribbean and Africa. They are developing a marketplace to support raw material procurement and ecommerce sales.
www.goodmarket.global/farmfinder
London, United Kingdom
SupplyCompass aims to transform the fashion industry by digitizing global supply chains and making sustainable sourcing the fastest, most efficient, and most cost effective option. Their cloud-based platform enables brands and manufacturers to produce better, together. Fashion and homeware brands can manage the entire product development, sourcing, and production process, from design right through to delivery, all in one place. SupplyCompass offers online guides and resources on how to develop ethical, transparent supply chains and source sustainable materials. Many of the participating suppliers and manufacturers are certified by accredited bodies or receive regular third party audits. They are also visited, vetted, and assessed by the SupplyCompass team.
www.goodmarket.global/supplycompass
Bengaluru, India
Afforestt is on a mission to bring back our lost indigenous forests. They raise awareness about the harmful effects of planting exotic and non-native plants and specialize in native forest restoration techniques for degraded lands and urban environments. Afforestt forest makers consider the needs of a local functioning ecosystem and work with local seed and sapling suppliers to plant indigenous species with a focus on enhancing biodiversity, regeneration capacity and vitality. The approach has been tested across 10 countries and shows that a regenerative forest can be developed within two to three years. Afforestt has developed an online open-source training manual that is available to anyone interested in learning how to grow a native forest. Topics include surveying natural forests, seed collection, soil qualities, and maintenance. In collaboration with local forest makers, they are now creating video tutorials of their methodologies in multiple languages. Aforrestt is a part of global changemaker networks like TED, Ashoka and Ink.
www.goodmarket.global/afforestt
Cincinnati, OH, United States
La Terza Coffee is an artisan coffee and espresso roasterie in Cincinnati, Ohio. By partnering directly with responsible coffee farmers and cooperatives, they are able to import the highest quality beans and provide sustainable, living wages. For retail customers, La Terza offers coffee subscriptions, classes, roasterie tours, and an in-house cafe. For wholesale customers, they provide freshly roasted, ethically sourced coffee beans, supplies, equipment, maintenance services, barista education, and business support to run a successful coffee shop, cafe, or restaurant. Their business education and support services are now available online. La Terza Coffee works with a broad network of community partners and ethical suppliers. They are a member of the Social Enterprise Alliance and engage with the local Conscious Capitalism and B Corp communities.
www.goodmarket.global/laterzacoffee
Koslanda, Sri Lanka
Living Heritage Koslanda is a luxury boutique hotel in Sri Lanka’s hill country that was developed over more than thirty years to respect and preserve the region’s natural biodiversity and traditional heritage. The forest retreat was designed by Manik Sandrasagra in collaboration with renowned Sri Lankan architect Channa Daswatte. Buildings were positioned and constructed according to traditional astrology and architecture. Local craftsmen used sustainably sourced local timber, clay bricks, tiles, and stone and traditional building methods, some of which had to be relearned and revived. Living Heritage Koslanda is committed to sustainable tourism. They preferentially hire from the surrounding area and have enabled a number of local women to earn an income and provide a better education for their children. They cultivate an organic garden for salad greens, herbs, and vegetables and harvest black pepper for sale. Through conservation and extensive tree planting, Living Heritage Koslanda has regenerated 80 acres of forest and is now working with local schools and other partners to expand these activities beyond their boundaries to combat environmental degradation and climate change.
www.goodmarket.global/livingheritagekoslanda
Ahmedabad, India
Saathi produces biodegradable hygiene products that are good for the body, the environment, and the community. Saathi menstrual pads are sold online and supplied at subsidized rates to underserved communities in urban slums and rural areas of India. They use banana fiber because of its absorbent properties and the environmental and social benefits of its supply chain. The fiber comes from the stem of the banana tree, which is normally discarded after harvesting. Saathi buys these stems from local farmer collectives. After extracting the fiber, the remaining residue can be fermented and used as an organic fertilizer to enhance soil fertility and crop yields. Banana fiber uses six times less water and ten times fertilizer than cotton, and since banana is an existing food crop, no additional land is used for fiber production. Saathi products meet national standards for sanitary napkins and international standards for biodegradability and compostability.
www.goodmarket.global/saathi
Lalitpur, Nepal
Bottles to Beads is an ethical business that trains and employs village women in Nepal to produce recycled glass beads and jewelry from broken windows and discarded glass bottles that litter cities and mountain tracks and are a hazard to people and animals. Each glass bead is individually painted in the unique style of the artist with tools made by the women themselves using everyday objects. Bottles to Beads uses social entrepreneurship to facilitate transformation: from a polluted to a cleaner environment, from unskilled and unpaid women to empowered income earners, from broken glass to jewelry, and from trash to cash. All profits are either reinvested in the workshop or given to the teams for school fees, savings, and living expenses. For every 1000 beads sold, Bottles to Beads plants a fruit tree around their workshop or in the villages where they operate.
www.goodmarket.global/bottlestobeads
London, United Kingdom
Shakti.ism is a not-for-profit social enterprise that empowers, employs, and encourages entrepreneurship in disadvantaged women, particularly those who are at risk of being impacted by gender-based violence. They specialize in housewares, bags, and accessories made from repurposed sari fabrics and other sustainable and natural materials. Shakti.ism provides health and sanitation workshops, menstrual health supplies, additional training opportunities, and rewards programs to maker groups and other disadvantaged women. Their “Sewing the Seeds” project aims to help women in low caste communities and remote villages of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry gain economic independence and break the cycle of poverty. Workers with physical disabilities have access to step-free facilities and adapted workstations and training programs.
www.goodmarket.global/shaktiism
Narayani, Nepal
Stand Up 4 Elephants (SU4E) aims to enable as many elephants as possible to live a life of freedom. They are a not-for-profit organization that works to improve the living conditions of captive Asian elephants in Nepal. SU4E educates the public, particularly tourists visiting Nepal, about the exploitation of captive elephants and demonstrates viable alternatives. They have established a sanctuary where rescued elephants are able to heal, rest, and move freely with no chains, and they work with local owners to offer an “elephant happy hour” as an alternative to rides. The captive elephants have a much needed break, and visitors have the opportunity to observe natural behavior. Any surplus revenue from these programs is reinvested to improve the living conditions of the elephants and their caretakers, the mahouts, who tend to be from one of the most marginalized communities in Nepal. Stand Up 4 Elephants provides mahouts with a sustainable income and home and coaches them on elephant care. The SU4E facilities are made from sustainably sourced natural materials and include a compost toilet and accommodation for mahouts and volunteers.
www.goodmarket.global/standup4elephants
Oakland, CA, United States
The Town Kitchen (TTK) Provisions is a community-driven food company that delivers chef-crafted meals and sustainable, locally sourced products right to your door. For every $100 spent on grocery delivery orders through their e-commerce platform, TTK Provisions creates three hours of employment and apprenticeship for youth in the Bay Area that are coming out of foster and re-entry communities. Each employee has a roadmap for personal and professional growth that is supported through a platform called TTK University. In addition to benefiting employees, TTK Provisions also supports local women-owned and minority-owned small businesses through their supply chain and partners with local food banks and shelters to provide nutritious meals to the homeless and most needy and populations in the greater Bay area. The Town Kitchen is a registered benefit corporation and is EAT Real Certified.
www.goodmarket.global/ttkprovisions
Gaindakot, Nepal
6 Degrees Academy for Women aims to connect women who are motivated to become financially independent, and in turn, are inspired to reach out to other women in their communities and networks to provide the same opportunities. The Academy offers vocational skills training that goes beyond societal traditions in Nepal. For example, they supported women to become licensed taxi drivers, and they trained the first cohort of female wildlife guides in the country. Alumni contribute a small portion of their earnings to a pay-it-forward fund, which is reinvested into community projects and new training programs. Six Degrees also offers job matching and career development services and business startup facilitation and assists non-governmental organizations that want to operate in Nepal with project management, fundraising, marketing, communications, and advisory services.
www.goodmarket.global/6degreesacademyforwomen
Ypsilanti, MI, United States
Revalue Investing is a values-based investment advisory firm that builds and manages investment portfolios for people that want to support community resilience and make the world a better place. They help connect people to their purpose by crafting values-aligned financial plans. Revalue Investing uses a percent of fees from accredited investors to subsidize clients that would otherwise go unserved or underserved. Through United Way, they offer financial literacy training and financial planning services to low income families. The Revalue team also helped launch Grubstake, a platform that supports local community investing. Revalue Investing is a Certified B Corporation.
www.goodmarket.global/revalueinvesting
Nakuru, Kenya
Siku Njema Kesho, which means “a better tomorrow” in Kiswahili, is a community-based organization working towards a self-sufficient Kenyan community in which support from outside is no longer needed. Community members develop initiatives and make decisions on everything from project focus to beneficiaries to budget. Siku Njema Kesho organizes education sponsorships for children from low-income families and has developed a rainwater harvesting program for members. Participants join a training on rainwater collection, personally contribute 25 percent of the funds for a tank, install the tank, and engage in income generating projects. For example, members are using Masai beads to make jewelry, which they sell to raise funds for more water tanks. The water tanks improve water security and resilience to climate change. Priority is given to vulnerable groups including women-headed households, people with disabilities, and ethnic minorities. Siku Njema Kesho is part of the Innovation Hub in Nairobi.
www.goodmarket.global/sikunjemakesho
Phoenix, AZ, United States
Seva Partners specializes in trade facilitation. They help social enterprises and fair trade organizations in the Good Market community access market opportunities in the United States. Support services focus on reducing traditional barriers related to bulk shipping, warehousing, order fulfillment, payment transfers, and selling through popular online market channels.
www.goodmarket.global/sevapartners
Ratnanagar, Nepal
Sapana Village Lodge is located outside of Chitwan National Park in the Terai region of Nepal. Sapana, which means “dream” in Nepali, features lush gardens, authentic Tharu decorations designed by local people, a restaurant, yoga shala, and an open-air terrace overlooking the Budi Rapti River and chain-free elephants. They avoid single-use plastics, segregate waste, recycle, harvest rainwater, and grow organic produce onsite. Sapana Village promotes responsible travel experiences including jungle safaris, guided tours into Chitwan National Park, ethical elephant activities, culinary classes, yoga and wellness treatments. In 2016, the founder created a nonprofit organization, Sapana Village Social Impact (SVSI), to improve the lives of local people and help them achieve self-reliance. They have launched a range of social impact initiatives with a focus on healthcare, education, food security, sanitation, vocational training, job creation, and emergency relief to victims of natural disaster and human-wildlife conflict. Twenty percent of the hotel’s profits are used to fund Sapana School, the Women’s Handicrafts Center, and SVSI.
www.goodmarket.global/sapanavillage
San Francisco, CA, United States
RRRcomputer.org is a not-for-profit organization that promotes digital inclusion, technology literacy, and equal opportunity for students from low-income families in Oakland and San Francisco. They collect donated laptops and computers and work with a team of volunteers to refurbish them and give them to individual students and after school programs. RRR stands for Reclaim, Refurbish, Reuse. RRRcomputer.org is currently working to expand their program so that students who do not have access to a computer are able to continue their education through distance learning.
www.goodmarket.global/rrrcomputerorg
Gampaha, Sri Lanka
Cosmoveda started in 1995 with a German food store committed to Ayurveda principles and healthy living. It now supplies organic health food to more than 50 countries worldwide. Cosmoveda Ceylon specializes in organic certified king coconut water, iced tea blends, fruit chutneys and spreads, dried fruits, bottled fruit chunks, juices, purees, and smoothies, spices, and cashew products. They promote diversified sustainable farming methods and invest in long-term partnerships with more than 200 organic farmers and agricultural cooperatives across Sri Lanka. Cosmoveda provides farmers with business advice, financial assistance, seeds and seedlings, and fair trade pricing to improve living conditions and support sustainable development.
www.goodmarket.global/cosmoveda
Kathmandu, Nepal
Biruwa Advisors provides innovative business support and consulting services to help entrepreneurs and managers in Nepal make informed decision. They assist with market research, business plans, business registration, legal support, financial analysis, operations management, and investment advisory services. Biruwa Advisors prioritizes helping environmentally and socially responsible businesses and offers services on a sliding fee scale so that people of all backgrounds can participate. More than 700 social enterprises and aspiring entrepreneurs have received free mentorship and professional services, refined their business models, and improved the quality and efficiency of their operations.
www.goodmarket.global/biruwaadvisors
Detroit, MI, United States
Buy Social USA is supporting the development of a social procurement ecosystem in the United States. They make it easier for social enterprises to sell their products and services and easier for institutional buyers to source from certified social enterprises. Through a network of networks approach, Buy Social USA helps local groups access information and procurement opportunities and provide services to their members. They operate as a not-for-profit, which means there are no private shareholders and all surplus is reinvested to expand the social enterprise movement in the United States.
www.goodmarket.global/buysocialusa
Lalitpur, Nepal
Image Ark is a full-service creative studio in Kathmandu. Their multicultural team specializes in branding, communication, graphic design, websites, packaging, audio visual production, art curation, and interior design. They work with people who want to change the world, and they help them tell their stories. Image Ark maintains an art gallery to showcase local talent and hosts art markets to increase the visibility of new initiatives in Nepal. Profits are used to provide scholarships to children around the world, support a nunnery and an orphanage in Nepal, and assist local communities in times of need.
www.goodmarket.global/imageark
Lalitpur, Nepal
Pia works with artisans in Nepal to produce contemporary multicultural home decor and accessories with traditional skills. They aim to increase local appreciation for products that are handcrafted in Nepal. The collection includes hand-hammered copper lamps, vessels, and tableware, beeswax candles, raw silk cushions, handwoven blankets and scarves, embroidered bags and clutches, and more. Pia is committed to fair trade practices and supporting the livelihoods of local artisans.
www.goodmarket.global/pia
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Good Life X (GLX) fosters ethical and sustainable business ideas through incubation and acceleration, business development, matchmaking, funding, impact investment and creating partnerships services free of charge to businesses with a social or environmental focus. Their team promotes responsible economic development by supporting start-ups and mature companies in Sri Lanka and Asia to scale their products and services across regions and continents. Focus areas include food and agriculture, wellness, travel, tech, and renewable energy.
www.goodmarket.global/goodlifex
Kathmandu, Nepal
Battiayo is a social enterprise that works with marginalized groups in Nepal to create unique handcrafted bags, jewelry, and accessories that combine traditional techniques with modern designs. They offer sustainable income opportunities, skills training, support for continuing education, a female-friendly workplace, flexible part-time hours, and an emergency fund for workers in need. Battiayo is committed to environmentally responsible practices. They minimize pattern cutting waste, upcycle scrap fabric, and create packaging and market displays from biodegradable and recycled materials.
www.goodmarket.global/battiayo
Paarl, South Africa
CH Consulting specializes in providing professional and affordable marketing services to social enterprises and social entrepreneurs to help them achieve their social objectives, create a competitive advantage, and navigate the ever-changing landscape of consumer marketing. They assist with marketing strategies, digital marketing, social media, content development, search engine optimization, digital advertising, graphic design, copy writing, and ecommerce. CH Consulting offers services with the flexibility that social enterprises require and at the prices they can afford. A portion of revenue is reinvested to help startup social enterprises.
www.goodmarket.global/chconsultants
Kathmandu, Nepal
Shakti Milan, which means “the power of coming together,” is a women-led social enterprise that focuses on the economic empowerment of marginalized women in Kathmandu and eastern Nepal. They specialize in bags, accessories, and housewares made from upcycled rice sacks and handwoven Dhaka fabrics. Women workers have access to fair wages, continual capacity building, social security, and insurance. Ten percent from every bag sold is donated to Access, an organization that fights child slavery and human trafficking in Nepal. All other profits stay in the country and are reinvested into education programs and the development of new initiatives. Shakti Milan conducts local awareness campaigns on the importance of reuse and recycling and produces low-cost upcycled bags for local municipalities and rural communities. They compost 100 percent of their biodegradable waste and recycle any waste that is not reusable.
www.goodmarket.global/shaktimilan
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Kantina Konditori is a Scandinavian bakery and coffee shop in Sri Lanka that serves espresso drinks made with local coffee and homemade cakes, baked goods, and healthy treats made from natural ingredients. They offer vegan, sugar-free, gluten-free, and dairy-free options and prioritize environmentally responsible packaging and locally sourced supplies and ingredients. Kantina Konditori offers work opportunities for women from disadvantaged communities and donates a portion of annual profits to organizations that help low-income families.
www.goodmarket.global/kantinakonditori
Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, Sri Lanka
Haritha Sustain raises awareness about social and environmental issues and provides consulting services to help businesses transition to more sustainable practices. They also help community organizations develop environmentally responsible alternative livelihood strategies, and they provide discounted services to low-income and small businesses. Haritha Sustain specializes in energy and resource conservation, green building, sustainable sourcing, waste reduction, and social inclusion.
www.goodmarket.global/harithasustain
Jerusalem, Israel
Open Data Economy provides services and a platform for companies that are committed to ethical, transparent practices. Their vision is a market system where data about sales, resource use, and other indicators are publicly available online and the invisible hand of the market becomes visible. Transparent reliable information makes it easier for producers and consumers to see the effects of their decisions on society and the environment, enables people to make informed choices without advertising manipulation, and reveals how value is added and captured.
www.goodmarket.global/opendataeconomy
Trincomalee, Sri Lanka
The Jasmine Foundation is a nonprofit organization that supports women and girls in rural communities in Trincomalee through education, sports and vocational training. Projects include rural literacy and reading outreach, leadership development, the formation of the first girls’ cricket team in the region, self defense classes, zero waste menstrual health, a cooperative community garden, and distribution of support packs and sanitary supplies to families in need.
www.goodmarket.global/thejasminefoundation
Colombo, Sri Lanka
The Design Collective Store is a retail outlet and ecommerce platform that supports more than 60 fashion designers and brands from Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia, and Singapore. They provide designers a space to showcase their products so they can focus on creating rather than worrying about the day to day activities of managing an outlet. The Design Collective features ethical fashion brands that support local artisans and women’s empowerment, operate according to fair trade practices, and use vegan, upcycled, or other sustainably sourced materials. The store serves as an interactive coworking space that promotes creative collaboration, innovation, resource and idea exchange, and female leadership in fashion. The Design Collective organizes and hosts workshops on conscious consumption, responsible buying practices, health and wellness, self-care, innovative design, and sustainability.
www.goodmarket.global/thedesigncollectivestore
Chandler, AZ, United States
Colman Group provides consulting services that align an organization’s strategic goals and social responsibility mission. They specialize in change management, business processes, project management, program leadership, risk mitigation, diversity and inclusion, and conscious capitalism. Colman Group offers preferential support for purpose-driven enterprises, women in technology, adults with intellectual disabilities, military members, veterans, and their spouses.
www.goodmarket.global/colmangroup
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Bitter Berry is an ethical fashion brand that specializes in women’s clothing and accessories made from upcycled fabric, natural linen, and local batik. Ninety percent of their materials are sourced from local garment factory offcuts and would have otherwise gone to landfill. The scraps from their own production process are used to create bags and buttons. They have eliminated plastic from their packaging and tags and transitioned to locally made compostable bags. Bitter Berry preferentially employs and partners with people from disadvantaged communities. They donate a portion of profits to AIR Foundation, a charity they have developed to partner with youth, support people in need, build communities, and protect the environment.
www.goodmarket.global/bitterberry
London, United Kingdom
Rubbalicious was started to help tackle the problem of youth unemployment in Uganda. They offer a natural smoked chipotle spice blend that adds flavor to meat, seafood, and vegan dishes. Profits are used to support Yimuka Uganda, a project that provides vocational skills training, mentorship, and entrepreneurial support to unemployed young people in the Masaka region.
www.goodmarket.global/rubbalicious
Unawatuna, Sri Lanka
SUPer Juice Bar & SUPer SUP Unawatuna specializes in fresh juices, smoothies, and healthy food made with local produce and superfood supplements from around the world. They also offer stand up paddleboard lessons and rentals at affordable rates. The SUPer team is passionate about environmental responsibility. They have worked to eliminate single use plastics and reduce waste. They partner with the Thalpe Recycling Centre, organize beach and sea clean-ups, and support local environmental initiatives. Their furniture and signboards are handmade by local craftspeople using upcycled and repurposed waste materials.
www.goodmarket.global/superjuicebarsupersup
Know an initiative that’s good for people and good for the planet? The application is currently available in English, Sinhala, Tamil, Urdu, and Spanish and started in Nepali and Japanese: www.goodmarket.global/apply
Want to help make it available in another language? Learn more about the community translation project here.