Sally has enthused about our trading relationship and has a clear passion for the work at Meru Herbs “Everyone has a voice within the business and all the leaders are women – we promote from within and give career opportunities which breathe life and ambition into this community. When Meru first started, men took priority in the building of the water project but Meru Herbs gave employment to the local women thus giving them a chance to earn some income for themselves. Now our workers have their own bank accounts and their own money, they own land with their own title, and they’ve built better homes for their children."
JTS MD, Tracy Mitchell, talks about Meru Herbs in Kenya
Nicola Taylor • May 4, 2023
Why are Meru so special?
I wanted to share something about how I am I personally inspired by Meru Herbs in Kenya and keen to see our relationship continue and develop through 2023 and beyond.
My interest in Kenya goes back more than 40 years – my Godfather visited in the 1970s and brought back a wonderful wooden elephant puzzle for me and later, when I was a Guide, I did a project on Kenya for my Commonwealth badge.
So, when JTS started importing from Meru Herbs in 2013 I was eager to learn more about the producers and the products. Initially, we just listed some exotic jams and at that time it was a joint initiative with Traidcraft who imported some of Meru’s herbal teas. JTS’s relationship with Meru Herbs became much more significant when we introduced the two tomato-based sauces. These are now key products in our range with regular customers enthusing about the lack of additives and real fresh taste you get from the sauces. One local café owner, with considerable experience working in Italian restaurants, has described them as one of the best sauces he has come across in a jar. Certainly, the tomato & basil sauce is a store cupboard essential in our house – perfect for the evenings when I don’t have a plan for tea or need something really quick. On its own over pasta or with some chicken, bacon or vegetables through it, it makes a great family meal.
Over the years, I have been encouraged by the reception the products have received. We hosted a visit from Anisia Wanja from Meru Herbs in 2014, giving schools, fair trade groups and a local deli a chance to hear direct from one of our partners. At the time our then MD Malcolm commented “I learned (or more accurately it was reinforced) that producers in the developing world do not want charity. They want the opportunity to penetrate new markets and trade their products through ethical partners.” For three years from late 2016, we worked in collaboration with Soroptimists throughout GB & Ireland as sales through their groups supported the Soroptimists Meru Women’s Garden Project. We spoke and sold at local events and held a stall at their annual conference in Cardiff. This brought the products to a whole new audience with stalls at several events selling out.
With the two tomato products selling well, we now import by the container load. We like working with Meru Herbs and our involvement is wider than simply buying their delicious products:
- In conjunction with The Balmore Trust and with support from the Scottish Fair Trade Forum, we have been working with Meru Herbs as they seek to become members of WFTO (the World Fair Trade Organization). Having achieved provisional membership status in 2022, they were audited earlier this year with the hope of becoming “guaranteed” members. We will share news on this as soon as we have it.
- Meru Herbs have featured in the Gavin’s Mill alternative gift catalogue – funds raised this way have provided women farmers, and their families, with solar lamps to give safe, low-cost lighting using clean, renewable energy replacing hazardous paraffin lamps or candles. The lamps have a built-in radio and phone charger, providing families with news and entertainment.
Since the start of COVID restrictions, JTS has been developing its producer relationships through regular zoom sessions. We discuss orders of course but also business and community developments. Personally, I really value these sessions, and I particularly enjoy meeting with Sally Sawaya, the Meru Herbs managing director and her team. These sessions led to Sally speaking by zoom at a supporter event at Gavin’s Mill in 2022 where we learnt about the history of Meru Herbs, it’s links to Italy and how the factory is fully solar powered. As well as giving folks a chance to hear direct from Sally, the event included a jam tasting session and raised funds for staff uniforms at Meru Herbs.
It was really hard therefore earlier this year to have to share news with Sally that Traidcraft had gone into administration and that having assessed the impact on all our producer partners we had identified that Meru Herbs were particularly vulnerable. Traidcraft bought several Meru Herbs lines from JTS in large volumes and without their purchases we were really concerned about our stock levels and what the impact would be on our future ordering.
Following the closure of Traidcraft, Transform Trade contacted JTS to understand any key producer impacts and I expressed my concern for Meru Herbs. As you may have seen, Meru Herbs have as a result of these conversations, featured in the Transform Trade Producer Fund appeal https://www.transform-trade.org/producer – we are hopeful that they will receive a grant in the coming days to help them invest in training and certification as well as upgrade some production equipment.
As the Transform Trade appeal has said ” The success of a producer-led business is not measured purely in sales or in profit, but by their impact on the lives of the workers and artisans, the growers and makers they employ, and all of their families……Traidcraft (through JTS) was Meru Herbs' largest buyer, and their closure may affect as many as 1500 people.”
Throughout this period, we have been liaising closely with Sally, understanding the potential impact of not getting an order in 2023 as well as the importance of timing particularly for seasonally available fruits. I was really pleased then to be able to tell Sally in late March that our board had agreed to go ahead with an order and to work to raise funds through our Crowdfunding to enable us to add some new products. So far, we have only ordered the jams where the fruits were in season (and wouldn’t be for much longer); we will review sales data (and how this has changed post-Traidcraft) in early June with a view to firming up the rest of our order then – by which time we hope the required jars will have arrived with Meru Herbs to enable the rest of our order to be produced.
We continue to be totally committed to delivering as a fair trade business, putting the producers at the centre of this. It is clear that the fair trade sector is under strain at the moment but we believe our focus on direct relationships with producers is totally true to the principles of Fair Trade and we will remain steadfast in delivering against them.
We ask for your continued support as we continue to work with Meru Herbs.
Will you buy some of their wonderful products? We are particularly keen to see a growth in sales for these three products:
- Tomato & Basil sauce Meru Herbs Tomato & Basil Sauce (295g) – JTS Retail
- Tomato & Chilli sauce Meru Herbs Tomato & Chilli Sauce (295g) – JTS Retail
- Hibiscus jam – which is on special offer through May Meru Herbs Hibiscus Jam (330g) – JTS Retail
Could you donate to our Crowdfunder for product development? JTS growth and development fund 2023 - a Food and Drink crowdfunding project in Paisley by JTS Fair Food Fine Food (crowdfunder.co.uk).
After six years of leadership, Mary Popple has retired from her role as Chair of the True Origin Board to assume the role as an ordinary board member. She leaves a legacy of steadfast, values-led leadership, resilience and commitment to Fair Trade during a period of significant transition for the social enterprise. First appointed to the True Origin Board in 2013, Mary became the first woman to take on the role of Chair in April 2019. Her journey into the position was shaped by a successful career in the IT industry and a passion for Fair Trade. Mary was an active member of the influential St Andrews Fair Trade group which successfully campaigned to designate the town as a Fairtrade area, and for The Open Golf championship to become the first UK sports tournament to commit to using Fairtrade products. This was complemented with over twenty years’ experience of involvement in other trade justice and development opportunities for women. During her six-year tenure as Chair of the True Origin board, Mary strategically led the social enterprise through a challenging external environment at a challenging time for many small businesses. Less than a year into her new role, the Covid pandemic emerged, causing significant uncertainty for staff, producers and customers as well as disruption in global supply chains. The war in Ukraine and cost-of-living crisis soon followed. Despite the challenges, under Mary’s leadership, True Origin generated over £2.3million in sales income that included £733,000 worth of Kilombero rice from Malawi. That’s equivalent to 245 tonnes or nearly 5 million servings of rice! The sale of the rice provides families in Malawi, one of the least developed countries in the world, with sustainable incomes and better food security. Mary played an instrumental role in rolling out the social enterprise’s rebrand and positioning the organisation as the go-to place for fair and fine products under the new True Origin banner. The product range subsequently increased during her tenure, solidifying True Origin’s reputation in the fine foods market. New products included a range of condiments such the soon-to-become both a customer favourite and one of Mary’s favourite products, sun-dried fig balsamic reduction as well as the popular beer bread of which over 150,000 packets were sold during her term. Mary’s leadership as Chair will also be remembered for her values-led approach, guiding the organisation to decisions with its founding fair trade principles in mind and the interests of producers always at the forefront. She invested time in expanding the board’s skillset and further developing the organisation’s robust governance procedures, upholding True Origin’s commitment to transparency with its stakeholders and leaving the organisation in a strong position to tackle future challenges. She also brought an instinctive knowledge of Fair Trade customers in Scotland and beyond to the role.
Our former Operations Manager and now volunteer, Liam McLaughlin caught up with Kenneth Mwakasungula on the challenges of being a Kilombero Rice farmer
R eflections on the recent visit of Howard Msukwa, Rice Farmer from Kaporo Smallholder Farmer Association (KASFA)
Jade and Nicola visit some of the Woman Farmer Foundation farmers to learn more about their crops and farming techniques and some of the challenges they face.
Nicola and Jade visit Eswatini Kitchen and the Woman Farmer Foundation.