Identity, Principles & Mission: ‘Forming’ Producer Owned Brands

By Rachel Wallace

Between 2004 and 2018 I worked with Twin & Twin Trading, with the brands Cafédirect, Divine Chocolate and Liberation Nuts, and with AgroFair between 2007-2009. This short piece reflects on key lessons from my early years working in Twin and Twin Trading. The learning from this period remains just as important and relevant to our work today on multi-stakeholder supply chain collaborations - even though Twin ceased operations in November 2019, having traded for nearly 35 years.

Alongside the producer share ownership and board participation, the inclusive approach fostered in Twin was key to the success of working with producers and with market partners on the truly alternative brands which it established, Cafédirect, Divine Chocolate, AgroFair and Liberation Nuts. In addition to company structure, company culture was of equal importance in shifting power dynamics in favour of all stakeholders.

I believe that Robin was very aware of these dynamics and, together with a progressive management team and board, consciously nurtured an environment where really participative practices shaped strategy.

Prerequisites for a successful producer-owned brand are the same as any brand and include: stringent systems, consistent quality, availability of product, competitive pricing, effective packaging and branding.

To carve out a space for producers in a social economy, what else is needed?

A formal structure which captures economic value through producer ownership of a brand, seats on the board to determine strategy, strong working relationships with the management and staff.
Effective ways for the producers to share their stories, inform and inspire others.
For all the team, there needs to be a commitment to continual on-the-job training and learning opportunities in the broadest sense to unite people in a better way of working together with shared values.

What is key to making this structure work in practice? How do we foster the right approach?

Experience, knowledge and attitude: understand the systems but be flexible to adapting them.
Diversity of background, of experience, of privilege.
Foster a learning environment where we listen first before we assume we know. We have curiosity, we are prepared to question our own assumptions but in turn, we are also encouraged in our own abilities and listened to.
We need empathy and creativity, two key ingredients to make an alternative company work for the producers and its social mission.

These latter points cannot be overstated. I would argue that producer-owned brands have followed a pattern: an entrepreneurial, inclusive and flexible approach in the early days; but as the brand has grown and got a foothold in the market, confidence wanes in this approach and a belief creeps in that the brand needs the expertise of its corporate competitors. Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) experience becomes a highlighted word on a CV application. The result can be a loss of identity, purpose and effective decision-making as creativity and knowledge is increasingly outsourced and believed to be with competitors and the market, not with the team and producers.

In this next wave of Fairtrade, as the markets become ever more consolidated, we must have confidence in our experience and successes to date. We need to reflect on what, in our approach, got us this far and use it to build stronger, multi-stakeholder collaborations in the social economy. Respecting communities and the environment must be integral to the economy, not as an add-on after financial gain.

Robin played a very active role as chair, not only with the board and external stakeholders, but also being supportive, encouraging and interested in all staff. The following experiences are just a couple of examples of how Robin embodied this approach.

The Regular Desk Chats

Robin could turn a fairly mundane day processing coffee samples into one where we could see our tasks as a cog in creating an alternative world through trade. This was achieved by dropping into the office, showing an enormous interest in whatever we were doing and then framing it within something much more exciting and strategic. It was inspiring and often perplexing, leaving us wanting to learn more and apply some of the principles. Later on, working together on AgroFair, this became much more strategic, and we knew we could count on Robin to bring one of his papers as an intellectual heavyweight to put across a persuasive argument which would be difficult to defeat. Going into a meeting with Robin on our side gave us confidence we would achieve our objectives.

Guayaquil and Machala

In 2007, Robin’s practice of focusing on the particular to understand the bigger picture and inform strategy was clear, impressive and left us quite in awe of his stamina. Robin as chair, John Bowes as UK managing director and myself as communications and marketing manager, all travelled to Ecuador to participate in the AgroFair AGM, hosted that year by producer shareholders, El Guabo from Machala. Producers attended from across Latin America and Africa, alongside staff from the US and European offices and board members. Robin wasted no opportunity outside of full days in meetings to spend time with every attendee at the AGM and trip to El Guabo producers. Whether in the evenings, lunch breaks, on a nauseous minibus ride along the coast, or climbing to a waterfall, Robin had his small notebook and pen and would be finding out about everyone and their organisation. He would go into the detail and fill pages with notes and observations. At the end of a day, he would come to discuss his insights, eyes lighting up with enthusiasm and interest in what he had learnt that day. He would have new understanding on an issue through a specific example, e.g. Tiago, the young Brazilian mango cooperative representative and socialism in Brazil; Carlos and the Costa Rican banana cooperative and the complex history with the trade unions. His approach would lead to us being really informed about what was going on, about the dynamics and a range of new possibilities that were not on the main agenda of the week at all would emerge that could lead to innovation and a shift in strategy.

With a group of long-term colleagues across the Fairtrade community, we continue to build on the work and relationships from these times to form new multi-stakeholder collaborations. We consciously work in ways which apply this learning, of listening and working inclusively and with respect, and to create opportunities for others to experience a ‘formacion’ approach in their work. In this way, I feel Robin’s influence and lasting impact as we remain as committed, interested and creative as ever to take on the current and next challenges in working with rural producer communities to create a fairer, more respectful world.

September 2020