Handmade Expressions: Fighting Poverty Through Fair Trade

Google Tech Talk January 19, 2010 ABSTRACT Presented by Manish Gupta. Our everyday purchasing choices make an impact on the lives of producers around the globe. Do you know where your coffee came from this morning? Was the producer paid a fair wage? Do you know how your dollar can make a difference? Fair Trade is a business model built around social responsibility and environmental sustainability, providing development opportunities to marginalized artisans and farmers. Come to the presentation to learn facts about Fair Trade, and ways you can get involved. Speaker Info: Manish Gupta After graduating from Indian Institute of Technology (Mumbai) and University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), Manish Gupta was working in a big technology corporation as a successful operations manager in Austin, Texas. On a trip back to his native state, Rajasthan, in India, he saw how skilled artisan communities are living in abject poverty as they lack access to markets for the goods they produce. He was moved by their plight and decided to do something about it - leaving his cushy job in corporate America, he founded Handmade Expressions, a fair trade company (http://www.handmadeexpressions.net/) with the hope that through that company he would be able to give sustainable work to the people who need it most. The company has expanded from a one man army, to eight employees, and is going strong in the fifth year of its existence. Manish also serves on the Board of directors of the Fair Trade Federation of North America.