Posts Tagged ‘Bangladesh’

Bangladesh minimum wage doubled, but it’s not enough, say campaigners

This week we forwarded 2082 names collected from the Humanity in Fashion petition to the National Garment Workers Federation to support their call for a threefold increase in the Bangladeshi minimum wage.

Executive Travel – being the CEO, on a Fair Trade shoe string budget

Veranda of my guest house home in Aghaijara, Bangladesh – where to watch the water hyacinth float down the river and enjoy a cup of tea is better than a 5 star spa!

Veranda of my guest house in Aghaijara, Bangladesh – where you can watch the water hyacinth float down the river and enjoy a cup of tea - it's better than a 5 star spa!

I was talking to another CEO about a trip I was doing overseas. Oh your going off on a “jolly” he said – little did he know that when you run a social business like People Tree you travel to and fro at the weekends (which means you don’t have time to wash your socks and bake your kids cakes between working weeks). Also I arrive and and go straight into my 12 hour working day. Most fashion company bosses stay in 4-5 star hotels – but I stay in guest houses and villages with our Fair Trade groups, partly because the food is better and fresher but also because it’s a huge waste of money!

The difference in a week’s 5 star stay in a city of a developing country could fund a designer or technical advisor to come to the country and run workshops – obviously it’s an easy choice for me to choose to travel on a shoe string! Little places are more friendly too and because many of our Fair Trade groups are in villages, I get to enjoy fresh air too.

Working in the shelter of my mosquito net

Many suppliers/garment factories put up their customers in 5 star hotels as part of their hospitality, but People Tree pays to stay with our Fair Trade groups in their guest houses. After all it’s real cost for food, housekeeping, cleaning, etc. Why should suppliers pay for their customers hospitality?

Executively dressed?

I’ve been surprised by how people dress when they visit culturally sensitive places – I’m writing in shorts and a camisole at home in the summer’s heat, but in Bangladesh you cover up however hot and humid it is. I wear a shalwar kameez and long thin legged trousers called churidar. When it’s 36 degrees and 80% humidity you have to put your foot in a plastic bag just to get them on.

Here’s how…