Bristol ethical firm The Bishopston Trading Company was today crowned Best Fairtrade Business at the UK’s first awards championing business commitment to Fairtrade.
Bristol ethical firm The Bishopston Trading Company was today crowned Best Fairtrade Business at UK’s first awards championing business commitment to Fairtrade.
The firm, which has five stores, was among a raft of businesses from around the West to be recognised in the awards, staged in Bristol this afternoon.
The Bishopston Trading Company was described by the award judges as a beacon for Fairtrade and ethical business and worthy of the top prize.
The firm has worked in partnership with the South Indian village of KV Kuppam for 24 years, providing long-term, stable employment to hundreds of local villagers. All the cotton used to make its clothes is Fairtrade certified and grown by small-scale farmers in northern India.
Other category winners were: Greenhouse B&B (accommodation), UWE Catering Cart (caterer), Essential Trading Cooperative (office) and Lush (retailer). (A full list of winners appears below)
The awards were sponsored by the Co-operative, with individual categories sponsored by law firms Burges Salmon, TLT and Lyons Davidson. Bristol Business News was media partner.
The trophies, exclusively designed and made by Bristol Blue Glass, were presented by BBC newsreader George Alagiah, a long-standing Fairtrade supporter.
He told the awards ceremony, staged at Leigh Court, that after nearly three decades as a foreign correspondent he had come to the conclusion that economic empowerment was the best way to help people in the developing world.
“It can lead to good politics but importantly it means people are no longer dependent on the patronage of politicians. It gives them the power to say ‘no’,” he said.
“The money needs to go to the bottom, rather than the top in the hope it trickles down. It rarely does.”
The ceremony also heard from Nicaraguan sesame farmer Sandra Rojas, who has spent Fairtrade Fortnight in the UK speaking to schools and other organisations giving a first-hand explanation of how Fairtrade has benefited her farming cooperative and its community.
The $10 per sack premium paid by Fairtrade had enabled Sandra, who often works 10 hours a day, seven days a week, and other members of her cooperative to be trained, to diversify into other crops and send their children to school.
The awards ceremony was supported by Business West, Destination Bristol and Bristol City Council, whose leader Barbara Janke opened the event by saying the council was committed to the Fairtrade principle.
Award winners:
Accommodation: Bronze – Radisson Blu Hotel.
Winner – The Greenhouse B&B
Caterer: Bronze – Stoneground Café; The Garden Café, Frome
Silver – Hospitality Services, University of Bristol; A Fair Cup
Winner – UWE Catering Cart
Office: Bronze – Ujima Radio; Stewart Investment Planning
Silver – Grant Thornton; Minuteman Press; Green Hat Graphic Design; Christian Aid West Office; Business West – Leigh Court; Create Centre; Heat Recruitment; Mild West Heroes; Nitty Gritty Guide; Oxfam Campaigns SW
Gold – Lyons Davidson; Revolver Co-operative; the Alliance of Religions and Conservation
Winner – the Essential Trading Co-operative
Retailer: Silver – Bart Spices; Bristol Tea Company; Frome Wholefoods; Pill Post Office; Better Food Company
Gold – John Titcombe; UWE SU Shop; Mosaic
Winner – Lush
