Hey, my name is Travis. We wanted to take a few moments and introduce all of us here at Red Earth Trading Co. Each day this week we'll be releasing a new blog highlighting everyone who is a part of the RETCo. team. So, here we go!
My RETCo. story starts back in 2004. I was a college senior at Middle Tennessee State University. I was finishing up a degree in Music Business, but was already feeling burnt out on the industry. I decided I wanted to spend my Christmas break volunteering at an orphanage in Africa. After being told it wasn't a good time to volunteer at several places I had connections, I decided to just google "orphanages in africa" and see what I could find. Through that random internet search I met a Ugandan women named Faith Kunihira. She had started a small community based organization called Bringing Hope to the Family. I decided to fly out to Uganda and spend a month with Faith.
That one month changed the entire course of my life. I was a different person when I came back from that trip and knew I had to do something to support people like Faith and the work that they were doing. A year later I started Global Support Mission. The idea was to end extreme poverty by supporting local leaders who were already in the fight... we wanted to see A Movement of Compassion Wipe Out Hunger, Disease and Extreme Poverty. We decided that the best way for us to fulfill our purpose was to Train, Equip and Resource leaders in developing nations that were already working to end extreme poverty in their own communities... basically, leadership and community development from the inside out.
From the very beginning of GSM I decided that I wanted us to raise all of our "operational expenses" separately. This allowed us to develop programs that guaranteed people that 100% of their donations would go directly to the need they were giving to. This was and still is a big challenge, but something that we have remained true to over the years and will always be a part of how we operate.
Over the last five years of doing GSM I started developing a lot of relationships with different artisans. These men and women were so talented. They were creating incredible products, but had a very limited market to sell them in. This sparked the idea of Red Earth Trading Co.
We started RETCo. for two reasons. First, we wanted to create a company focused on economic development through direct trade and long-term small business partnerships. Second, we wanted to create a sustainability piece for GSM.
Next to me in the photo above is a guy named Vincent. He started a small company making jewelry out of cow horns. He's one of my absolute favorite people ever. Since starting RETCo. we've purchased over $3,000 worth of product from him. That may not sound like much to some, but for Vincent it's huge... and we're only getting started! Not only are we able to expand his market and increase his sales, but we are working with him to grow his business and create even better products... and Vincent is only one of many artisans that we are working with.
I like to create what I call a win, win, win.... and that's what we are doing with RETCo. We're able to help people like Vincent by creating equitable business partnerships, give people the opportunity to buy and wear great handmade products and then give all of our profits to help sustain the work of Global Support Mission... just writing that makes me smile.
I know this blog sounds more like the RETCo. story than me introducing myself, but the truth is that the RETCo. story IS my story. It's an expression of who I am and hopefully one day our products might become an expression of who you are.
Compassion = Action,
Travis Gravette
Founder
PS: I like long motorcycle rides in the African bush after a hard days work... it's pretty much my fav.
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