Fairtrade Business Conference

Businesses sign up for first Fairtrade Conference

(Date of issue: Wednesday 18 February 2009)

More than 100 businesses across Cumbria have signed up for the County’s first ever Fairtrade Business Conference taking place next week (Friday 27 February), in Carlisle.

The delegates representing a wide range of industries and sectors will hear from keynote speakers from the multi-national sugar manufacturer, Tate and Lyle and a tea producer in India, as well as the patron of the Fairtrade Foundation, BBC reporter and presenter, George Alagiah.

The conference has been specifically designed around what businesses can do to support ethical trading and also how they can introduce Fairtrade products and practices into their business operations.

The delegate’s list includes Capita, Cumbria Tourism, University of Cumbria, CN Group, Business Link Northwest and the North West Development Agency and smaller independent hotel, catering and food producing businesses.

This is the second visit to Cumbria for George Alagiah in connection with Fairtrade. His first visit was in 2006 when he presented the Fairtrade County Award to Cumbria.

He said:

"The Fairtrade Foundation is delighted to support this Conference which we hope will provide a major boost to Fairtrade in Carlisle and Cumbria. In these difficult times, farmers and workers in developing countries need Fairtrade now more than ever. So the increased support of the people and the businesses of Cumbria will be vital."

Carlisle City Council is hosting the Conference, which is the main event in Carlisle during Fairtrade Fortnight (23 February to 8 March 2009).

Councillor Jacquelyne Geddes, The Mayor of Carlisle and Carlisle City Council’s Fairtrade Champion, said:

"This conference is extremely important to me. It was my meeting with Harriet Lamb, the Foundation’s Executive Director, last year that inspired me to put on this conference in Carlisle during my Mayoral year. The conference will provide information and advice to local businesses who wish to become recognised as a Fairtrade supporter and employer. We have a number of national and internationally operated companies in this area and I, too, want to inspire the representatives of these companies attending the conference to lobby their decision makers and owners to buy, produce and provide Fairtrade products for their customers and employees."

The morning session of the Conference will look at Fairtrade from different perspectives: what it is; how it works; and how both businesses here and producers in developing countries can benefit from Fairtrade.

In the afternoon there will be workshops on different aspects of Fairtrade in business: Fairtrade procurement; Fairtrade in the hospitality and catering sectors; Fairtrade in the workplace: Fairtrade in the retail and wholesale sectors; and Fairtrade non-food items.

The Fairtrade Foundation is sending a number of people from its Business Team to run these workshops, which is an indication of its importance to them.

The conference is being funded by a number of organisations including the Coop, Arco, Cumbria Fair Trade Network, Carlisle City Council, Cumbria County Council’s Local Area Committee for Carlisle and The Soroptimists.

After attending the morning session of the Conference, George Alagiah will launch the Hadrian’s Wall Fairtrade Campaign, at 1pm in the Civic Centre before speaking at Fairtrade functions elsewhere in the city.