CIMA

Attending International Fair Trade Fairs

Centre for International Market Access (CIMA)

Start: 2006

Field of action: Kenya

Members: over 100,000 families

The Centre for International Market Access (CIMA) is the marketing branch of the Kenya Gatsby Trust (KGT), a non-profit organization that fights poverty by reinforcing micro and small enterprises (MSE) in Kenya. CIMA's objective is to promote the development and the marketing of fair and ecological products mainly from wood sculptors. By controlling the quality, the packaging and the transport, CIMA offers services to all stakeholders in the fair trade chain. Often working with very isolated groups of artists, CIMA helps communities in difficulty to strengthen their capacities and to gain access to international markets.

The Malindi Handicraft cooperative is located in the town of Malindi on the coast of the Indian Ocean. It exports wood sculptures through CIMA. Malindi Handicraft comprises over 600 producers who together own the cooperative. They elect committees that are responsible for the cooperative’s human resources management, marketing and global operation. The sculptors work to integrate the greatest number of people possible into the cooperative while preserving and making permanent small-scale and traditional wood sculpting.

Context

The viability of small-scale producers depends on their presence in international markets that require high-quality products responding to consumers' high expectations. Knowing the international markets is a first condition. The information collected then allows launching product development projects, intensifying promotion campaigns and providing adequate production programmes.

Attending the Tendence Lifestyle (Frankfurt) and Summer Fair (London) Events

Attending large international events to establish connections with the European market is an important step. Large fairs allow meeting many consumers and distributors at once, offer quick feedback, and are a chance to assess the competition and any opportunities.

The two commercial trade shows (Tendence Lifestyle and Summer Fair) which CIMA attended draw both wholesalers and retailers from the artisan sector. Moreover, the United Kingdom and Germany offer real market possibilities, in particular for new products.