Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Our partnership with FairTrade International !

Samir Abdelmalak, president of FTL and Chiraz Skhiri FLO's Regional Coordinator for Middle East & North Africa

Press release by Fairtrade International (FLO)
28 February 2012
We are proud to announce a new partnership with Fair Trade Lebanon, which will work towards advancing Lebanese farming communities and spreading Fairtrade to new consumers and producers. It makes Lebanon the 64th producer country on the Fairtrade map.

Lebanon’s soil is rich in nutrients and is highly cultivatable. But poor farming practices have led to soil erosion and water pollution. The Lebanese Civil War and the conflict with Israel have taken their toll and poverty is rife.
A group of Lebanese set up Fair Trade Lebanon (FTL) in 2006 to translate the country’s agricultural potential into real income for small farmers and to tackle the consequences of the conflict. Thanks to Fair Trade Lebanon’s work, many cooperatives have already started selling their products abroad in fair trade outlets. From 2006 to 2010, FTL supported women co-ops in exporting goods worth US $600,000.

Through the new partnership, Lebanese small producer groups are becoming Fairtrade certified, meaning they can sell their products with the FAIRTRADE Mark and access more international markets. The partnership will also provide the farmers with more coordinated support and training.

“Les Coteaux d’Heliopolis” became Fairtrade certified last December. The cooperative of grape-growers has 250 members from 11 villages and provides seasonal employment opportunities to over 400 families in the North Bekaa region. During the civil war many farmers in the region started growing cannabis and drug-trafficking was rife. Even when the government banned these crops farmers had no viable alternative, leading to a mass exodus. By founding the cooperative, farmers have switched to wine grapes and have started returning to the land and earning a living again.

Over the past two years Fairtrade International’s Regional Coordinator of Middle East and North Africa, Chiraz Skhiri, has visited Lebanon several times and worked closely with FTL to help producers understand Fairtrade and get certified.

“I am thrilled about this partnership,” said Chiraz. “We’ve been working towards this moment for years and it is going to open a lot of doors in the region. Fair Trade Lebanon is doing such good work; it is great that we can work together to improve the lives of farmers in Lebanon, and to promote Fairtrade to local consumers.”

FTL and Fairtrade International are working to help other groups get Fairtrade certified including farmers of herbs & spices, apricots, cherries, pomegranates, almonds and olive oil. We are also planning activities to raise consumer awareness of Fairtrade in Lebanon, such as the Fairtrade Breakfast for World Fair Trade Day on 12 May in Beirut.


The full press release is online on FLO's website here.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Job Offer: Account Executive at FTL

Job description:
Account Executive, group FTL-FTTL


Organization: Fair Trade and Tourism Lebanon s.a.l.
Contract type: Employee (Lebanese law)
Period: Indeterminate
Start: Immediate / 3 months of trial
Timing: 9:00AM until 5:00PM, from Monday till Friday included. Possibility to have missions on weekends, trips, and presence at stands in exhibitions.
Location: Beirut (Hazmieh) – many local trips –client visits
Profile needed: Bachelor + 5 years minimum experience in the field of trade or sales, MBA preferably
Languages required: Arabic, French and English
Salary: Fixed 1.000 $US monthly net at start up (possible promotion according to qualifications and experience) + social security and transport + commissions on sales

Description:

Fair Trade Lebanon is the first and main actor of Fair Trade in Lebanon (www.fairtradelebanon.org). FTL supports a network of fifteen small-scale agricultural food-processing cooperatives in the aim of setting up for them sales channels while meeting the international standards of Fair Trade and Organic certification. FTL also promotes Fair Trade in the media and various groups in Lebanon (schools, universities, consumers). To date, FTL has developed around 50 references sold in Lebanon, France, Germany and Canada. The organization seeks to expand its Lebanese sales network.

Referent:

Marketing coordinator

Tasks:

• Identification of companies for corporate gift packages: Fair Trade gift proposal for large companies (banks, insurance, law firms, ministries…)

• Sales to hospitality industry: taking daily appointments, sample proposals, price negotiation for wholesale quantities to restaurants, hotels, catering…

• Personalized customer follow-up: Sales report for each customer, frequency of orders, consumers’ reviews, and monitoring of product positioning…

• Development of the current network of customers: retail points of sales of FTL

• Inserting the range in major distribution channels: Bou Khalil, Monoprix, Carrefour (City Center)…

• Development of the private sales: networks of personalized sales, sales at premises, database for clients and home deliveries…

Specific requirements:

The candidate must have excellent communication, negotiation and presentation skills; he or she has preferably had the same position for a period of 3 years. This job requires high availability for local travel; the candidate must be holder of the Lebanese driving license and use his own vehicle. All his / her transport expenses will be reimbursed based on mileage allowances to be determined depending on the vehicle driven.

Contact : r.elchemali@fairtradelebanon.org