Beyond Fair Trade by Mark Pendergrast

Author:Mark Pendergrast
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-77164-105-0
Publisher: Greystone Books
Published: 2015-09-03T16:00:00+00:00

A Family Business

BACK IN CANADA, Darch Senior contacted his lawyer, George Brazier, and told him to begin drafting papers for the incorporation of the Doi Chaang Coffee Company, to be funded privately but with half the ownership going to the Akha farmers of Doi Chang village through a shareholder arrangement in which they were represented in several loosely organized associations.

“Are you sure that’s the way you want to do it?” the astonished lawyer asked. “Yes, that’s exactly the way I want to do it,” Darch said in his mild but definitive manner. Brazier shrugged and drew up the papers. Darch had had enough of public companies, share price swings, and boards of directors, so the new entity was a private corporation. It was also a family affair. Darch Junior, a former banker and professional photographer, signed on to the new project as the chief financial officer, although he recalled, “My title was somewhat deceiving. I did take care of the books, but I also did a little of everything else. We all did.”

His younger sister, Katharine Darch Regan, also joined them, coordinating the first marketing strategy and developing their website. Politically, she and her father had their differences, but she recognized that he had a big heart. And he had taught her two important principles, both of which he was now putting into practice: 1) The best investment you can make is to create a healthy society; and 2) Question everything. Just because someone says that’s the way it is, doesn’t mean it is necessarily so.

Katharine had plenty of questions for her father. “He was a mining executive who had raised tons of money for new operations. But this was a grassroots effort, not some big boardroom deal. And Dad didn’t know anything about coffee.” Still, after asking many questions about Doi Chang and doing extensive research on the hill tribes and their problems, Katharine joined the effort to help create a healthy Akha society halfway around the world. Working part-time as a young mother, she would create the firm’s website and coordinate marketing efforts.

The new company, officially launched in April 2007, had a main office in Vancouver, where the three members of the Darch family worked with Danielle Bower, Louise’s niece, who handled sales and marketing, and Tanya Jacoboni, a receptionist with no family connection. The separate roasting facility remained in Calgary, 600 miles to the east, where Shawn McDonald supervised a staff of four at the Joffee Coffee roasting facility, two sales people, and a delivery vehicle.

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