Washington Business Spring 2019 | Washington Business | Page 35

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fair trade, fair wages
The growing company employs 145 people in Olympia, and a network of
17,000 who work directly or indirectly for Alaffia in West Africa.
The workers in Togo gather and manufacture raw materials such as
coconut oil and shea butter, which are then brought to the U.S. to make
Alaffia’s body washes, lotions and other skin care and hair care products.
Those jobs are crucial to the region.
“Togo is the eleventh poorest country in the world,” says Zelle
Bonney, global communications specialist at Alaffia. “We are a fair-trade
organization. Alaffia pays four times the current wage in Togo.”

women’s empowerment project
In 2018 alone, Alaffia’s empowerment projects have:
• Built two more schools, bringing the total number to 14 that
serve over 20,000 students.
• Distributed another 1,177 bicycles to students in Togo and
shipped three full shipping containers of donated bicycles from
Olympia to be distributed in 2019. In total, Alaffia has distributed
more than 9,500 bikes.
• Planted another 11,700 trees in West African communities, bring-
ing the total to over 81,000 trees. Another 35,000 seedlings are
being nurtured in Alaffia tree nurseries.
• Provided free prenatal care and delivery to 283 women. In the
past 10 years, Alaffia has directly funded more than 5,100 births
— more than 10 percent of births in central Togo.
Bikes are one key to lifting young women out of poverty: Without a
bicycle, the graduation rate for girls is 50 percent. With a bike, that rate
rises to 90 percent.
“Private enterprise alleviates poverty,” Tchala says.
Alaffia is proving it, every day.
“Private enterprise alleviates poverty.”
— Olowo-n’djo Tchala, founder and CEO, Alaffia
Alaffia.com
GrowHereWashington.com/Alaffia
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