We worked closely with the West African Trade Hub, a USAID organization based in Accra, Ghana. They compiled the following Fact Sheet regarding this bogolan project:
Fact Sheet Hallmark Order in Mali
Companies: Mali Chic of Bamako and Farafina Tigne of Sevare
Total Order: (information omitted)
Total Value: (information omitted)
221 workers in Bamako, San, Sevare and Mopti
Average monthly earning for tailors working on the order: 103,283 CFA ($219)
Average monthly earning for bogolan dyers working on the order: 69, 497 CFA ($147)
Minimum monthly wage in Mali: 28,000 CFA ($63).
210,000 meters of bogolan (made in Mali from 100% Malian cotton)
White interfacing also made an purchased in Mali
Imported materials: needles, thread, lining and labels
Duty Free under the United States African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA). First textile product exported under AGOA in Mali.
Upcoming orders: 128,000 beaded strands for greeting cards.
Technical Support: USAID, US Peace Corps, MBA’s Without Borders, Africa Now.
Those are the hard facts and hard numbers, but what about how people are actually feeling? Despite it being very tiring and there being a lot of forces to overcome – rainy season, the holy month of Ramadan – all of the people working on this order were extremely pleased. It gave everyone the opportunity to have more money than they otherwise could have. An average tailor probably wouldn’t have earned even half of what they did without the order. People were able to better provide for their families, buy new sewing machines for their own shops and even one tailor saved up to buy land for a new home for his family. This order meant different things for different people, but in the end it offered everyone additional income, and as an effect of that additional happiness and less stress at home.
From a development standpoint, things didn’t always go smoothly. They were hard, every day. But in the end, now that I can see these bags and see all of this hard work in stores for the American consumer to buy, I’m so happy. A mostly locally made bag, contributing to the overall development of the Malian economy, plus the added benefit of the Product Red label giving money back to Africa. What more could we have asked for?
The other great thing is that new orders are coming in already for both Mali Chic (our partner company in Bamako who we split the bogolan order with) and Farafina Tigne. The Hallmark endeavor will hopefully be just the beginning of a successful economic development scheme here in Mali.
