Goldsmith quoted on FOX Business about his inspiration to launch his company
Like the Haugheys, Evan Goldsmith, founder and owner of Hope for Women, was inspired to start his business after multiple trips to India in the 1990s. He worked on a service project in the Himalayas creating pressed-flower greeting cards with local women for a group in the U.K., and said he wanted to stay connected after moving back home.
“I realized the market was growing for socially valuable products,” Goldsmith said. “Flashing forward to 2003, the Fair Trade movement was starting to grow with coffee and chocolate.”
He decided to open his business that same year as a Fair Trade company, a popular business model where the company is based in Burlington, Vt. The company sells products such as Tagua nut hair ties made by local women in Colombia, India and El Salvador, and has also partnered with cosmetics company Aveda selling these items. The company is registered with the Fair Trade Federation.
“We work within their local context,” Goldsmith said. “Many times, the women we work with will receive monetary benefit three-to-five times the average minimum wage from their area, it’s a much better pay scale. They can also work from home and not have to commute.”