Oliberte - Canadian Shoe Company Case Study

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And environmental stewardship, which means they do not use certain toxic chemicals and recycle and reuse materials when applicable.

Employee wages due to Fair Trade

One of the purposes for fair trade within oliberte, is to help promote a higher salary earned through a sense in making the employee not only feel, but be in control of the amount he or she makes.

Within this company, for every single pair of product sold, the worker earns a certain percent of the cost, once the product is sold. This income is paid straight to a special account, which allows the workers as unison to decide how to spend it. Usually this decision is based on the community’s furthermost needs, which could be from disaster relief funds to medical care, or even transportation to work and back. The employees also have the option to convert their fair trade payment into a cash bonus, which could

be equivalent to an entire month’s salary or even more. By utilizing fair trade practices it allows the employees to feel and be under control of the amount they can make, which in my opinion is a phenomenal business strategy.

Growth of Oliberte

Employment

When Oliberte first started their company in 2009 they only had 15 employees under their payroll. This number increased to 53 employees by the end of August 2012. This means that each year they have gained more than 12 employees. This number will only steadily increase as times goes on. Today there are more than 100 employees under this company. Most of these employees started off in Oliberte with this being their first job, and are starting to rise within the company to higher positions. This only further proves the fact that African Citizens are more than capable of managing and taking care of themselves. The owners of Oliberte hopes to one day provide one million jobs in sub Saharan Africa, which I fully believe he will make possible.

Production

Oliberte started off small like any company that is first born. They have grown from just selling a mere 200 shoes in 2009 to about 25,000 pairs in 2013. Between the message that Oliberte sends to people and the high quality shoes they make, it encourages people more and more to purchase from them. The production rate will only constantly increase.

Factories

The company started off with one building which took up about 5,000 Square feet. Within the last six months, they have expanded up to two buildings which equaled out to about 11,500 square feet. This allowed for one building to be completely dedicated towards factory work, and the other for offices, storage, and other uses. This constant growth within the company will only empower them to be able to hire more Native Africans within the company, and to hopefully reach Tal’s dream and creating one million jobs in Africa.

As you can see, Oliberte’s ethical business strategy has only allowed the company to constantly grow to an entity of not only a successful business, but one of hope. The constant growth of the employment, the production, and the factories, allows for further growth within the company and the opportunity for more job placement within sub Saharan Africa.

Empowerment for women in the workplace

Although there has been much progress throughout the years Gender inequality remains a foremost obstacle to individual improvement. Women have made substantial leaps forward as far back as 1990, but they have not yet acquired gender equality. The disadvantages oppressing females are a major source of inequality. Way too often, females are ridiculed against in physical condition, schooling, political representation, labor market, and the list goes on with pessimistic repercussions for expansion of their capabilities and their freedom to choose for themselves.

Oliberte is fully aware of this issue, and refuses to let it take hold within their company. As I have said before in this paper Oliberte treats all of its employees fairly including woman. By combating gender inequality Oliberte teamed up with Baobab Batik which is another free trade company. The company was founded by Els Hooft in 1991. Baobab Batik was formed to craft gorgeous Batiks.They create their dyed cloth by using wax to create complex and incredible designs, and offer a safe, sustainable way to offer work opportunities for women in Swaziland.

The encouragement of working women programs is an extremely effective way at fighting the problems of underdevelopment, gender discrimination and scarcity in many places surrounding the world. As half the world’s work force, countries with the greatest augmentation of women’s contribution in the labor force also experienced the largest decrease in poverty. The paramount resolution to eliminating gender inequality in these areas is to offer job opportunities such as Baobab Batik and Oliberte. One of Oliberte’s main principles behind their mission is the promotion for workers for not only men, but woman. So by incorporating Baobab Batiks unique design with Oiberte’s signature style, it provides many women with jobs and a sense of belonging.

Conclusion/transition:

Due to becoming fair trade certified, it allowed the company to grow into something great and prosperous. It allowed the company to be further developed, and gave employees more benefits and pay and subsided gender inequality within its mists. Through fair trade, it did not only create a better workplace, but created a more ecologically friendly business.

.Oliberte as a B Corporation

Summary:

The next three sections of this paper will discuss how Oliberte made the transition into becoming a B-Corporation, which ultimately would benefit the environment. This transition would ultimately benefit the company because consumers will see how they care for the environment and would also want to better it, along with bettering their business.

Before I go into why Oliberte decided to become B cooperation, I shall give a brief description of what it actually is. B-corporations are for profit companies certified by the B Lab to meet thorough principles of social and environmental presentation, liability, and simplicity. Rather than companies trying to be the best in the world in terms of profit and personal gain, B corporations believe that companies should strive and be the best for the world in terms of the environment. They also believe that