Collector groups
Organised groups, mostly women, who gather and prepare the crop. We agree prices with them before the season and pay at the collection point.
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PARTNERS
Who we work alongside
A trading company is a set of relationships. These are the ones the business runs on.
We do not own the whole chain and we do not pretend to. What we own is the coordination: knowing who is reliable, what they are good at, and who to call when something needs solving on a Friday afternoon.
The most important relationships are the least visible ones. Collector groups that sell to us season after season are worth more than any single contract, because they are the thing a competitor cannot simply buy. How we buy.
The way we work with collector groups is deliberately unromantic. We agree a price before the season so they can plan, we pay in cash at the collection point rather than on terms, and we buy again the following year from the same groups where the quality held. There is no certification scheme behind that and no marketing programme. It is simply the arrangement that keeps people selling to us.
With buyers the relationship runs the other way but the principle is the same. We would rather have twenty customers who order every quarter than a hundred who order once, so we spend more time on the specification at the start and less time apologising later. The markets we serve.
Processing partners
Mills and refineries that press, filter and fractionate to a customer's specification when we are not doing it ourselves.
Hauliers
Drivers and firms we use regularly rather than whoever is cheapest that week, because the same people learn the route and the cargo.
Overseas buyers
Food manufacturers, cosmetics houses, wholesalers and distributors, in the region and overseas.
Testing laboratories
Testing laboratories that produce the analysis certificates buyers rely on. Independence is the point.
Agencies and authorities
Export authorities and inspection bodies whose certificates decide whether a container clears or waits.
WORKING WITH US
If you gather or grow
We buy at the collection point, agree prices before the season and pay on the day. Come and talk to us before the harvest rather than after it.
If you buy
Send the specification you work to. We will tell you honestly whether we can meet it, and send a sample if we can.
If you move goods
We use the same hauliers repeatedly rather than the cheapest quote each week. If you run reliable trucks on the northern routes, we would like to know.
If you supply, buy or move goods and think there is something here, get in touch.
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