2Mages Development Strategy

The following text is a personal reflection by 2Mages’ head of business development .

I have worked most of my life in international development and in general it is a failure. But there’s a way to make it work through trade, and 2Mages is my effort to try this out. Let me first point out what’s wrong with the current system and then describe how 2Mages is a response to that.

International development is over

International development, all the way up to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, seems a lofty goal and it hurts to be so negative about it. That feeds into right wing populist narratives (“let’s stop wasting our Western wealth on poor countries”) with which I disagree even more. I understand why many disillusioned field workers and analysts prefer to remain silent. But the fundamental problems of this field thus remain undiscussed.

This conversation started a long time ago among development practitioners and analysts, but it remains at the margins of the sector, in group chats and blogs. It’s time to bring it centre stage. The world of international development is collapsing fast. Trump’s administration is leading the way, and most European countries – traditionally major donors alongside the USA and Japan – have been slashing their international development budgets too. So there’s not much left to lose by criticising the way rich countries have tried to ‘help’ ‘third world’ countries over the past eighty years.

The fundamental flaw is the ‘us-them’ thinking at the root of this field, where the ‘white saviour’ strives to help the poor and uneducated masses in the ’third world’ sort out the problems of their countries and raise their standard of living. This superiority has never been justified, but in Trumpian times the pretence has become laughable.

This paternalistic attitude is rooted, of course, in colonialism. It was already decried by Frantz Fanon and many other leading lights from the independence struggles against colonial rule. This criticism of ‘international development discourse’ has gone through several iterations since then among intellectuals – think of Gayatri Spivak’s “May the Subaltern Speak?” which opened the field of postcolonial critique – but now it has spread to the masses of the so-called developing countries.¹ Gen Z youth seems united in their rejection of this Western paternalism.

So not only is the world of international development crumbling at the core, but it is increasingly contested among the populations supposedly benefitting from it. It’s definitely time for a new approach.

Directly from producer to consumer

The approach we’re trying out with 2Mages is made possible by a growing change in consumer culture. Consumers increasingly want to know where their product exactly comes from, who made it and whether using this product is contributing to worsening this world (climate crisis, poverty of producers and exploitative or criminal trade networks) –  or improving it. True, this consciousness is growing slowly and overall it has a limited impact. Most global commercial systems are ruining the environment while contributing to the growing divide between rich and poor. Nevertheless, all analysts agree that ethical consumer consciousness is growing.

The result has been an explosion in ‘greenwashing’ because commercial operations, trying to maximise profits, feed into this demand for high-grade and ethical products by pretending to engage in fair trade and sustainable production. But claims of corporate social responsibility are increasingly distrusted by consumers, especially after a few scandals involving fake claims.

Why would you trust a company whose main goal is to make money from you?

A new certification industry has arisen to provide guarantees to consumers that biological, fair trade, organic and sustainable claims are legitimate. These organisations are mostly non-profits but they need money to stay alive and grow. They can not ensure that all workers get paid fair wages and that production is really sustainable, as that would require an enormous and highly costly monitoring capacity. Who would pay for that? At the end this certification industry is paid for by the consumers themselves. More to the point, the interest in the producing communities and ecosystems of people working in the certification industry is nominal rather than real. They have no skin in the game when it comes to the wellbeing of distant people and plants. Their priority is the growth of their market share and salaries.

Is there a way out of this conundrum? Yes, and it looks very simple: short supply lines. Buy directly from the producers, ship and transform the products oneself, and sell them directly to consumers. With full control by a single person or organization, the commercial operation can become fully transparent. Let the consumer know exactly who made their product and where, from what raw materials and under what conditions. Document it fully. And if the consumer doesn’t trust the information you provide, they should be able to verify it directly with the producer. Nowadays most people, also in the poorest communities, have access to a smartphone with a messaging and a translation service. And if the consumer still doesn’t trust this virtual communication, they can travel to meet the producers of their products.

To most commercial operators, what I suggest seems completely naïve. If you are transparent about your supply lines, any competitor can barge in and take over. And why wouldn’t the consumer buy the product directly from the producer and cut you out?

No problem! Let a competitor copy me or buy from my suppliers, and let the consumer buy directly from the producer. In the first case, either the competitor copies my approach or pays my suppliers more than I do, which is good for them and the whole sector. I’d be glad to see that happen and am ready to move on to hundreds of other products that require honest trade. But my margins are low and it will be difficult for anyone to undercut them; and my relations with the suppliers are personal, friendly and based on respect, so many of them may prefer to work with me rather than with competitors. As to the second case, if I do not provide a good service, then indeed there’s no point in standing between the producer and the consumer. I rather do something useful. But how will the producer send his raw produce to the consumer, and how will consumers transform it into what they need? The contacts, expertise and economy of scale I can offer are a real service.

2Mages’ primary purpose is not become a wealthy organisation – we refuse to let greed become a core operating principle – but to develop new trade networks where high-value, 100% pure and organic, sustainably produced natural products are delivered to consumers. Sustainable production implies that harvesting communities are paid well enough to seek the sustainability of this source of their wealth. When harvesters realise that not only they, but also their children and grandchildren can make a decent living off a local product, they will take care of sustainable production by themselves. No need to monitor that. They know their plants better than we do.

In terms of customers, we focus on the health and wellness sectors, with more interest in small businesses than in individual consumers. This allows 2Mages to minimize marketing efforts and individual customer relations, which can be tedious. Small businesses are more knowledgeable about products than individual customers and thus will know that our offering is truly high-level. Through them we may also achieve a higher volume of sales and thus a multiplier effect benefiting producing communities.

2Mages’ initial offering is frankincense and myrrh collected by members of the women’s cooperative in Somaliland Beeyo Maal. Later it will expand its catalogue of products, working exclusively with indigenous communities (who have an intimate knowledge of what they harvest), preferably through cooperative structures. 2Mages also seeks to facilitate field research by scientists and information exchange, for example by collecting oral histories about local plant use and lore.

The Honourable Harvest

2Mages commits not only to pay a fair price for its products, but also reinvests 10% of sales in projects decided upon by the producing communities. We encourage them to use these funds to improve the conditions of production and increase the value added to their work, for example by transforming it locally. Our customers pay a higher price for our product² than for standard offerings, but they really do contribute to making the world a better place, and in return they get a pure and fully traceable product with good vibes.

This new approach is rooted in the fundamental equality among producers and consumers, between the rich people who desire a good product and the rural poor in the global south who harvest it for them. It seeks not only to directly transfer wealth from the rich to the poor (instead of going through donor institutions, NGOs, foreign consultants and the rest of the aid industry) but also empowers producing communities by showing the respect they are due and funding their own development plans.

And let us not forget that at the source of this whole venture is the plant that produces these unique beneficial substances. We admire the capacity of frankincense and myrrh trees to produce resin that cures not only their diseases but also ours. As our chief scientist Berossus reminds me, the essential oils are produced in the trees’ cells not only to heal their wounds but also to communicate with the outside world, for example by attracting some species with their smells while repelling others.

While we learn from our current operation in importing frankincense and myrrh, we are seeking to expand this model of trade to new sectors. That’s where Arawelo comes in, our parent company, run by the same people but focused on market development and research rather than the trade in resins. 10% of every sale on this website accrues directly to the Arawelo research fund.

Oh yes, we are not spending any money on online advertising. Our ethics mean that we do not want to contribute to the wealth of the big tech giants. We may organize events such as olfactory tastings, physical market presence and other activities that can be construed as ‘marketing’, but we have only a tiny marketing budget and are determined to spend it on events, people and small businesses that we like.

Our magician and product developer Enkidu wants me to finish with this message: 2Mages is rooted in the principle of ‘The Honourable Harvest’ as described by the native American ethnobotanist Robin Wall Kimmerer in ‘Braiding Sweetgrass’. From our perspective, the best we can do is to not corrupt the gifts of nature for our personal profit but to share them widely, without adulteration and with positive energy. That is our mission. Create an account and accept to receive our emails if you want to join the movement.

Rainbo

2Mages Business Development