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In 1992, Charlotte di Vita set up her first ethical trading company
in order to create environmentally sound and economically viable
means to alleviate poverty in impoverished communities, initially
in Africa.
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But her fundraising career started much earlier when Charlotte
co-ordinated the first Anglo-Brazilian Conference on the Environment
in Brasilia in 1990 and secured a donation of US$1,250,000 for
Pro-Natura,
a Brazilian-based Rainforest Preservation non-profit organisation.
Charlotte has been pioneering a unique approach to global trade
for more than 14 years:
Not only initiating, supporting and managing sustainable, ethically
run, handicraft businesses to enable disadvantaged communities
to become self-supporting; but also generating enough profit to
contribute funds to conservation, education and poverty alleviation
projects for some of the poorest communities in the world.
In 1997 Charlotte set up the Trade plus Aid ® charitable trust. In
1998 Charlotte was honoured with the MBE in recognition of
her work with trade plus aid.
In 2003 she was inaugurated as a Nelson Mandela Children's Fund Goodwill
Ambassador. In 2005, the University of Huddersfild awarded Charlotte an
Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration.
The Trade plus Aid® charitable trust
has contributed funds to charitable projects
in 14 countries: Ghana, Kenya, South
Africa, Sudan and Zambia in Africa; China, East Timor, Mongolia,
Thailand and Vietnam in Asia; Peru and Guatemala in South America,
Afghanistan and the UK. |
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Charlotte di Vita MBE's international
fair trade initiatives have helped communities in 21 countries
to become self-supporting through ethical trade: (Africa
- Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Namibia, South Africa,
Zimbabwe. Asia - Bangladesh, China, India, Nepal, Philippines,
Thailand. South America - Belize, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador,
Guatemala, Mexico, Peru.) |
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The Trade Plus Aid® Design Studio handcrafts
glass windchimes.
Charlotte di Vita MBE outside Buckingham
Palace after her investiture in October 1998
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