Featured Artisans: Blessing Baskets from Ghana
The Blessing Basket concept was founded out of tragedy and today helps thousands of artisans (many of them women) achieve financial independence. The founder, a woman named Theresa from Missouri, was born into an abusive family with an incarcerated mother and had a tough childhood. Her husband abandoned her and her two young children on Valentine’s Day in 1999. Her neighbors and friends started helping her out with small favors and gifts (groceries, cash, mowing her lawn etc.). She put all of her notes of encouragement and mementos of help in a basket and called it a “blessing basket” from there the concept of the “The Blessing Basket” organization was born.
“INDEPENDENCE THROUGH ENTREPRENEURSHIP” is the motto or theory that drives the organization.
The Blessing Basket pays their basket weavers something called prosperity wages. These are wages that are paid upfront and in full prior to receiving the finished product. The money goes directly to the artisan. This gives the artisan freedom with this unique financial model to pull them out of poverty.
· There are no middlemen to take a large of the chunk of the profits.
· A purchase of the basket helps to recoup costs and helps to provide working capital to purchase the next basket.
· Many of the artisans after having been paid fairly for the work have been able to take their profits and start other businesses (opening general stores, buying land, livestock sales, etc.).
· The money that these artisans make also enables them to send their children to school and to have access to medical care. This breaks the cycle of poverty.
· The Blessing Basket uses cargo ships to deliver as it is the cheapest from of shipping. Their baskets and products are produced in Ghana, Uganda, Madagascar, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
· They employ people with disabilities in the U.S. to tag and assemble items.
***In each basket is a tag that has a code written on it. You can input the code into the website and follow the actual artisan who made the basket. This is a nice person-to-person extra touch that makes the purchase more unique***
“INDEPENDENCE THROUGH ENTREPRENEURSHIP” is the motto or theory that drives the organization.
The Blessing Basket pays their basket weavers something called prosperity wages. These are wages that are paid upfront and in full prior to receiving the finished product. The money goes directly to the artisan. This gives the artisan freedom with this unique financial model to pull them out of poverty.
· There are no middlemen to take a large of the chunk of the profits.
· A purchase of the basket helps to recoup costs and helps to provide working capital to purchase the next basket.
· Many of the artisans after having been paid fairly for the work have been able to take their profits and start other businesses (opening general stores, buying land, livestock sales, etc.).
· The money that these artisans make also enables them to send their children to school and to have access to medical care. This breaks the cycle of poverty.
· The Blessing Basket uses cargo ships to deliver as it is the cheapest from of shipping. Their baskets and products are produced in Ghana, Uganda, Madagascar, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
· They employ people with disabilities in the U.S. to tag and assemble items.
***In each basket is a tag that has a code written on it. You can input the code into the website and follow the actual artisan who made the basket. This is a nice person-to-person extra touch that makes the purchase more unique***