Trade moves

Entrepreneur gives global artisans an economic edge

By Kate Gawf

The Portland Tribune, Feb 17, 2004, Updated Oct 30, 2009

When he set out from Portland, Daniel Koch knew it was not the safest time to travel in Afghanistan.

No one heads to one of the world’s most heavily land-mined countries without a compelling reason, especially in the current climate of increasing violence against even traditionally exempt aid workers.

But a compelling reason presented itself shortly after the 57-year-old Koch (pronounced “Cook”) launched his new business, International Tradeworks, to help native craftspeople link up with market and distribution opportunities. He had just sold his half of his international furniture company in January 2003.

After talking with his friend Jim White, then the South Asia director of Portland-based Mercy Corps and now its director of project initiatives, Koch made him a proposal. He offered to go to Afghanistan and study trades, skills, products and materials, and identify development opportunities.

Mercy Corps took him up on his proposal and sent him to Afghanistan for three and a half weeks in late July and August, after which he came back with a list of artisans whose products could be marketed worldwide.

Besides offering emergency relief, Mercy Corps has access to microcredit, or the practice of lending small amounts of money Ñ as little as $100 or $200 Ñ to individuals for use as seed money that allows them to earn back many times the original amount as well repay the loan.

Mercy Corps has been administering microcredit programs globally for at least six years, and began offering such programs in Afghanistan last April.

Lynn Renken, Mercy Corps’ South Asia senior program officer, says, “We were lucky to find someone with Dan’s expertise who’s been there before and also speaks the language. He’s done some great work for us, and we’re looking forward to implementing some of his recommendations.”

Koch’s assignment with Mercy Corps Ñ one of many nongovernmental agencies assisting in Afghanistan Ñ was the beginning of something much bigger.

In the next couple of months, he and his collaborators will travel to Washington, D.C., where they’ll present their development model to a group of potential donors and on-the-ground agencies that are working in various countries to see if they can obtain seed money for their ventures.

On yet another project, in collaboration with a Canadian company, Koch will be doing some economic development work with the Mapuche community in Chile, a native tribe currently on a lower rung of the economic ladder there.

Koch is clearly enthusiastic about his new partnering ventures.

“They’re doing some complementary things to what I’m doing, which is what’s great about it,” he said. “We all bring something different toward the same sorts of goals.”

1 | 2 Next Page >>

Facebook	Digg	Del.icio.us
Newsvine	Stumbleupon	Reddit