We often think that fair trade means cutting into margins when running a business or a significant price increase for buyers.  Madison breaks down the many bias and economics of fair trade business models.  We chat about:

• How to market fair trade products
• Why buy fair trade products
• The innovation diffusion curve
• Nike's role in the fair trade movement
• How to influence consumer purchasing decisions and corporations to buy into fair trade (push from consumers vs pull from retailers)
• Capitalists vs. Fair Trade
• Maximizing Profit for Shareholders vs. Listening to Your Customers

Madison has been both a researcher and practitioner of fair trade for over 6 years. She began as an activist with Fair Trade Toronto; encouraging institutions within the city to make procurement commitments to buy fair trade products.

She later went on to join the board of Fairtrade Canada. During this time Madison was completing her Master’s degree developing a social enterprise that imported and sold fair trade promotional apparel.

Today, Madison works in marketing for a Canadian fair trade banana importer and teaches an undergraduate class on fair trade business models.

Equifruit's website: www.equifruit.com
Equifruit Social Media: @Equifruit (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter)
Equifruit's current campaign:  www.behindthepeel.com (EN) #behindthepeel, https://souslapeau.ca/ (FR)   #souslapeau
Fairtrade Canada: http://www.fairtrade.ca/en-CA/What-is-Fairtrade
Madison Hopper LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/madison-hopper-62b1b831/