The Traidlinks Initiative

Bewley’s has been involved with Traidlinks since its foundation in 2004. A member of the board of Traidlinks, Bewley’s provides direct support via sourcing and manufacturing for the Heart Of Africa brand and mentoring support specifically for coffee and tea businesses in Africa. Bewley’s executives regularly visit African tea and coffee companies on behalf of Traidlinks.

Traidlinks is a not-for-profit organisation and has its origins in the Private Sector Forum of 2004 which explored how to build links between the Irish business community and the Irish Aid program in developing countries, with an initial focus on the food sector in Uganda.

Traidlinks’ objectives are to promote the relief of poverty and the advancement of education in developing countries by:

• Encouraging and facilitating the creation of employment opportunities and the improvement of working and living conditions for individuals and communities in developing countries through the development and promotion of trade and business in those countries.
• Providing and facilitating the provision of skills exchange programmes, partnering arrangements, operational, managerial, academic and mentoring schemes in developing countries.
• Providing educational opportunities for individuals, communities and organisations in developing countries for the exchange of knowledge, skills, expertise, information, research materials, advice and ideas for the development of business, trade and commerce.
• Raising awareness of the role of trade in the development of developing countries.

There is growing recognition in the international development community of the role trade can play in assisting sustainable economic growth in developing countries, as well as the importance of this in both eradicating poverty and empowering people in developing countries to help themselves. Traidlinks works to engage the Irish business community in promoting trade and enterprise to diminish poverty in the developing world. The core of Traidlinks’ business lies in supporting small and medium sized African companies to overcome marketplace challenges, by providing and transferring specialist technical skills and business development expertise, and identifying and providing both international and local routes to market.