News
Global Mamas publishes quarterly updates. Go to News to hear the voices of and monitor the progress of many African women.

Mission
Global Mamas transforms the lives of women in Africa by creating sustainable income opportunities which lead to financial independence. Global Mamas reduces the economic inequality of women by significantly increasing wages and generating new jobs through the production and export of fair trade products. This in turn improves the standard of living for women, their families, and the larger community. We believe that helping women gain financial independence is the most effective way to create prosperous communities. For more information about how we achieve our mission, you can download our Annual Reports.

Programs
Global Mamas helps women in Africa to access global markets and manage their growing businesses. We enable the financial independence of these women by promoting their traditional skills in producing handmade products. Global Mamas provides direct access to markets in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia and works extensively with each woman on new product development and quality control. We also provide artisans with personalized, hands-on business assistance and computer training to strengthen their capacity to manage their growing enterprises.

History
In 2003 Global Mamas launched with six producers. Today the Global Mamas network is comprised of 627 women (and a few men) working together to penetrate export markets. The women are provided fair and deserved payments for their high-quality work. Sales of the Global Mamas’ products provide dignity to African women who are now able to earn a living wage. We provide artisans in the Global Mamas network with financial and managerial support, including:

• Coordination of the production of over 180 products in hundreds of designs for over 300 customers in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia and Ghana.
• Up-front payments for the production of the high-quality goods by providing raw materials.
• Sourcing of raw materials in bulk through a Raw Materials Revolving Inventory Fund resulting in reduced costs and increased product quality.
• Practical training in quality control, new product development, fair trade business management, computer literacy, strategic planning, bookkeeping and marketing.

Focus on Implementation & Tangible Results
While Global Mamas’ mission is not unique in Ghana, our methodology and measures of success are innovative. We challenge the typical NGO system by asking, “So you trained 500 people this month, and then what? So you prepared 20 entrepreneurs for export, and then what? Did they implement any of the ideas? Did they export? What real results were achieved?” When we launched our programs in 2003 the women of Cape Coast said, “You can teach us marketing or bookkeeping, but if you don’t help us to find new markets for our products, we won’t be here tomorrow.” Global Mamas generates real, tangible results by taking a unique approach to economic development that is not focused on classroom training. Through an extremely talented volunteer and intern network, Global Mamas provides hands-on, personalized assistance to respond to each business’ unique challenges and opportunities and, most importantly, provides access to new markets.
 
Commitment to Self Sustainability
The producers of Global Mamas have seen many NGOs come and go over the years due to their reliance on outside funding. While we recognize individual contributors as important partners, we are proud to say that over 90% of our revenue is contributed by the producers of Global Mamas through a profit-sharing model and our amazing volunteers. Today every single location of Global Mamas is self-sustainable. We very much value donations to launch new programs rather than finance ongoing operations.