#030: Beyond Charity: How a Pre-School Mom Connects African Talent with the Global Marketplace
Meet Valerie Bowden, a young mother who after living in Ethiopia for eight years returned to the U.S. with her family and founded a business that connects African talent to entrepreneurs in the U.S. and Canada.
Charity and aid in Africa often do more harm than good, creating an inequitable relationship. Business partnerships offer a win-win model for fairer relationships.
When I asked Valerie if she ever doubted herself when creating Crdle she said “No. It was a burning inside me that I couldn’t NOT do.” Too many Africans on the continent were telling her fair business relationships was what they needed, not “aid.” So she turned that social work ethic, including that of listening to people and supporting their leadership, to becoming an entrepreneur herself and a partner with small businesses and entrepreneurs in Africa.
On this episode of Mother Tree Network, Valerie joins us to talk about her organization Crdle, which connects African entrepreneurs and skilled individuals with partners in the global marketplace.
Valerie shares cultural differences between Ethiopian and US work culture and how building relationships can enhance productivity.
Valerie and I talked about the Ethiopian cultural differences that could benefit American work culture, including:
- Centering relationship
- Making people more important than time
- Moving at the rate of trust
Valerie has a five-month old baby and when I asked how she manages a start up and her young family, she said that she prioritizes self-care.
She gets up at 4:30am every morning and begins her day with three hours of quiet, movement, journaling, and coffee. She also gets 7-8 hours of sleep every night because her body breaks down without that minimum.
How does she do all of this and run a business?
Partnerships.
She has a Ugandhan partner who handles a lot of the back-end business aspects so that she can focus on spending her days promoting African talent and match-making.
Sustainably paid African partners can benefit both entrepreneurs seeking to expand their operations and those looking to start a side hustle.
Paying a fair wage helps to reset the balance towards more fair relationships and business endeavors.
Key Points:
- Valerie challenges stereotypes about people from different cultures and encourages trying new things to learn and grow. She has worked with non-profits in African communities and realized that many charities do not make a real impact, and some actually cause damage. By adopting a business approach, Valerie creates win-win partnerships where both parties benefit and there is a more fair and balanced relationship.
- Valerie shares how African businesses can offer unique and cool products that aren't found in the US. She cites an example of how entrepreneurs can source white label products from Africa instead of going to platforms like Alibaba for generic products. Additionally, she mentions how small startups and businesses can find affordable talent in African countries with a lower cost of living, thereby creating more cost-effective business solutions.
- The podcast shares how everyone can play a vital role in helping Africa's growth and development, aligning their values with financial investments through Crdle. Valerie emphasizes that ethics and values from the helping professions can be creatively applied to make an impact in various fields, including business.
Valerie’s Bio
With over a decade of experience living in East Africa, Valerie has helped some of the most recognizable brands in the world do business and investment in Africa. She is the founder of CRDLE, a marketplace that connects the world to African brands, farmers, and talent. She helps people source from Africa–the right way! Her advice and experience in African countries has been featured on PBS, Huffington Post, NBC News, Yahoo, and the Washington Post. Before launching her career, she backpacked the entire length of Africa by herself.
Links:
TIME STAMP SUMMARY
[00:06:10] A talented Ethiopian woman struggled to find employment, but was connected with a medical company in the US, leading to a successful match and a win-win situation for all involved.
[00:11:03] Cultural differences in time management and work relationships between the US and Ethiopia; Ethiopians prioritize relationships and will drop everything to help, whereas Americans focus on punctuality and efficiency.
[00:19:55] A business owner suggests shorter work weeks are possible in the US, citing examples from other countries and the use of affordable talent.
[00:21:10] The organization promotes good business and travel in Africa as it highlights the continent's talent and cool products. It aims to become the go-to source for anyone wanting to do business in the continent.
[00:23:21] The speaker works part-time around preschool schedule, has a Ugandan business partner who handles the back-end part and collaborates with other companies for importing items. This allows them to focus on their passion for promoting Uganda's roasted coffee.
[00:24:54] American podcaster works exclusively with African talent to promote their businesses in the US.
[00:26:17] Charity and aid in Africa often do more harm than good, creating an inequitable relationship. Business partnerships offer a win-win model for fairer relationships.
[00:29:20] White label African products can help entrepreneurs start a brand at an affordable rate while creating an impact on the environment and job creation. African countries offer affordable talent for startups and small businesses.
[00:34:49] Social work has influenced the way the speaker conducts their business by ensuring they do no harm and allowing clients to define their own goals. The speaker uses this approach in their work in Africa by helping people access market linkages to the US and not pushing their own ideas. Helping professions' values can be used in business to create an impact.
[00:36:43] Encouragement to challenge stereotypes and embrace diversity, with a plug for the company's website and upcoming coffee sales.
TRANSCRIPT
So welcome, Valerie Bowden to the Mother Tree network.
Valerie Bowden [00:00:11]:
I am excited to be here.
Aminata Sol [00:00:12]:
Yes, we're really happy to have you here. So the Mother Tree Network, as you know, is where Earth wisdom and spirituality meet racial justice and women's leadership. So we always begin every conversation, Valerie, with a question. And before I ask you that question, let me just tell everyone a little bit about you so they know who you are or who you are to me. You can get Valerie's bio in our show notes, but who I know her to be is the founder of the organization called Crdle, which basically connects people in the African continent, talented entrepreneurs, and people with skills with people in the global marketplace who need support, but who don't necessarily right now get that support from Africa. So Valerie helps people to make the connection so that your dollars and your values can line up with yeah, so your dollars and values can line up. And if you have an interest in the growth and development of Africa and Africa's contribution to the rest of the world, then Crdle is a great place to live that out. But Valerie is also special because she lived a long time in Ethiopia. She married into an Ethiopian family and has two small children, one of whom was born in Ethiopia, and so brings that lived experience with her wherever she goes. So really happy to have you here, Valerie.
Valerie Bowden [00:01:42]:
Thank you so much. That was such a nice introduction. Thank you.
Aminata Sol [00:01:46]:
Oh, good.
Valerie Bowden [00:01:46]:
I'm glad you liked it.
Aminata Sol [00:01:49]:
So, Valerie, tell us what is good what's good to you today?
Valerie Bowden [00:01:54]:
What's good to me today? I am loving being a mom of two small kids. It's kind of like a juggling act at times. But I think what's good for me is that my baby is only five months old, so we've kind of like, I think, officially settled into that two kid life. We're sleeping through the night again, so I feel like a human, and we have some today we did some really cool talent placing. Like, we had this really cool Ethiopian who I really wanted to find a good job for, and we just connected her to the perfect job, and that felt really good. So those are probably the two top things on my mind today.
Aminata Sol [00:02:33]:
Wow. That is beautiful. First of all, I have to say, I'm amazed you're sleeping through the night if your baby's only five or six months old.
Valerie Bowden [00:02:40]:
Yeah, we started about a month ago, and I think it took us a while to get there, but we're finally sleeping through the night, and it feels so good.
Aminata Sol [00:02:48]:
Wow. Yes. Before we started recording, you were telling me how your office, which looks very lovely on camera, has kids toys all around on the bottom off camera. One of the things I wonder about, one of the things that I remember when I was, like, mothering young children was fatigue. And I hear other women talk about fatigue who are mothering young children or who are still in that early age, the elementary age of mothering, but finding their energy has gone low. So I wonder, how do you handle what is your approach to self care?
Valerie Bowden [00:03:30]:
Well, I have always been good at self care because I physically break down without it. So I am that person who needs seven to 8 hours of sleep a night. So, I mean, I'm getting the kids in bed by eight and we sleep. So sleep is a big thing for me. And then I wake up at 430 and I do have about 3 hours to myself in the morning where I'm working out, meditating, journaling, reading, drinking my coffee in peace. And then the rest of the day can be chaos. But I have that early start and then a little bit of an earlier bedtime and then that keeps me intact.
Aminata Sol [00:04:12]:
I love that. Wow. But 430, I've heard of the 05:00 A.m. People, but 430. Wow. How is that for you? Does that feel hard?
Valerie Bowden [00:04:23]:
No, it feels like so quiet and peaceful. Like just for 3 hours. I have pure silence and my soul thrives on that. Every cell in my body feels so happy to have some quiet time in a long time.
Aminata Sol [00:04:39]:
Wow. Every cell in your body.
Valerie Bowden [00:04:44]:
I feel it. And I did do a switch. I was waking up and trying to meditate first and I found myself sleeping through my meditation. Like, it was a little bit hard, so I just switched and I go straight to exercising. But the music and moving keeps me awake. And then I ended up having a better meditation in the morning afterwards and I feel like a little bit more productive. So I made that switch a couple of weeks ago and it felt like a really good change for me.
Aminata Sol [00:05:13]:
Love that. I really am thinking about that quiet. One of the things that I've been doing is getting myself into bed by 10:00 or bust. Just stopping and dropping, stop, drop, and roll into that bed. Even if I'm not feeling sleepy, I've just been committing to stop dropping and rolling into the bed so that I'm at least resting for a good 8 hours.
Valerie Bowden [00:05:42]:
Yeah, I've been making my early bedtime a priority, but then I realized I was still on my phone. So now I've been trying to be a lot better about literally putting the phone away before the last 30 minutes before I go to sleep. And that's also helped me feel more rested.
Aminata Sol [00:06:00]:
Wow, that's really great. And then the other thing that you said that you were feeling what was good for you is that you had just placed someone in Ethiopia with an assignment.
Valerie Bowden [00:06:10]:
Yes. So we're still finalizing, but it's like this Ethiopian girl who literally went to Oxford, super educated, super talented. She comes back to Ethiopia, cannot find a job, and there's just millions like her who are just really well educated, really great skill set, and then just cannot find opportunities. And so we finally connected to a medical company in the US. And so we're getting ready to try to match make them now. But it's so exciting to see how one business in the US. Really wanted talent and then one really educated Ethiopian wanted a job and to use her experience and education for the greater good. And so matching them was just like, oh, I love everything about this. Everybody's happy. It's like a win win. And it feels really good that somebody who spent so much on her education is finally able to find a career that can pay her and that's meaningful and that she likes.
Aminata Sol [00:07:11]:
Yeah, I mean, there's so many parts of that I want to ask you more about. Let's start with Ethiopia, though, because I think you said you lived there for, like, eight years.
Valerie Bowden [00:07:20]:
Yeah, for about eight years. So first I started off, like, when I traveled across Africa, so I went through 13 countries, and I liked Ethiopia the best, so I moved there thinking I'd be there for six months, and I just kept renewing my visa over and over, and I really enjoyed it. And then I met my husband along the way, and then that just kind of cemented the fact that I would be there for quite a while, and I really enjoyed it. And we just moved back to the US. Last year, so it's been like, a year of transition for us.
Aminata Sol [00:07:50]:
Yeah. Wow. So you were there for eight years as a young woman, and I don't know. I mean, you present as white. I don't know what your ethnicity is.
Valerie Bowden [00:08:05]:
From Indiana. I grew up like a typical I would say, like, Midwest girl, went to church. I always heard really bad things about Ethiopia, that it was so super poor, and I just heard the worst of the worst because that's what media presents. And then I went to Ethiopia, and I was like, nobody told me that this is a country that invented coffee, that has the fastest runners in the world, that has really good vegan food, that has a really nice culture, and Ethiopia is home to the African Union. So what that means is there's people from every country in Africa based there and double the amount of expats because they also serve with the African Union. So the city I lived in, the capital, is really diverse. So you meet people from all over the world, and it was just like, a really fun living experience.
Aminata Sol [00:08:56]:
Right, so this baba yes, we were talking about this, how there's a narrative of Africa as lacking as somehow needing, quote, the west to save it or, quote, develop it somehow like that. And I was just talking with a friend of yours yesterday, a Nigerian American woman, and she was like, how we got here is a result of colonialism, this Africa that we have today that people talk about. So I guess I just wonder, in your experience, let's say, because you're in Ethiopia with Ethiopian people, how did you see their capacity, their inner resources, their riches?
Valerie Bowden [00:09:52]:
Good question. I was just continually surprised with all the talents, like the skill set and the opportunities there, and just also the values, I always felt more alive there, is what I said, because I think that it's just like, a richer community and people really prioritize people more than time. And I think that's kind of more the way we're supposed to live. And there's just so many things that I think Ethiopians do better than the US. And now that my husband and I are raising two kids that are like Ethiopian American, we're trying to always have this conversation about what values do we want to infuse from the US. And what values do we want to infuse from Ethiopia so that they become a little bit more well rounded, I would say.
Aminata Sol [00:10:51]:
I guess I'm thinking about that whole thing about valuing people over time or relationships over time. What's an example of that?
Valerie Bowden [00:11:03]:
Probably two examples would be, like, if I'm in the US. And I'm running late and I run into someone I know, I'll be like, oh, my gosh, I'm so sorry, I'll call you later. I got to go. I'm running late for this meeting. But in Ethiopia, they'd be like, I'm running really late. So how are you? How's your mom? What are you up to? If you need something, they will drop everything and just help you. Even if it's not super convenient timing for them, they'll just stop and help you. And probably maybe a second example is when I was working in an Ethiopian company, at first it was really challenging for me because as an American, I was so used to getting there exactly at nine, starting my work at 901, not saying hi to people, just being really like, I have to work or I'll get in trouble. And soon I realized that that was so weird to them and it really was expected that the first ten to 2030 minutes, I'm saying hi to everyone. I'm talking to them. We're having, like, a morning coffee together, and then work starts maybe at, like, 930, but there was, like a full half hour where you're just talking and catching up with people that you saw the day before. But they were, like, building relationships all day long and taking more time to get to know each other. And I just feel like that's kind of like, the better way to work is to kind of balance that human aspect as well.
Aminata Sol [00:12:18]:
Yeah. I was having lunch with a man who is a superintendent of schools here where I live in Lancaster, and he's Ugandan and Rwandan, and he was telling me about how it's like, we have to return to humanity in all of our institutions, like the United States, like, really humans at the center and human relationships. And that person who has that job at your school or your company is a person, you know what I mean? And that person has ancestors. It was just a whole realm of respect and a trust in, quote, productivity. That can happen when there's this whole I don't know, this cocoon or this context of respect.
Valerie Bowden [00:13:23]:
Yeah, I fully agree. And I think for big companies, it makes a lot of sense to value their employees. I think there is, like, an ROI there if they wanted to look at it, but I think it just makes common sense as well. One other thing that might be interesting in Ethiopia, when you're served food, it's like everybody eats off the same platter. So it's like a giant plate, and you have, like, six or seven people all eating off of it and creates, like, a sense of connection. Like, you're not just with your own little plate. Everybody's eating off the same shared plate. And people feed each other, and it's just so much love, even in small acts like that, that are just infused in the culture. And I don't have data, but I'm sure their levels of depression and loneliness and suicide, I'm sure they're a lot lower than what the US.
Aminata Sol [00:14:16]:
Is.
Valerie Bowden [00:14:17]:
And partly because of that, I think.
Aminata Sol [00:14:19]:
Wow, that is a good point. I've eaten Ethiopian style so with those big platters. And it's funny because at the time that it happens, I don't really have a problem with it, but when you just described it just now, it was like all my COVID tension came up.
Valerie Bowden [00:14:37]:
You know what I mean?
Aminata Sol [00:14:38]:
It was like, wow, this whole way of being is I don't know how those cultures dealt with the threat of COVID or other kinds of communicable diseases.
Valerie Bowden [00:14:53]:
I was still in Ethiopia during COVID and there definitely wasn't as much precautions. I would say people still did all of this. I think the only thing we did differently was we wore a mask inside of grocery stores. But also, Ethiopia and many other African countries weren't hit as hard as the rest of the world, and there's a lot of scientists trying to figure out why. But, yeah, in Ethiopia, people carried on.
Aminata Sol [00:15:22]:
And I'm also thinking about Adrian Marie Brown. She's someone who I read, and I know a lot of people in the Brother Tree community mention her. She has a book called Emergent Strategy. And one of those things that she says is that it's important when you're working with coalitions to go at the speed of trust. Go at the speed of trust, which means you have to prioritize relationship and getting to know each other and build trust through action, reaction, communication, falling down, repairing.
Valerie Bowden [00:16:03]:
Yeah, that's so good, so true.
Aminata Sol [00:16:06]:
And it just makes me think about, like, for us, I feel like a lot of our narratives and what we're exposed to in television. Even Jane Austen. I've been listening to a lot of Jane Austen lately. It's one of my guilty pleasures. It's like we have this thing about, well, if it's good, if a relationship is good, then it's good. Not that it gets built towards good or that even good relationships have trials, tests. People stumble. People are still evolving. You know what I mean? So you're still going, but you have to slow down maybe to reestablish trust or to reestablish trust with yourself.
Valerie Bowden [00:16:54]:
Yeah, I like the idea of reestablishing trust with yourself. That's probably the first part or the first step with others.
Aminata Sol [00:17:03]:
Yeah. And to me, that takes us back to what you said, is that, you know, you need seven to 8 hours of sleep. So that's like foundational to your trust, to yourself.
Valerie Bowden [00:17:13]:
Yeah. I mean, I physically break down. I have friends who I feel like won't be like, oh, I only slept 4 hours, and they look fine. I'm not that person. I really cannot function without sleep or without good self care. And I think that's kind of like a hidden blessing.
Aminata Sol [00:17:27]:
It is. Because some of us have an override function, and we don't even know when we've kicked an override. Like, I'm just going to confess override trying to be the best mom or not the best mom. A good mom or a good partner or a dedicated activist. It's so easy to slip into override.
Valerie Bowden [00:17:53]:
Yeah, it's really easy.
Aminata Sol [00:17:57]:
So it's like when you listen to your body, when your body demands your attention by breaking down.
Valerie Bowden [00:18:03]:
Yeah, it's true. Because then once your body breaks down, it takes so much longer to repair that. If you just prevented it in the first place, it wouldn't have happened in the first place. You would save time.
Aminata Sol [00:18:20]:
Yes. So go at the rate of trust. And what you just said about if it didn't break down, then you wouldn't have to go back and repair it. What you just said before I slowed my company all the way down. I mean, like, I slowed my company down to a sabbatical. But prior to that, I was reading these books. One of them is called I think one of them is called Slow. And it was all about these companies who are doing really well by shortening. I think it's called short because what these companies are doing, how they're doing well, is by shortening their work weeks. Shortening their hours.
Valerie Bowden [00:19:02]:
Yeah. I was having a conversation with business leaders in the Pennsylvania area this week, and that was one of the big topics, was, like, first, how can you give people Fridays off on the summer or half day Fridays? And then others were saying, we actually moved to a four day work week, and it made people so much happier, and it really supported their employees. And I think it was like everybody said, it took a few weeks of adjustments, and it took a while for the customers to also get on board, and then they've never looked back once they transition to those work weeks that are shorter.
Aminata Sol [00:19:44]:
Yeah. So we got to get back to you and Crdle because you're in a startup mode. You started this company, right?
Valerie Bowden [00:19:52]:
Yes, I did.
Aminata Sol [00:19:53]:
How long have you guys been around?
Valerie Bowden [00:19:55]:
So we started, and we were in Ethiopia, kind of like a pilot. And then once I moved back to the US. Last year, I officially registered it in the US. And one of the things we were talking about with these companies is that when you have some more talent on the back end, especially if it's a little bit more affordable, you can afford to give your team members that Friday off. So there is a way to make it viable, I think, for businesses. And one thing that comes to my mind is that my sister lives in the Netherlands, and she's a teacher, and she only teaches, like, three days a week, and that's so normal there. And nobody works five day work weeks. Everybody has, like, three or four workdays. And so there's so many countries around the world that are making shorter work weeks possible, and I think companies in the US. Can do that as well. Whether you, like, work with someone like me who can give you more backup talent or you just rearrange your organization to make it work. Yeah, it's possible. People, I think, should move towards that.
Aminata Sol [00:21:01]:
I love the name of your company, by the way, Crdle, because I have a certain association with Crdle, but you tell me where'd you get that name.
Valerie Bowden [00:21:10]:
So Africa is the crdle of humanity. It's Crdle. Mankind is where everybody on this planet came from. And I didn't want we're all about promoting good business, good travel to the continent, and so I didn't want anything that seemed too, like, empowering Africa or aid to Africa. A lot of the companies that work in Africa have that kind of connotation, and we're trying to actually fight that and show that the African continent has so much talent and so many cool products and so many cool tourist destinations. And so we wanted something that kind of reminded the world, like, this is where we came from. This is where everything starts. This is so cool. And we really wanted to be kind of like, when anybody wants to do business in Africa, they come through us. So we're like the crdle of kind of like the originators. Like, if you want to go work in Africa, we're going to show you and point you in the right direction so that you do it in the best way possible.
Aminata Sol [00:22:14]:
Yeah, because that was my association with the word crdle, too. That was the crdle of civilization. So I love that. I love that. And for everybody who's listening, Valerie spells Crdle. Tell them how you spell crdle, Valerie.
Valerie Bowden [00:22:29]:
So we spell it C-R-D-L-E. So crdle without the A. To be honest, it's because that's the URL that was available. We say like, Africa puts the A and Crdle, so we're just going to leave it out. So it is a different spelling, but yeah, we really love the work that we're doing. And I would say probably most of our work is just like educating people on what the continent is like and all the business you can do and reasons to think differently about it. And so that's most of what my days are filled with.
Aminata Sol [00:23:02]:
Yeah, I just want to make sure we talked about that crdle thing, but I did want to follow up on short and this whole three, four day work week. So here you are a startup, you have two small children, you just relocated back to the United States. How many days a week do you work?
Valerie Bowden [00:23:21]:
I am working five, I would say. I work on the preschool schedule. I do work like a few hours in the morning, then I go do preschool pickup and I come back and then I work during nap time. And I think in the beginning I realized I really need good business partners, so it's not just me. And so I have a really cool Ugandan business partner who helps me on the talent side. And he's based in the UK and he's really good at the back end part that I'm horrible at, he's really good at. And we do different kinds of business, so I always have somebody who's kind of helping support me in different ways. So even another example is we are getting ready to do our first import. We're also going to start selling this really full coffee from Uganda. And so we found a really good shipping company in the US that will just ship out everything for us that connects to our website. So we pay a bit of a premium for that, but it also means I can spend my time doing what I love, which is talking about why you should buy roasted coffee from Uganda and the benefits and the people who started the brand and all of that stuff. I think that's how I make my business workable, is by just having extra people and extra support to make it function well.
Aminata Sol [00:24:38]:
Yeah, I love that. I'm really glad for you and I love hearing about these partnerships with other African entrepreneurs like you. Partnering, it just seems like alignment with what you say crdle is about.
Valerie Bowden [00:24:54]:
I think it would be. I mean, to be honest, it'd be weird if I was promoting African talent and then didn't work with African talent. That would be kind of like hypocritical, I think. Yeah. So when it comes to all the work, everyone I partner with is from the African continent. And that's why it's so much better. When I lived in Ethiopia, I just saw so many cool people and so many cool products and brands and businesses, and the one thing that everyone had in common was that they just needed more customers. And the US. Is such a big market that I was like, oh, wait, I'm American. And that can be. The part I do is that I'm just here in the US. And I happen to talk about the services and I connect you to American businesses, or I help import and become the FDA person that you need on the US. Side to import. And so I act as that part, but everybody I work with is doing really cool things, and they're all from different African countries.
Aminata Sol [00:25:51]:
Yeah. Wow. I know this is sound a little bit like an advertisement for your company, but I'm going deep on it because I think it's a good model in a lot of ways, and I love just the possibilities of real partnership, like respectful partnership. Yeah.
Valerie Bowden [00:26:17]:
I think so much of the problem I have with kind of charity and aid on the continent is I started off in social work. So I first went to work with these nonprofits, and it was very much about Americans helping African communities. And then when I was there, I realized that so much of the charities we're doing don't really make an impact. Some of them cause damage. And the whole narrative of us helping, we're not really helping. Right. And it's not an equitable relationship, and it's not fair, and it's just so many different horrible things. And so the part I like about business anywhere in the world is it is like that win win partnership where you work with really cool suppliers that you become really good friends with and that deliver really good products. For you, and you have your business based on them, and so they appreciate you because they get money from you, but you make money because you work with them. It's like a win win. And I think it kind of resets the balance that we need in this world with more fair relationships and business endeavors.
Aminata Sol [00:27:20]:
Yeah. Wow. Well said. Fair relationships and business endeavors. I think there's something really powerful about stepping out of the nonprofit context and realizing the world of business, of connecting small business to small business or having your own business can be an incredible driver for change without the requirements of the nonprofit sort of industrial complex, which has so much built into it called fundraising.
Valerie Bowden [00:28:01]:
Yeah, there's a lot there's books on this and everyone on the continent that we work with, everyone's saying that aid doesn't work. Most of the aid doesn't work. There's really great African economists and different presidents, like the Rwandan presidents, really against aid, and there's so much showing that it doesn't work. But good business really does make that social impact, actually, because it is creating jobs and can even have a good environmental impact depending on the kind of work you're doing. But it's also just like it's sustainable too, because it's business. So it's not like a charity that depended on aid that comes with strings attached. It can come and go. It's sustainable because you're offering a product that really works and helps people.
Aminata Sol [00:28:54]:
So we're going to take a little break from our sponsor, and when we come back, we're going to talk with Valerie about what can you if you have a small business or a side hustle in the United States or if you have some resources you're connected to, how can you get involved with creating these partnerships with African talent and African companies?
Valerie Bowden [00:29:20]:
Okay, that's a great question. Let me give you two different examples. So the first is there's this amazing guy named Michael who lives in California for the past ten years. He wanted to start a coffee brand. And when I met him, I was like, why don't you start one? And he was like, oh, to buy the machinery and the packaging and all of that. That just seems too expensive and too hard. And so I connected him to this really cool Ethiopian farmer group that I know from living in Adisababa. And so they're farmers, they have really good coffee, they roast it. Their equipment is like ISO certified, so they meet all the international standards and they will white label it for him. So they're putting it in his packaging and he's getting ready to do his first import and start selling coffee. And what's so cool about it is that there's so many white label suppliers on the continent where you can basically start your own brand and you have really cool farmers or brands in Africa that make it for you, and it allows you to buy from them without having to do all the equipment and facility yourself. And so you can get started at a more affordable rate, but you're also doing really cool impact because he's buying roasted coffee. So it creates like five times more jobs than just the green coffee. It's forested coffee, so it keeps trees thriving. So it's good for the environment and it's Ethiopian coffee, so it's really good. It's definitely marketable here in the US. So that's one example. If you are an entrepreneur who wants to white label products or start a brand you can source from Africa. So instead of going to Alibaba, where you get maybe some cheap products or there's nothing special about them, you can go to the African continent and work with brands there to get really cool products that aren't here in the US. And it's a little bit more unique. So that's one thing. If you're an entrepreneur, it's like the white labeling part. And the second thing is, if you're like a startup or small business and you need affordable talent because African countries have a lower cost of living, you can hire and pay really good wages and still have more support for your team. So, for example, recently. There's somebody who approached me who's in the Philadelphia area, actually, and he has a startup and he needed six people to help make this app go live. And so we're connecting to him, to a team in Rwanda that is super excited to work for him and he's getting really affordable talent and his startup is possible because he has this partnership. So there's so many different examples. But definitely if you're a business owner or want to start a side hustle, you can find great people to connect with in Africa.
Aminata Sol [00:32:04]:
Wow. And then I think you were saying talking about you're based in the United States, you're based in Pittsburgh, but you create partnerships with businesses in Canada and the UK and also with Africa.
Valerie Bowden [00:32:20]:
Yes. So when it comes to talent for people who want to just hire from the continent, we have clients all over the world. Most of our clients are in the UK or Europe. We have some American clients. Canadian. It's really easy to get that set up. And then for people who want to import products, we primarily are only doing that in the US. Because that's where we're registered and we have the FDA clearance and all of that stuff. But I think for somebody who really wanted to import in a different country, we could kind of show them our model and they could replicate it wherever they're living too.
Aminata Sol [00:32:54]:
Wow. So one of the things I have to ask you, Valerie, is you don't look that old. I know you have small children, and I guess I just wonder, did it take a lot of confidence or guts or overcoming fear to start crdle and to keep it going?
Valerie Bowden [00:33:15]:
No, I think it was that thing I had to do or I would explode. It was just in me and I knew I had to do it. And it was definitely, I think, challenging when we first started to get going. Like any new business, it takes a lot of effort in the beginning, but every day I feel really happy and excited to be doing the work I'm doing. My days are filled with talking to people all throughout Africa and all throughout the world, and I'm making a social impact and an environmental impact, and it's business, so it's a lot of things happening. But this is like the thing I knew I had to do or else I couldn't go on. I just really wanted to do it so bad that I had to do it.
Aminata Sol [00:33:59]:
And I think that finally this is like, maybe my final question, but you mentioned to me that you have a degree in social work, you were trained as a social worker, and here you are in business connecting businesses. And I think there's a lot of people in our community who maybe have training and being in service and helping kind of professions, very heart centered, very compassionate. So what would you say to people about how you can live out that compassion without being, I don't know, a social worker. I'm not sure what I'm trying to say, but I feel like you moved that passion, that compassion that you had in social work into the arena of business.
Valerie Bowden [00:34:49]:
Right. I think actually, social work has influenced how I do my business in so many ways because first of all, social work, in the code of ethics, of becoming a social worker, there's this principle that you have to follow that says do no harm. And so it doesn't even tell you to do good. It just says don't harm. And especially when it comes to working in maybe, like, vulnerable communities, you have to be really careful that everything you do is not going to have a negative impact. And so I always kind of have that in my mind. And the second thing I really like about social work is there's this whole idea of people being able to choose for themselves. And so when I was a social worker, when I was in the US. And doing social work, I wasn't coming up with the goals for my clients. It was more like the clients came up with their own goals, and then I was just like, on the back end trying to support them with their resources. And so I think that's a lot about how I wanted to do work in Africa is that I was there for a decade and just heard people saying that they wanted access to market linkage and they wanted to be able to sell to the US. And so I'm just on the back end making that come possible. And I'm not pushing my idea on what they should do. It came from them and people who want to sell to the US. Get in contact with me. So, yeah, I think people who come from the helping profession, you want to help and make an impact. And the way you do that can be through social work, or it could become through business, or it could come in so many ways, and you can use those ethics and values that are so good in the helping professions and just use them in innovative and creative ways to create that impact.
Aminata Sol [00:36:30]:
Wow. I feel like we can almost leave it there, but I want to give you a chance to if people want to find out more about Crdle or more about you, Valerie, how should they get in touch with you?
Valerie Bowden [00:36:43]:
Yes. Okay, so you can always go to our website, crdle.com. Can find a contact us button. You can send me a message. We have our talent. Kind of like if somebody wants to hire someone, it kind of shows what we're good at connecting people to. And we are going to start selling coffee in a couple of months, so anybody who wants good coffee, you can check us out there. But really, whether you want to do business in Africa or not, I think the whole idea is rethinking what we think about people and realizing that the stereotypes we hear on TV or in the media aren't correct. And that could apply to so many groups. And I happen to work in Africa, but I think it applies. So it's just about rethinking your world and what you've been taught, and I just hope it encourages people to try something different. Go to an Ethiopian restaurant, eat some Ethiopian food, meet some new people. Just get outside of your comfort zone a little bit is what I've encouraged people to do.
Aminata Sol [00:37:43]:
Beautiful. Well, thank you. Valerie. So nice to have you here on the Mother Tree Network. Wish you all the best with all the efforts that you're making, the partnerships you're building with African talent and resources and organizations and businesses. Keep going.
Valerie Bowden [00:38:02]:
Thank you.
Aminata Sol [00:38:04]:
All right. Peace, y'all. Bye.
