Windhorse:Evolution and their Social Fund: two new projects

by Samata, UK

Windhorse:Evolution is the largest and most profitable of the FWBO’s many Right Livelihood businesses, with a turnover of some UK £10 million and employing over 200 people. They have always aimed to make a profit and to give that profit away as dana. At first they simply asked Sangharakshita to direct them in this; in recent years they have created five independent funds and distributed their dana among them. One of these is the Windhorse Social Fund which aims to invest in social projects close to their main suppliers, and they now contribute around £20,000/year to this as part of their ‘Trade for Aid’ initiative.

Samata writes about two new social projects supported by Windhorse -

The Wheatfield Plan
Niall is a buyer who visits some of our regular suppliers. Earlier this year he visited Fok Kwong, in China, one of our main suppliers, who provide Windhorse with the metal windchimes that account for 10% of their turnover. Niall wrote: “This company is owned by an intriguing Hong Kong couple, Cecilia and Simon, who are both very dedicated to a number of educational and social projects. A few years ago, Windhorse joined Fok Kwong in setting up a 'Relief Fund’ that provided scholarships to children at Koa Chau Primary School in rural North China. The fund also provides for computer training for their 800 pupils, hoping to match the opportunities that children in urban schools would have. Since then, Cecilia and Simon have spent a week there most months teaching English and life skills, and encouraging the teaching staff in their efforts. However, they now feel that this school is managing well and on it’s own it is time to turn their attention to a new project called the Wheatfield Plan”.

This initiative, to which Windhorse will contribute £5,000, supports temporary teachers. China has around 250,000 temporary teachers, many of whom serve in remote and underdeveloped areas. They lead a difficult life with little pay. In parts of mountainous western China, a temporary teacher may earn only 300 to 400 Yuan a month (£20.00 – £26.00 a month), and that is often delayed, sometimes for 20 months.

Peng Shafu, one such teacher, moved to a remote village after his graduation two years ago and became a temporary teacher. He had to spend two hours each morning climbing up a mountain to reach the children. He almost gave up; he couldn’t imagine a life of walking four hours every day, just for 400 Yuan a month (£25).

Peng taught 12 students at the beginning. The schoolroom was a temporary space off a farmer’s courtyard. It wasn’t until February 2006 that the village had its first ever primary school, complete with a classroom, an office, and a bedroom for Peng - all with the help of The Wheatfield Plan, a local NGO.

Mo Fan, 25, set up the Wheatfield Plan in 2005. When he saw the children who lived in the rural mountain villages without much to live on and with no education, he decided there was an urgent need to build schools and provide teachers for them. This is achieved mainly through providing subsidies to temporary teachers. In these areas “kids drop out of school not because their families, though poor, can’t afford to pay, but because there aren’t any teachers,” said Mo. “When we help teachers, we are helping kids”.

The other aims of the Wheatfield Plan are to help children who have ‘dropped out’ to return to school and continue their education; to build a library of books; to build schools; to subsidise students; to provide clothing and books to students; to provide assistance to teachers and students with physical disabilities.

The Kupu-Kupu Foundation
During a buying trip to Bali in September Vajraketu (windhorse:evolution’s chief buyer) made his first visit to the Kupu-Kupu Foundation’s Centre in the town of Ubud and met its director, Begonia Lopez. On his return he said “One cannot help but be struck by seeing these disabled kids happy and lively, knowing that without this Centre provided by the Foundation they would be stuck at home and out of sight”. He was also struck by Begonia’s emotional positivity, her ability to communicate with the children and adults, and her capacity to get things done.

The island of Bali has more than 13,000 people with physical and mental disabilities and Vajraketu was at pains to point out that the Kupu-Kupu Foundation is a small non-profit project with no consistent source of funding. It relies on ad hoc funds from sources ranging from Provincial Councils in Spain, to individual tourists who return home and begin fundraising for the Foundation. Begonia herself is a social worker from Spain and first became aware of the plight of disabled people in Bali while visiting as a tourist in 2000.

Through the work of its Centre in Ubud the Foundation is helping children, teenagers and adults with physical and mental disabilities.

Mobility for the Disabled
Mobility is one of the most important needs for a person with a disability and is the first thing the foundation tries to achieve. Mobility means opportunities to make friends and be a part of their own communities while using a wheelchair. In its first 6 years of operation the Foundation has given wheelchairs to more than 85 people.

Begonia writes; ‘For most of them it is the first time that they see a wheelchair. Giving a wheelchair is not enough, we have to make sure that each person is trained how to use one on a daily basis and to gain confidence to develop their full potential with it. Being in a wheelchair they have to learn how to go up and down ramps, and what to do in front of steps etc. First we train them over a period of time at school and at home, then we make ramps in their houses and after we continue to encourage the family to use the wheelchair with our disabled friend otherwise we know that without persuasion and continuous encouragement the wheelchair will be left to rust in the back garden. Families with disabled children often keep taking their kids in their arms because it is more comfortable for them and easier. We try to make them realise that doing it this way makes the child more dependent and feel more disabled. Using the wheelchair is most important. We have as well organized programmes to take them out of their compounds while using the wheelchairs’. One such program that Vajraketu mentioned is a monthly visit to the house of an Australian couple to use their swimming pool – an outing that is eagerly anticipated by children and adults alike.

Begonia continues; ‘Many of them upon joining the Foundation feel ashamed, shy and scared of their conditions. They don’t want to be seen but little by little their lives are changed. We have seen beautiful transformations over time. Sometimes it is hard to believe that they are the same people we initially met’.

These crucial wheelchairs, and spare parts, provided by the Foundation have been provided through sponsorship from Japanese schools, as well as from individuals from Australia and New Zealand who bring wheelchairs from their countries.

Kupu-Kupu Gallery
In 2004 the Centre opened a shop in Ubud, an important cultural centre on the island that attracts many visitors. The shop is called Kupu-Kupu Gallery and sells handicrafts made by the foundation’s disabled friends in order to help them earn their own income and eventually gain economic independence. The shop also provides work for three disabled adults who before starting their jobs were constantly in their family compound and had little contact with others outside their immediate family. One is a painter, one is a wood sculptor and one is a coconut carver.

The Future
The hardest thing Begonia finds is raising money for on-going running costs. The £3000 donation Windhorse sent the Foundation in May 2007 has been put towards running costs and on his visit Vajraketu was satisfied the money had been put to good use. Our supplier PT. Sumiati, based in Bali, are also supporting the Foundation and helping with the administration of finances.

Begonia would very much like to open a second Centre and school in the Bangli District of Bali, in order to reach disabled people they currently just cannot get to. She has received a grant from the Council of Vitoria in Spain to buy a piece of land and now needs to raise the money to build the school-cum-Centre.

Vajraketu would like to see windhorse adopt the Kupu-Kupu Foundation as a project that we support in an on-going way and we have promised funds to build the school in Bangli once the land has been purchased. Vajraketu said: “I’d happily support Begonia’s work, she’s inspired and very genuine. What she’s doing really does bring sunshine into people’s lives and a little money goes a long way in Bali”.

Windhorse:Evolution part IV: Dana in 2008 - and beyond...

This is part four of a series of four articles on Windhorse:Evolution, the FWBO’s largest and most successful Right Livelihood business, based in Cambridge, UK. The articles will look at the ethos of the business, recent changes and challenges it has faced, the experiences of some individuals working in it, and some of the many projects funded by their current dana.

Most of the articles are taken from the W:E magazine, and are reprinted by permission.

One of Windhorse:Evolution’s primary aims is to make a profit.  Unlike conventional businesses, this is not to make the Directors or shareholders wealthy; it is so that the people working in the business are able to give dana to projects around the world, both Buddhist and non-Buddhist.

Several years ago Windhorse established five principle funds through which it disbursed its available profits from the previous year. These are the Dana Fund, the Growth Fund, the Legacy Fund, and the Social Fund, each fund having a small committee charged with making the necessary decisions. In addition, shops run by Buddhist teams give a substantial proportion of their profits to their local centres; there is also the ‘Uddiyana Fund’ (Uddiyana being the name for the Windhorse warehouse in Cambridge) which funds many small projects according to votes cast by all those working for the business in Cambridge.

Last November FWBO News published a full description of the Social Fund, especially their two main projects ‘The Wheatfield Plan’ and the ‘Kupu-Kupu Foundation’, both of which you can read here. Since then they have also decided to support the Bridge Foundation, which provides education for underprivileged and gifted children in Kolkata (Calcutta), to improve their self esteem, help them have a better life and take their place in society. One of Windhorse’s bag suppliers helped set it up, and they are supporting them. You can find out more on the Bridge Foundation website: http://www.thebridgefoundation.org.

A full and comprehensive report on how all £265,229 of Windhorse’s dana in 2007-8 was distributed is available here: it makes inspiring reading.

Some examples are, from the Growth Fund -

Publicity and basic expenses for new group in Freiburg, Southern Germany, £500

Continuing the development of close-to-nature camping retreats in Holland and Belgium , £300

Publicity and basic expenses for new centre in Düsseldorf, Germany, £600

Cushions, mats, etc for the new Buddhist Centre in Krakow, Poland, £1,090

Publicity and equipment for new city centre premises in Bhusawal, Maharastra, £1,400

Major new Indian Buddhist Youth project building on previous two years of the ‘National Buddhist Youth’ gatherings. Funding for leadership training, regional gatherings, membership manuals, and annual conference , £4,412

Funding for second year to continue working with Tribal people in remote areas, £487

Funding gatherings of leaders from different caste communities in India, to strengthen fellowship and plan future strategy, £500

Major extension of activities in North India: leadership training at new centre/ community in Delhi; regional visits and retreats, £1950

Equipment and publicity for new FWBO centre in Leicester, UK, £1,000

Underwriting cost of visiting a woman mitra running FWBO-style activities near Ulan Bator, Mongolia, £500

From the Legacy Fund -

AOBO Paris, producing translations of Sangharakshita’s books into French £500

Clear Vision, Covering the costs of filming Sangharakshita on five occasions this year, making the archive of Sangharakshita photos available on the web, and preserving DVD footage of Sangharakshita and the FWBO on hard-drives., £2000

FreeBuddhistAudio, General running costs, putting some unreleased audio material on the web, and archiving of Bhante material., £3000

Translation and publication of three Sangharakshita books into Marathi: The Three Jewels, Religion of Art, and Selected Poetry., £1100

Windhorse Publications, Converting all Sangharakshita’s books into PDFs, also reprinting some titles that are not commercially viable., £5000

From the Uddiyana Fund – voted on by the Windhorse workers in Cambridge:

Manjunatha £850 to fund his trip to the UK which enables him to stay in touch with the Order. Manjunatha runs a Buddhist Centre in Venezuela and relies on donations for his support.

Danapriya £200 Danapriya has developed a thriving FWBO group in Deal in Kent and hires the local hotel to give talks. This money will help with his publicity and other expenses.

Rupas of the Five Female Buddhas £300 To go towards commissioning the production of these rupas in Nepal. The project is under the guidance of Vessantara– author of Meeting the Buddhas and the main conduit for their emergence and availability - and Maitrivajri.

Sri Lanka £400 Saddhavira built a Retreat Centre able to accommodate 20 people in the south of Sri Lanka. After damage by the 2005 tsunami, he has managed to get his Guest House (and vegetarian restaurant) up and running again, but needed money to complete the rebuilding and refurbishment of the Retreat Centre.
Pune Camp City £1350 To buy land for an established Sangha to build a Buddhist Centre

Guhyaloka Vihara £600 The Vihara Support Fund subsidizes men to stay at Guhyaloka Vihara for six months or longer.

Anjali's buggy £200 This goes a little way to helping Dharmacharini Anjali to replace her battery-powered buggy, which she relies on for her mobility.

Lightning conductors at Akashavana in Spain £1500 During a retreat in October 2007 lightning struck a cable and destroyed electrical circuits and the power supply to the whole retreat centre. This will help pay for one of the three lightning conductors they need.

Lights in the Sky £200 Suryaprabha makes videos of the history of the FWBO. This one is looking for a spiritually meaningful way of life in seven states in India.

Manjupriya £600 to help him run activities at the Buddhist Centre in Sorocaba and classes in Sao Paulo continue activities (weekly Dharma classes, meditation courses, retreats etc.)

Urthona £300 to help expand the base of readers into new areas, and get more advertising revenue.

Shrine gear for Buddhafield £1100: soft cushions, fleece blankets, meditation mats; rugs/carpets, boxes with proper lids to protect shrine gear and bags for mats and cushions, a Tara Thanka

Modinagar Buddhist Centre £250 To pay for painting doors and windows at the T.B.M.S.G Buddhist Centre, Modinagar, near Delhi.

Painting for Cambridge Buddhist Centre £50 To help bring into the Cambridge Mandala a further Buddhist painting, a large-scale depiction of Manjusri

Green Elephant, Australia £350 To set up an environmentally focused charity shop run by two mitras from the Sydney Buddhist Centre, which will raise funds for teaching the Dharma in Asia Pacific and supporting their Dharma sisters in India.

UK Tour for ‘Broken Voices’ £500 To support the promotion of a book, written by Vimalasara, about Indian women’s experience from the so-called ‘ex-untouchable’ community.

Aryamati support for India £150 To buy Clear Vision DVDs and Skype equipment to help teach English and Dharma at the College of Nagpur, and to Hungarian Gypsy Buddhists.

Adityabodhi £650 To help support the men’s ordination team in India and the Indian movement.

All these, plus others, total a remarkable £265,229 which Windhorse has committed itself to giving away in 2007-8. Sadhu Windhorse!

At the end, however, Windhorse’s dana report carries a “Donations Warning!”. They say “Because the business may need to retain all its profits this year, to fund the shop expansion programme and to accumulate some cash for the computer system replacement which will have to happen in about 3 years, all recipients of donations are being given notice that much less will be available to give away next year”.

Windhorse:Evolution - the people...

This is part three of a series of four articles on Windhorse:Evolution, the FWBO’s largest and most successful Right Livelihood business, based in Cambridge, UK. The articles will look at the ethos of the business, recent changes and challenges it has faced, the experiences of some individuals working in it, and some of the many projects funded by their current dana or generosity.

Most of the articles are taken from the W:E magazine, and are reprinted by permission.

1.Gaining Confidence

Santosh Kamble works in the warehouse. He spoke to Tejasvini about his life.

I came into contact with the Western Buddhist Order ( in India TBMSG) in my childhood through the Asvaghosa project. They go from village to village, teaching drama, singing songs and telling stories to the most underprivileged children, to build their confidence. I went to those classes in my village when I was a child, and I loved the singing, drama and playing games, and I was inspired by their activities. They pick up some incidents from the Buddha’s life and tell a story or do a performance. Most of the songs are about the spiritual life. I made a connection with the teachers and Asvaghosa leaders, who are practising Buddhists involved in TBMSG. In the classes I started to explore things myself, which is sometimes difficult to do in your family in India, and by expressing myself through activities and drama, I built up my confidence. It was a turning point for me.

Asvaghosa then asked me to join their community, and work with them in Pune city, 275 miles away from my village. It was very difficult for me when I arrived in Pune, as it was a big city, and I was young and didn’t have a lot of confidence. It was difficult to speak sometimes – even though it’s the same language there is a different accent in the city. I had a village accent. I struggled for a year until I got used to it. At first I was a student with them, but later I became an instructor and taught drama and songs to children.

Living in communities has had a big effect on my life. Living in a community with people who value the spiritual life and who have experience of practice helps you learn many things, and also to be independent and make your own decisions. In India, if you are at home, most of the time you are dependent on your parents. Whenever you have to make a decision, you ask your parents. You are not independent in the home. Also, there are many limitations and things you can’t express to your parents. In the community I could express my thoughts and feelings very easily. You can speak your mind. Home and our parents are important too, but in the community you meet people who are committed in the same way as you are. Most people live in communities because they want to practise: they want to meditate together, they want to maintain a spiritual life, to discuss and to make friends. The friends I met in communities are very deep, very close friends. Even now I feel close to them.

I met a number of people in India who had worked with Windhorse. They had had a good experience. Also there was some attraction about coming to the West. I was looking for adventure and to experience new things. I was interested in a right livelihood business where Buddhist people create conditions to live, work and practise together. When I came here, I struggled my first year because I couldn’t speak much English. I could do the physical work and I had it in mind that I would be able to learn everything in two or three years, but it wasn’t like that! It’s not easy to learn about right livelihood, or the ordination process; or to fully understand other people because of different cultures, language problems and sometimes confidence. I was a bit disappointed at first, but now I know I have to be patient, and also my English is better now which makes things easier. It’s very easy to make connections with people at Windhorse because of working together, and living in a community together, and so you get to know people well and you form a close connection with them.

In one way it’s very good working in windhorse and doing spiritual practice, but if you come from another country there can be other problems as well. When I’m at work I get a lot of energy from people, but when I am on my own I feel the tendency to droop a bit. Sometimes I get worried thinking about what I will do when I go back to India. I don’t feel that much confidence in my ability to work there at the moment. If you are in the UK, people in India sometimes think you are getting lots of money and are rich. They have high expectations of people who go to England.

Since I’ve been in England my spiritual life is more solid. Windhorse is a great place to get inspiration for our spiritual life and I can see that very clearly. Right livelihood meetings and the friendly atmosphere really help. I’m glad I will get ordained at Guhyaloka, where we have a four month ordination retreat. It’s a great opportunity that we don’t have in India.

I’m used to working in the FWBO/TBMSG now and would find it difficult to work elsewhere. Recently I was interested in Karuna Trust and did a Karuna appeal. I’d like to stay working in Windhorse for a few more years after ordination. When I go back to India, which I definitely want to do, I’d like to work perhaps with social projects, or with Dharma activities. If we could start a right livelihood business in India, that would be great. We could share our experience of being here. It’s not one person’s work; people would have to come together to make it happen. I’d like to see that.

Note: since this article was publshed, Santosh has been ordained into the Western Buddhist Order. He is now known as Sanghanatha, 'Protector of the Sangha'.


2. Who knows what my future holds...?

Evolution area manager, Andrew Turner talks about his job

I joined windhorse:evolution in April 2004 and I have loved every minute of it. Previously I had worked for a few big name retailers, the likes of TK Maxx, Internacionale and The Outdoor Group to name but a few, but Evolution is by far the best and it’s been wonderful meeting so many interesting people along the way.

I started as manager at the Birmingham shop and progressed to my current position of Area Manager of the seven "A" type shops. It’s a job I really enjoy as it can be so variable: supporting the shops in different ways, helping them to grow, seeing people develop – it can all be very satisfying.

On a personal level, I have recently taken the big step on the property ladder and bought my first house, which is quite scary but it’s a really satisfying thing to do.

I must admit I can be quite a workaholic at times but that’s only because I love my job so much, thanks to Evolution. I have to discipline myself and, when I do, I relax by spending time on my dad’s boat. Messing about on the river on a summer Sunday afternoon is really enjoyable. I also love visiting the Lake District to relax and unwind.

I’m looking forward to the Evolution expansion and being part of its exciting future, but who knows what my future holds? You never know - if they let me, I may even decide to become a Buddhist, god help them - can I say that ?

Windhorse:Evolution as a Buddhist Business

This is part two of a series of four articles on Windhorse:Evolution, the FWBO’s largest and most successful Right Livelihood business, based in Cambridge, UK. The articles look at the ethos of the business, recent changes and challenges it has faced, the experiences of some individuals working in it, and some of the many projects funded by their current dana.

Most of the articles are taken from the W:E magazine, and are reprinted by permission.

Keturaja, Windhorse:Evolution's HR Director, talks to Tejasvini about some of the Buddhist flavours to be found at windhorse:evolution.

Buddhist Presence
Many of us have come to work at windhorse: evolution because we value working with other people who are inspired to practise the Buddhist path. Our ethos, and the five principles of the business are inspired by Buddhist practice. We very much welcome those who are not Buddhists, we value their contribution and would like to support their continuance in the business and we would also like to maintain a strong Buddhist presence in the company.

Renaissance in Community Living
Over the last few years a wide range of lifestyles of people working here has evolved. In the 80s and early 90s a very large percentage of people who worked in the business, especially those in Cambridge, lived in residential Buddhist communities. Now some live alone, or live together in couples and there are people who live with friends or with their families. I think the business benefits from that breadth of lifestyles. Having said that, over the last couple of years the communities seem to be very vibrant here in Cambridge. There seems to be a renaissance of keen interest in them. At the moment most of our communities (3 women’s and over 10 men’s) are nearly full and we haven’t many spare places.

Autonomy and Variety
Each of the communities is quite different. Although the community dwellings are nearly all owned by the Windhorse Trust, they’re largely autonomous in the sense that the people who live in them decide the details of how they want to live together. For example, some communities are very keen on meditating together in the morning; some are vegan; others are vegetarian but they’ve decided not to be vegan; some like to eat together, some don’t; some like to meet together in the evening maybe once a week for a community night and others don’t. Some are either men’s or women’s communities and they like to maintain just a single sex environment, whereas others are open in the sense that partners are allowed to stay and are happy to stay. This means there’s quite a varied richness of community life.

Smaller Living Situations
Unfortunately living on one’s own is quite expensive in Cambridge, so we do have some limits for those on the ‘support package’. However it’s certainly possible for people to live together either in twos, in a partnership or just with a friend. There is a range of living situations from living in twos right up to living in larger communities.

One thing I’m very keen to do is to expand the opportunities within the properties owned or rented by the Trust. At the moment our communities range in size from the largest, which houses up to 9 people, down to the smallest, with about 5 people. Some people are already living in communities of three or four, but I’d like to expand that opportunity within the properties that the Trust owns.

Remuneration Choice
We have developed a choice of remuneration for people within the business – either the ‘support package’, which has evolved over the years, or a wage, or a salary in some positions. Being on support involves a collective arrangement and being happy to live a simple lifestyle, but the wages and salaried positions also involve something in the way of a salary sacrifice in relation to similar positions in other businesses.

Benefits of Support Package
You could look at the benefits of the support package in a number of ways. Certainly being on support allows the business to maximise the amount of money that it can give away. The company is able to make more profits and give more money away when people choose to be on support, specially if they live in a community, which is relatively inexpensive. Being on support is a way of giving very generously.

I think there are other benefits of support as well. It involves agreeing to live a simple lifestyle, even though the support package that we have meets more than just basic needs. A simple way of living also minimises the use of natural resources from an ecological point of view.

In addition there’s a collective element in the practice of being on support. Most of support consists of allowances, which are just taken, but there are some elements that involve discussing one’s own needs, and I think that’s a useful reflection and clarification on needs and wants. We all have a relationship with money and how we use it, and quite a lot of our conditioning is tied up with our feelings about money. Somehow the support system draws out and reflects back one’s own conditioning in regard to it. Sometimes that can be quite challenging, but personally I have found that it helps make me aware of my own conditioning and deciding whether I’m happy with that conditioning or want to change it. For example some people find it difficult to ask about their own needs, and so the people involved in administering the support system practise being open and encouraging, helping people clarify what their needs really are.

Ethos - and conclusion
We would like to maintain and strengthen the ethos of the business and promote the values of generosity, simplicity of lifestyle, personal growth, honesty and mutual helpfulness.

To this end we will continue to recruit those who share those values and are in sympathy with the Buddhist ideals that underpin them.

2008: Windhorse:Evolutions' 'Year of the Rat'

This is part of a series of four articles on Windhorse:Evolution, the FWBO’s largest and most successful Right Livelihood business, based in Cambridge, UK. The articles will look at the ethos of the business, recent changes and challenges it has faced, the experiences of some individuals working in it, and some of the many projects funded by their current dana.

Most of the articles are taken from the W:E magazine, and are reprinted by permission.

Vajraketu, Windhorse:Evolution's Managing Director and Chief Buyer gives his reflections on the state of the business.

“A rat year is a time of hard work, activity and renewal. This is a good year to begin a new job, launch a new product or make a fresh start. Ventures begun now may not yield fast returns, but opportunities will come for people who are well prepared and resourceful. The best way for you to succeed is to be patient, let things develop slowly and make the most of every opening you can find.”

This is the Year of the Rat in the Chinese system, the first in the twelve-year cycle. It happens to be an appropriate image for us, because we are entering a new phase. The characteristic of this new phase, I hope, is that we’re going to grow again. After growing between 1986 and 2002, we’ve had five or six years of plateau or consolidation.

During that period of consolidation we made a lot of very necessary changes, particularly during the last couple of years. Firstly in 2002 we had to move into these new premises, which was an enormous undertaking. Then within a period of about twelve months three of the six people who comprised the previous management team moved on and we had to get used to running the business without them. Ratnaghosha devised a new management structure, and Keturaja systematized things and helped bring us to the position we’re in now, with every department in the business in good shape and as well or better managed than it’s ever been.

There is a certain irony here. We’re probably in the best shape ever and yet last year was our least profitable year for at least a decade. Our current estimate is that we’re going to have made about £200-250,000, compared to the previous year, which was something, over £400,000. The reason for that is that sales have plateaued, but our costs have gone up inexorably. Our personnel bill has more than doubled over the last five or six years. That’s the only cloud in the blue sky of the Year of the Rat.

A Platform to Grow

We have a good platform from which we can grow again. The vans, which represent over 50% of our wholesale sales, are in the best shape they’ve been in for years. We’ve got them dynamically managed by Sundara, and we’ve got a keen and strong van team, so if more sales can be got out of the vans, then I’m sure we’ve got the team to do it.

Similarly we’ve got a sales team that’s very motivated, competent and keen. Competition is very stiff and the environment we operate in is quite challenging. Our biggest customer, Internacionale, has started buying direct instead of buying from importers like us, so our business with them is going down and there’s nothing we can do about that except try to replace the lost turnover. In fact we’ve done quite well in that our wholesale sales overall have gone down a little bit, about 4 or 5%, but they’ve gone down less than the amount that Internacionale went down. So if you take Internacionale out of it, despite the economic climate our wholesale sales have gone up. [Since Vajraketu gave this talk Internacionale have gone into administration.]

Our shops are doing quite well in a difficult climate and we’ve got a retail team that feels confident enough to go out and open some more shops. We’ve opened three in the last nine months and we’re planning to open another three or four this year, and probably another four or five next year. We believe we have the infrastructure to support that growth. The warehouse, IT, Personnel and other teams have the capacity to cope with business expansion.

How to Double our Profits
To get our profits up quite considerably, we don’t have to grow that much. Roughly speaking, if we were able to control our costs, sales 10% higher than they are at the moment would double our profits. However, we can’t all simply sit back and let Dougie go out and find £½m worth of orders, and let Abhayakirti go and open 10 shops and the rest of us just reap the rewards. We all need to contribute to this by doing our jobs well or better than we do at present. There’s no one miraculous thing that will double our profits: it’s going to be a lot of small things and a lot of effort, which we can all contribute to.

£1m Target?
On a recent Management Forum two-day meeting somebody proposed the idea that perhaps we should set ourselves a target to make £1m to give away in 3 years’ time. We haven’t really done this in the past. The Management Forum is now going to work out whether that is feasible, and work out a plan.

Doing good things with money

The reason we want to make £1m is because if we made more money we could do more good things. Those of us involved in the FWBO know that there are many projects that would benefit from having more finance.

There is also lot more we can do to support small-scale social projects in the areas where we do business. All of the people who make the goods that we sell are reasonably well paid, but the wider community where they live is often quite poor, and often there’s no real social infrastructure. For example, we support a project in Bali helping disabled people. There are simply no facilities in Bali for disabled people. There is no local authority that organises schools for them or activities for them. They just sit at home.

I am acutely aware that there are many small-scale social projects that we could contribute to. There is a significant number of people in the places where we work who are trying to do good things on a very small budget. We’ve just started doing business with a bag manufacturer in Kolkata (previously Calcutta) who support a small project (http://www.thebridge foundation. org/) that supports educationally bright children from very poor families. It helps them with school fees, books and pencils and it even helps them with food and clothes. They have an annual budget of about £10,000, and we’re about to donate them £1,000 to help them pursue that work. As always this is linked through our suppliers. There are lots of projects like this that we could back if we had more profits.

Working Ethically
Although we will be setting ourselves a target of increasing our profits, just making money isn’t enough for us. We also want to make that money ethically, meaningfully and we want to enjoy making it. These elements should be central to our vision of how we work together.

In terms of ethics, as a company we’re quite good I think but there is always room for improvement. There is one area that we want to develop more, which is of particular interest to me, and that is ethical trading. I’m very proud of what we’ve done to improve the working conditions in some of the companies that we do business with. We have directly improved the living and working conditions of several hundreds of people. We mainly do that by employing an independent auditor, who goes into the factory and produces a report, which our supplier then implements. This all takes up time and money. Sometimes we have to encourage the factory to make the necessary changes, which may involve a stick or a carrot. In addition, if the factory requests it, we employ a consultant to help them take the necessary steps to bring their affairs up to standard. Virtually every case we’re dealing with is quite a small business. They started small, they’ve grown a little bit, but they’re not very sophisticated, so quite often even just getting them to have a payroll system that anyone can understand is a little baffling to them.

For some of our suppliers it’s enough to make the improvements that we want them to make, and that’s it, but a number of our suppliers do more than the minimum necessary to be a good employer: they support social work in their local communities. I’m thinking in particular of Sumiati in Bali, De la Selva in Guatemala, Fok Kwong in China, and Salom in Kenya.

Fok Kwong and Salom were already doing social work before they met us or got any encouragement from us, but both Sumiati and de la Selva were initially inspired to do it by promptings from us. They both now do quite a lot in their local communities. Most of the credit of course goes to them, but we were definitely the catalyst, and I hope we can do more of that as we start to make more money.

Our efforts to be more ethical have led to other people doing the same, and we can be proud of that. We definitely bias our buying as much as we feel we can in the direction of those companies whose ethics chime most closely with ours – about 40-50% of our goods come from companies in that category, and that’s a percentage we would like to increase.

Personal Development
Personal development is not the exclusive preserve of Buddhists, and I hope that everyone will feel that the work environment supports them to gain something in terms of their personal development, perhaps through gaining skills or through work satisfaction.

Finally we want our work to be enjoyable. No one is going to get rich working at windhorse: evolution – I think you’ve probably already worked that out! I would like us all to enjoy it. We at Uddiyana are very, very fortunate. I think it’s worth us counting our blessings. We work in an environment that is physically very pleasant. We are surrounded by nice people, who are all trying to be ethical and positive and kind. There’s no backbiting here – or if there is, it happens behind my back! You almost never hear any bad language. We’re fantastically well fed. If we have any unsung heroes here, it’s our cooks. There are plenty of blessings wherever we look.

That is what I see when I contemplate the Year of the Rat. The business environment in which we are working is not great. The British economy is not in great shape. At the same time the competition we have to face, both in retail and wholesale, is fiercer than it’s ever been in the 20 years I’ve worked here. We’re in good shape to have a go at taking this on, and we can do good things while we’re at it.