Paul Rice is the founding President & CEO of
TransFair USA, the only Fair
Trade certification organization in the U.S. today. Since launching
the Fair Trade Certified label eight years ago, TransFair has
established Fair Trade as the fastest growing segment of the $19
billion coffee industry. TransFair is rapidly expanding Fair
Trade certification into tea, chocolate, rice, sugar, bananas and
other fresh fruits.
Previously, Paul worked for 11 years as a rural development
specialist in the Segovias region of Nicaragua, where he founded
and led an organic coffee export cooperative called
PRODECOOP. In 2000 he received the international
Ashoka Fellowship for his pioneering
work as a social entrepreneur in the Fair Trade movement. Paul was
also honored by the Klaus Schwab Foundation for Social
Entrepreneurship as one of the world's top 40 Social Entrepreneurs
in 2002. More recently, Paul spoke on Fair Trade at the World
Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January 2004 and 2005.
You can read a transcript of this interview on my blog,
Have Fun * Do Good.