Alstar Limited

ounded in September 2008, Alstar Limited is a women-owned company incorporated in Nairobi Kenya. The company has been founded to improve the Agriculture sector specialized in Ethical and Fair-Trade Practices, Environmental Management Systems, Food Safety and Quality Management Systems. Our target is to promote better understanding of these practices, by providing high-quality and cost-effective training, coaching and consultancy. Kenya is the world’s third largest tea producer of which, over 60% is produced by smallholders, representing about 600,000 farmers. Many of these farmers are women who do most of the production activities (about 70% of farm work), while men tend to benefit more from training in sustainable production practices, as well as the income and other benefits derived from Tea and coffee sales. While providing these services to the industry, Alstar Limited has got to the conclusion that supply of good quality and quantities of sustainably produced Tea is inhibited by unequal distribution of information, labor, and other resources and benefits within the Tea-farming families. Alstar Limited focuses on supplying sustainably produced, safe and high-quality Tea. The company has invested in building direct sourcing relationships with farmers. The next necessary step is identifying and get connected with buyers who are willing to create shared value in sustainable production chains. Tea trade in Kenya is a male-dominated business. We know for a fact that further up in the value chain, women are disadvantaged. We, at Alstar, have taken the odds to be amongst the few female-managed commodity traders, choosing to deal with direct trade, rather than through the auctions.