Fair Trade Coffee Company Brews Up Investors

Equal Exchange has proven that fair business can be good business. The Massachusetts-based company began 29 years ago and has grown to 130 employees and more than $60 million in annual sales.

Now, the company has raised more than $4 million in a stock sale. For investors, the Equal Exchange stock isn’t a get rich quick proposition. But it does provide a reliable dividend of around five percent annually.

In addition, investors see Equal Exchange as a way to promote positive change through capitalism.

“With the mission they’ve got and the values they’ve got, that’s a fantastic investment from my perspective,” said Blake Jones, Equal Exchange investor and CEO of Namaste Solar.

Equal Exchange began as a fair trade coffee company that paid a fair price to poor farmers in Nicaragua. Since then the company has expanded into other products, including tea, bananas and chocolate, while maintaining its mission to improve the quality of life for the people actually growing these foods.