Act 2: The give back

It has been a while since I posted a blog entry on here, and by a while, I really mean nineteen months (whoops).

While this might seem like a very long time, Chala has been keeping me super busy which hasn’t allowed for much dreaming or scheming. The day to day “stuff” in running a business has resulted in some of the more creative and passion-based parts of the job to have been put on hold. This time has been taken up with making chai, working on the website, admin, accounts, selling, markets etc, etc, etc. And while I love all of this, some of the things that I had always dreamt Chala would be have somewhat become lost in the busyness of it all.

So, I am glad that I can post this blog and let you know of something that I’ve wanted to do since day one.

Where we have been.

I officially launched Chala in October 2020, which makes us just over two years old. As I’ve reflected on this time, it has been great. Our mission to make a high quality, all natural, tasty sticky chai has been a fun process to start and see through. We have sold hundreds of bags of chai and thankfully, a lot of people enjoy our tea daily. But this has only been the start.

October 2020 up until October 2022 has only been Act One. This has looked like the ground work of building a viable business, product design, production and launch. It has involved improving our processes and increasing our reach all while sticking to Chala’s aims and mission focus.

Our two mission goals from day one have been:

1. To create the best quality sticky chai available on the market.

2. To make a real difference to the lives of the people who provide the ingredients for our chai.

For the past two years, I’ve worked hard to ensure the first of these two goals has been prioritised and put in place so that the second goal would be able to be tackled with greater effect.

Giving back has always been a central belief within Chala and now that we are established as a company within Northern Ireland, we want to give back to those who created the heritage for our chai products to be enjoyed here in Northern Ireland and beyond.

Now, like any great story, we move into Act Two.

From this year (2022), Chala commits to giving back 10% of all profits to help those most vulnerable from the communities where we get our ingredients from. We have already made the switch from non Fair-trade black tea to an Assam Fair-trade black tea and know that this in itself has made a positive impact for the communities where our tea comes from. However, we want to do more.

Our Plan.

We are still having conversations as to how exactly we can provide the most benefit and impact with donations but expect this to look something like:

- Funds going to improve the day to day lives of those living in tea gardens.

- Improving access to clean water/sanitary toilets.

- Education

- Healthcare

- Relief work

We want to commit to giving so that communities in these areas benefit according to their needs and not our own perceived ideas of what we think they need. This is why we will be partnering with those on the ground who we know and trust from having spent time in India or with those who have a track record in improving the lives of those in these communities. It is because of you we can do this. We hope this brings a little added joy to you if you enjoy our chai. Every time a bag of chai is sold either from our website, at a market or through one of our wholesalers, 10% of the profits made on each product will go to making life a little better for someone else.

Stay tuned for more blog posts to come and hopefully one soon with more details of exactly where we will be giving back and who it will positively impact. Talk soon,

Andrew.