There are a lot of things to be thankful for on this trip. But one highlight is our second cooperative for the Market Bag in Bangladesh.

In 2018, we came in contact with Oporajeo, an employee-owned factory — founded after the Rana Plaza disaster of 2013 — a devastating incident in which a garment factory collapsed, killing 1,134 workers and injuring thousands more. The word “Oporajeo” in Bengali translates to “Invincible” or “Undefeated.”

By partnering with Oporajeo we have been able to keep up with the demand for the market bag, while continuing to support our existing partnership with the Saidpur co-op, enabling them to grow in scale at a healthy pace.

Touring the first cooperative we partnered with in Saidpur and meeting with over 100 mothers that handcraft the market bag, the number one thing every mother told me today was:

"Give us bigger orders”

They weren't asking for donations; they just wanted to work. It was really beautiful to see their sense of ownership and desire for opportunity.

Today we learned more about the process of processing the jute fiber the market bag is made of. For centuries, Bangladesh has been one of the world's top producers of the environmentally friendly jute plant, which plays a prominent part in everyday life here.

As my team and I traveled 90 minutes from the market bag factory to the jute mill, we crossed over ten bridges which all had jute hanging off the sides to dry.

Jute is everywhere in Bangladesh—even on the money (many taka coins feature jute leaves on them)