Welcome to the Sankofa newsletter.

In this Issue

Sankofa has landed!

In Other News

Where to find us ...

• Visit us at the Suzuki Night Market (Queen Victoria Market, Melbourne).

• Visit us at the Borderlands Community Co-op, 2 Minoa Street, Hawthorn (Melbourne) 
  

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Sankofa has landed!

Hi there,

You’re receiving this email from Sankofa because either you’ve expressed an interest in my business plans (no matter how fleeting!) or you’re friends or family and don’t have the option not to receive it!

As many of you know, I’ve spent the last 15 months sourcing and importing fair trade products from Africa (and a few other places thrown in for good measure).

It’s been a huge year of planning, travelling to Africa (oh, the hardship!), attending small business workshops (thanks to the Victorian Government), learning about importing, quarantine regulations, customs duties, website design (thanks to the very patient guys at Efront), MYOB (ummm still need to do some work on that one), Photoshop, where to buy custom-made cushion inserts , stamps, banners, cheap paper bags, French lessons (totally useless!) …. the list goes on (and on).

Anyway, the BIG news is that Sankofa’s on-line shop is finally up and running and ready for business!

I know that Christmas is a hectic time of year (apologies for the timing of this email) but to make things a bit easier I’ve prepared a ‘to do’ list for you:

1. Click here to vist Sankofa’s website www.sankofa.com.au (I hear its great for last minute Christmas presents).
2. Subscribe on the website to receive our newsletter (hopefully monthly) and updates on new products.
3. Forward this email on to a friend (or 2 or 3 or 4 or….) – if you know someone who’s interested in fair trade products or African handicrafts or who just likes shopping for beautiful things, then let them know about Sankofa.
4. Visit us at the Suzuki Night Market (Queen Victoria Market, Melbourne) on Wednesday 19th December or Wednesday 2nd January (5.30p.m. to 10p.m.).
5. Visit us at the Borderlands Community Co-op Christmas Market, 2 Minoa Street, Hawthorn (Melbourne) on Wednesday 19th December or Thursday 20th December (10a.m. to 8p.m.), or Friday 21st December (10a.m. to 4 p.m.).

It’s been a huge job getting the website ready and we’re still adding products on a daily basis (I promise there’ll be some beads on there soon).

I’ve got lots of plans for Sankofa in 2008 (most of which have taken shape over a bottle of wine) so if you want to be kept up to date with ‘breaking news’ then dont' forget to subscribe on the website.

I also intend starting a ‘blog’ on the website to document the past year – maybe it’ll just be ‘therapy’ for me but some of you may be interested in a ‘dummies guide to starting a fair trade business’ – you never know when you’ll need the direct phone number to the Port Authority Control Tower so you can call them every half hour to find out why you can’t see your vessel (they’re not ‘boats’) coming through the bay – or why you shouldn’t order kente weaving during the rainy season, or what the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch have to do with Sankofa!

Anyway, enough from me – it’s a been an amazing year and I’ve had a huge amount of help and support from loads of people and I appreciate every bit of it.

Wishing you all a safe and happy ‘silly season’

Kym Pointon
Sankofa (did I mention the website www.sankofa.com.au )