Numi Organic Tea

A Partnership Steeped in a Common Vision

“RSF is an organization that can think outside of the box and worked with Numi to create a strong partnership that will help the company reach the top of the market.”

- Ahmed Reem, co-founder and president of Numi, LLC

Thanks to investors in the RSF Social Investment Fund, RSF is able to broaden its lending program to support social enterprises. Most recently, RSF provided a $3 million line of credit to Numi, LLC, a specialty organic tea company committed to Fair Trade, social justice, and environmental sustainability.

“In searching for the best financial partner, Numi chose RSF for many reasons. First, RSF shares a similar vision to support and sustain the global environment and its people through various measures including organic farming, fair trade practices and an overall philosophy of sustainability,” says Ahmed Rahim, co-founder and president of Numi. “This is rare to find in the financial marketplace, but RSF is a unique organization that strides to be a leader and set an example of how financial partnerships can be founded.”

Founded in 1999, Numi, based in Oakland, California, works directly with many of their tea suppliers using fair trade practices ensuring fair treatment of the workers, better working and living conditions, and an overall improved quality of life for their families. Eleven of Numi’s teas are Fair Trade Certified by Transfair USA.

They are committed as well to improving the lives of those who supply their packaging materials. Last year when parts of Guangxi Province, in the southern region of China where Numi obtains bamboo and wood for its tea chests, was struck with the worst flooding in 100 years, the company donated a percentage of its profits to help rebuild the bamboo factory, which is a primary economic driver for the surrounding community. Ongoing proceeds will help maintain the facility and ensure fair wages for the workers.

“It is an honor to be of service to such a socially conscious organization. Numi exemplifies how social responsibility can be purposely and successfully integrated into the core of a company’s business model – proving that doing well while doing good is not just a cliché,” says RSF Lending Manager Joe Avenatti.

Thursday, September 14th, 2006

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 14th, 2006 at 11:35 am and is filed under Projects We Fund, Borrowers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.