Trade, not charity, is the route to a better Africa, says a Vancouver designer. In today’s Pads to save or trash Africa we reported that Procter & Gamble has joined other corporations in Africa-focused “philanthropy”. Through its “Protecting Futures” campaign, P&G is donating disposable pads to girls in parts of Africa so they can attend school during their periods.

Vancouver-born entrepreneur Susan Standfield founded her own company, SHINDA, because she also wanted to help build the continent. She recently handed her T-shirt design and manufacturing company over to the employees, and is now a “glorified sales rep”. The T-shirts are designed by Kenyan youths at a studio near Nairobi, and the profits from sales pay for their school tuition and living costs.

Standfield splits her time between Vancouver and Nairobi. In an e-mail from the Kenyan capital, she noted that P&G shut down its local factory due to poor productivity stemming from systemic problems.

“If they [P&G] worked to finance small women’s groups to produce their products under licence, the way Coca-Cola does here,” Standfield wrote, ”they could create a very big investment opportunity, thousands of jobs and a more decentralized and profitable distribution network....This is the big trend here—decentralized business operations under licence. The P&G brand, management, and capital base could all contribute to an incredibly successful new way of doing business.”

She also knocked the campaign’s charitable paradigm.

“I am personally against all forms of charity because I believe it disempowers others and contributes to a culture of pitying those of us who live in resource-poor communities....In the big picture I think all of our global trading systems need to be redesigned so they are more equitable for more people. This is the only way poverty will decrease—when we embrace the concept of ”˜sharing with others’ more and ”˜hoarding for ourselves’ less.”

As for Procter & Gamble, then, she wrote: “rather than donate pads (which is an effort not be wholly criticized) I think what the company should do is offer employment to these young women to potentially produce a more affordable, eco-friendly product.”