Zambeezi’s Resolutions for 2024

This January among the staff at Zambeezi has been a wonderful period of reflection and fruitful planning. We know that this month can often be stressful, as the schedule begins to fill up when we're only a week into 2024, but we would still love you to get excited along with us about this fresh new year, and we’ll see what amazing things are going to happen!  

What has this new beginning brought for you? I know there are years where I have felt overwhelmed when the year begins, but having a plan changes everything - if I have the chance to just sit down with my notebook and write out my goals for the year, they all feel so much more attainable. Putting it in writing makes a difference!

So here it is, Zambeezi's Journal entry for the beginning of 2024. We're writing down our core goals for this upcoming year, even if it's just to continue what we have always been doing with the aim of constant growth. 

Whether the start to your year has been hectic, thoughtful, or just like any other January, looking forward to the months ahead instills a sense of new growth and change that’s on the way. 

Here are some of Zambeezi’s resolutions for 2024, and we hope that you will join us in creating fair-trade, sustainability, and community focused goals for this year, and that we may encourage one another to continue!

1. Engaging with our community

Zambeezi is a company by and for real people, so we want to engage with the real people who are part of our fair trade family.

One of Zambeezi’s main goals for the new year is increased engagement with faithful customers and new friends alike!

We want to keep in touch with you!

Last year, we started a “Wholesaler Wednesday” tradition, where we choose one of our favorite wholesale partners per week to feature on Instagram, with current pictures and information. We love to support local businesses, and it's incredible that whether they are small fair trade boutiques, hardware stores, bakeries, or anything in between, Zambeezi has found a welcoming home in shops all over the country. Do you have any shops that you would recommend, that partner with us and share in our passion? We'd love to hear it, and feature your favorite shop in the next Wholesaler Wednesday!

If we can be more involved on all sorts of social media platforms, we can be more involved with local businesses and individual partners.

Zambeezi is a company by and for real people, so we want to engage with the real people who are a part of the fair trade family as they are partnering with Zambeezi’s mission.

This year, we are also scheduled to push regular updates on progress in Zambia and release more articles like this one! You as a partner and buyer deserve to know what you are supporting, and we hope that transparency will inspire you to grow in your concern for fair trade and ethical shopping in every area, the best body care and beyond.

And, something that I'm extremely excited about is that I will have the chance to hear more from our partners in Zambia and get a fresh perspective of the work and the impact that Zambeezi is having on their communities. They have been such an inspiration to me, and I can't wait to share that with you!

2. Upholding our values

These are values we had since the beginning, and we want to be intentional in keeping them at the forefront of everything we do, and bringing clarity about our mission to anyone who partners with us.

This year, Zambeezi also wants to continue upholding the fair trade values it has always stood for, and we see new ways that these values can shine brighter and more effectively in 2024.

One of those ways is continuing to look for more sustainable solutions for packaging and other areas. We want to make the best possible impact on Zambian communities and the world, and part of that is making sure that every part of our product is contributing in a valuable way.

We are currently developing paper packaging that will hopefully be released later this year, so let us know in advance if that is something you personally or a store that you are involved with would be interested in! 

The heart of Zambeezi is with our partners in Zambia. They sparked our passion, and our mission has always been to see them thrive. 

We want to think of them with overwhelming gratitude that they have joined with us to reveal the beauty and freshness of Zambian ingredients and agriculture to a Western market through Zambeezi.

This is why, in the upcoming year, we will have the opportunity for more conversations one-on-one with these partners, to hear their individual stories and share them with you.

These are values we had since the beginning, and we want to be intentional in keeping them at the forefront of everything we do, and bringing clarity about our mission to anyone who partners with us. We hope you will come alongside us as we continue to uplift our values in more and more ways. 

3. Expanding our horizons

We hope you’ll get excited about these new opportunities with us, and join in our mission to see people thriving!

Another major goal that we have here at Zambeezi is expanding our horizons.

We see so much potential in the bountiful harvests of Zambia, and cannot wait to keep experimenting with the ingredients and opportunities we have to bring you even more products and options.

Another opportunity to expand our horizons is the children's home in Mibila, Zambia. Our partner Kahona and his team are developing this Village of Hope, and we hope that the profits this year will truly make an impact on its progress. If you would like to hear more about this project that is still one of our central goals, check out this article! 

Keep your eyes out for product surveys that may give you a sneak-peek into what’s on our radar as we develop new products that have a real impact!

From sunscreen to scrubs, we have some exciting releases lined up, and our partners in Zambia are excited about joining us in adding even more ethical body care products to our catalog.

These releases could do so much good - we hope you’ll get excited about these new opportunities with us, and join in our mission to see people thriving!

…

Now that you know a bit of what we’ll be up to in this new year, we want to hear from you!

Are there any aspects of Zambeezi that you see that you would like us to expand, pursue, or adapt?

What are some of YOUR fair-trade/organic based resolutions for the new year, and how can Zambeezi help to meet them?