Since 1986, Equal Exchange has advocated for a radical model of trade that directly connects small scale farmer cooperatives globally to US consumers looking for a choice in their coffee, tea, chocolate purchases.
In 2006, Equal Exchange and two other entrepreneurial organizations came together to create Oke USA. Their goal was to introduce small farmer, fair trade bananas to the US market.
Today, Oke USA operates as the fresh produce (banana and avocados) importing arm of Equal Exchange.
Bananas are a challenging product, with low margins, high risk and fierce multinational competition. Despite this, Oke and Equal Exchange believe strongly in changing the way bananas are traded.