Good Market Movement
The Good Market is no new experience for Colombo’s public. Bringing its customers organic fruits and vegetables, clean and healthy prepared food, eco-friendly crafts and much more from small local businesses, the Good Market Movement aims to develop new economic systems that favour earth and its beings.
Many global actors are working towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals and as a young group of volunteers in Sri Lanka, the Good Market wanted to do its part said Achala Samaradivakara, Co-founder. “Good market is a movement that tries to resolve social and environmental issues through social entrepreneurship,” she said. Like an incubator, Good Market is a place for school leavers or university graduates to discover their interests and a place for even children to be inspired to innovate, she added.
Social enterprises are profit making ventures. But unlike the corporate sector, they address social and environmental issues and unlike NGOs who talk about such issue, social enterprises are not dependent on donor funds. Social enterprises make money by helping the world. “As a company we not only audit our finances, we audit for environmental and social impact”, said the co-founder of Good Market.
The team at Good Market refrain from the use of single use plastic. The vendors are encouraged to use eco-friendly options such as paper and reusable cups. “We are trying to create a social trend by encouraging people to bring their own cups and cutlery,” Ms. Samaradivakara explained their plans towards sustainability.
Currently experimenting on alternatives for plastic straws, all 660 registered vendors of good market leaves no harmful waste at the end of a market day.
Achala
Promoting healthy lifestyles, Good Market provides organic, healthy and safe food solutions. Refraining from the use of refined sugar, refined salts, preservatives colouring and any other artificial additive, vendors use very less oil in preparing food. The co-founder said that vendors are accountable for what they serve their customers.
“We don’t make huge profits, but we are glad to bring traditional and healthy dishes to the city,” said Disna Jayanthi. Bringing traditional Sri Lankan food, Disna Foods joined Good Market in 2013. Ms. Jayanthi has her special recipes that people come for and her polos rotti and mushroom rotti tops the list. Disna Foods use banana leaves and other natural alternatives for lunch sheets.
The movement encourages farmers to engage in traditional farming using organic fertilizer and eco-friendly farming methods. “We are a movement that protects the organic farming industry by a certification system to ensure one hundred percent that we giving our customer a quality organic product, Samaradivakara emphasized.
Binuka Organics is a collective effort of a group of organic farmers from the Southern province of Sri Lanka. “I had friends who grew organic produce but they did not have a market” said W. G. S. Upul, a vendor. He is a member of a team of 12 farmers that found a market for their produce through the good market. “The business is quite costly given that our harvest has to travel a long distance to come here but people love our fruits so we try to serve them the way we can,” he told the Mirror. Good market is an example for a self-financing business model. “We only run on our earnings and we use the profit we earn to develop another vendor,” Ms. Samaradivakara explained.
Every Saturday, local and foreign customers visit the Good Market in numbers. Impressed by what they see, The co-founder added that the foreign customers were wanting to replicate this model in their home countries. “We have the good market global platform that aims to spread the message,” she explained. On a good day, the Saturday event will see a turnout of about 2500 customers. The profit making however, depends on the type of stall. The highest demand is for prepared food. Organic vegetables have a very good demand too. “For craft vendors Good Market is a place for networking,” said Achala Samaradivakara.
“Bio degradable areca leaf and cotton cloth footwear are a go to option for people who are allergic to PVC or rubber,” said Mr. M. Edirisuriya of Sena Eco, a family business that handcrafts eco-friendly footwear. Although they don’t have high sales at Good Market, this is the place that allows them to secure foreign orders for their products.
Orilka Plant Nursery started as a domestic business that grew ornamental plants with organic fertilizer. Good Market has helped Sriyani Wickramasinghe identify the community specific demand for plants. She now supplies indoor potted plants for offices and other small spaces in Colombo.
Good Market is a community effort. “When trying to replicate Good Market events at different locations, we always work with the entrepreneurs, farmers and producers, leaders and educated individuals of that community,” the co-founder explained. The team at Good Market is eager to take the movement to other parts of the country but the lack of resources to do so remain an obstacle. Achala thinks that if the government is willing to assist the movement will be able to widen its reach. “The movement for change has already begun. We just have to propel it forward”, she noted with excitement.
The Good Market retail outlet and community deli is now open at Lakpahana, Reid Avenue.
To join the movement visit www.goodmarket.global.