Emma Myers

Emma Myers (shown here) and her friend Elizabeth Ampiah started Eli-Emma Batik & Tye-Dye in 1992. They worked hard in their tiny workshop in rural Ghana, but they just weren’t making a go of it. After years of struggling, they joined Global Mamas, a fair trade organization based in Minnesota.

Global Mamas helps a number of artisan groups in Ghana produce work for their local markets and for export to the US. Eli-Emma specializes in batiking, while others sew. It takes both to make a finished product.

Since joining Global Mamas, Eli and Emma have been able to pay off their debts, send all their children to school, build a new workshop in Cape Coast, and open a small retail shop. They commute an hour and a half to their new workshop, where they can watch the ocean from their windows. They also teach batiking.

“Eli and Emma are hard working, smart, so talented and creative, and they always produce such good quality,” said their peers, who voted them Global Mamas of the Year. Now Eli hopes to finish the house her family is building near the workshop, and Emma hopes to buy a car.

Baksheesh sells onesies and children’s dresses and shirts made by Eli, Emma and their Global Mamas coworkers.

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