Weekly Profile: Grosche International
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Based in Cambridge, Ontario, Grosche International began out of the basement of husband and wife team, Helmi Ansari and Mehreen Sait. They began packaging loose leaf tea door-to-door, and then transitioned to selling teapots on eBay and Amazon. Today, their small business has expanded far beyond their expectations: their products are now available exclusively at Hudson's Bay and Home Outfitters in Canada, and in Bed Bath & Beyond in the United States. Through Amazon and their own e-commerce platform, they regularly sell to customers in Canada, the U.S., Europe, Australia, Japan, South American, and beyond.
The company participates in many sustainable initiatives. Most recently, they have partnered with another local Ontarian company (go Ontario!), Enviro-Stewards, on the Safe Water Project. Every sale of a Gorsche product helps fund this initiative, which provides bio-sand water filters to international communities in need. The filter removes 95% of viruses, 97-99.9% of harmful bacteria, including e-coli, 99.8% of protozoa, and 100% of worms in water. What's more, these filters require no electricity, and can last for up to thirty years. Grosche hires locals to build the filters, providing valuable paid employment to communities in need.
In addition to the Safe Water Project, they contribute to other ethical projects. For one, they have planted 10,000 trees with "Trees for the Future," which plants trees in developing countries. It's also involved in a project that is putting online education materials on memory sticks that can be used in any USB drive.
Today, they sell an exhaustive list of coffee and tea products, which they design themselves. Their products include French presses, coffee grinders, kitchen scales, coffee beans, coffee mugs, pour over and espresso makers, glass tea cups, infuser mugs, infuser teapots, loose-leaf tea, tea mugs, tea accessories, glass cups and mugs, and more! Of course, they practice fair trade principles: their employees are paid at least $16 an hour, and they regularly participate in community building initiatives, such as building affordable housing for families in need with Habitat for Humanity, or serving meals at St. John's Kitchen in Kitchener.
Thanks to the Safe Water Project, Helmi Ansari and Mehreen Sait have managed to provide 45,975,199 days of safe water to communities in need around the world. They have helped install water filters in India, Sudan, the Philippines, and more.
Visit their website to learn more!
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