Equal Trade Alliance

The Mission At Equal Trade Alliance

Equal Trade Alliance (ETA) was founded by Max Koffi to foster global trade practices that value Africa’s contributions equally. ETA envisions a world with:

  • An equitable distribution of wealth
  • Eradication of poverty, and
  • Abolishment of neo-colonialist trade models

ETA is working to redefine how trade operates on a global scale and to create employment opportunities, tax income, and innovation. ETA advocates for a system where trade empowers communities rather than exploits them, and where economic value is fairly distributed to those who contribute to it.

The Problem

Farmers in the Global South continue to face systemic economic inequalities when dealing with Western corporations, despite its abundance in resource. The returns for the farmers are disproportionately low compared to the massive profits made by Western corporations from processing and selling products. These inequalities are perpetuated because of neo-colonialism, manifesting through various economic and political mechanisms and nourishing dependency and asymmetrical power relationships between transnational buyers and local suppliers. Traditional fair trade models fall short of achieving true economic equity.

The Vision

ETA was established to promote Equal Trade—a downstream approach focused on justice, shared prosperity, and sustainable growth for Africa’s communities by abolishing buyer-supplier relationships and by implementing a revenue-sharing model that ensures equal wealth distribution.

Equal Trade Alliance Model

  • Abolish buyer-supplier relationships: through joint-ownership and long-term partnership
  • Implement a revenue-sharing model: to ensure equal wealth distribution along the value chain

ETA advocates for equal compensation and balanced partnerships, working toward an approach that fully values African producers. Equal pay will allow Africa to become self-sufficient, bolstering the global economy. In this way, equal trade practices benefit everyone.

By promoting Equal Trade over traditional models, ETA seeks to transform industries, improve livelihoods, and create a trade model rooted in transparency, justice, and sustainability.

To create an equitable trade system that respects and rewards all communities, fostering sustainable growth and shared prosperity.

Addressing these systemic issues is essential to empowering communities and achieving true economic independence. It’s time to break this cycle. https://equaltradeglobal.org/

Achievements

  • Recruited Teams in 30+ Countries with 600+ volunteers
  • Pan African Youth Summit in Addis Ababa
    • Youth summit resulted in 50+ youth working for the development of this project
  • Coffee Roundtable in Addis Ababa
    • The roundtable resulted in the steering committee of Max Koffi, Yonas Woldesemayat Dejene and Gezahegn Kebede Gebrehana, who work collaboratively to drive equitable and sustainable trade practices across Africa and the Global South
  • Three impactful academic researches
    1. Fairer than Fairtrade – Wageningen University and Research (2019)
    2. Equal Trade Chocolate Tastes Better – Wageningen University and Research (2024)
    3. Equal Trade Model: A case study with Afropulse – Wageningen University and Research (2025)
  • EU funding for the ‘Connect for Global Change Campaign’
    • Raise awareness among youth about the structural inequalities in the global cocoa industry, with a particular focus on the experiences of Ghanaian coca farmers