7 - 13 June 2001

Tip Top goes tribal

Joseph Xuereb takes a family business into the 21st century with innovation and idealism. He talks to Blanche Gatt about his new venture Aw Tribu

Unconventional in both appearance and outlook to business, Joseph Xuereb is gradually transforming the business his father built up. From the high tech of hi-fi and digital sound and vision to the low tech of original ethnic artefacts, his vision for the Tip Top business of the 21st century is to create wealth by spreading wealth. His latest innovation, Aw Tribu, with branches in Fgura and Valletta, sees him using principles of fair trade to ensure that while his business does well, so do the producers of the merchandise.
Walking around the spacious shop in Fgura, designed to replicate a marketplace with separate stalls displaying diverse goods from Africa and Asia, it is a far cry from the Tip Top of loud music, huge speakers and flashing disco lights that I remember from not so long ago.
So how did this evolution happen? I looked to Joseph, now running Tip Top along with his brother, for explanation. “I have felt for a long while that certain things were unfair in the way that they happened,” he said. “I was only 20 when I went to work as a labourer in the Libyan desert and found myself working alongside a lot of Sri Lankan and Filipino workers. The whole impact of exploitation was literally shoved in my face during this time, as I soon found out that while we were being paid five pounds a day, they were getting 50 cents a day. While we worked three months on and three weeks off, they worked for two years straight, with no holidays or breaks at all.”
His father’s business, Tip Top, had already become a household name in Malta for hi-fi and other electronic goods. “I decided the best way to make a difference was to use the best tool I had, which was the family business. Today, our main business consists of quality of life goods; exercise and sports equipment, while the electronics side has been taken over by my brother David; this fortunately allowed me to make certain changes I felt would be beneficial.”
The concept of fair trade is generally applied to dealings with developing countries, however, besides that, Joseph believes he can also apply the principle to the Tip Top sports equipment’s outlet. “The idea”, he said, “is to create choice and make things affordable. The range we carry is very hard to find anywhere else, but because we work for a very small profit and sell direct to the public, we manage to keep the prices down to a reasonable level.”
Joseph’s motto is to always look for win/win situations: “I always want the person buying a product from me to be happy, both with the product and the price he or she paid for it,” he said. “And the idea with Aw Tribu is to have a quadruple win situation – environmentally the planet wins, because these are goods coming from sustainable sources; the craftsmen, because they are able to get fair prices for their work; the customers, because they get a real choice; and us, we win because we make some money.”
The Aw Tribu definition of fair trade is not far different to the general understanding of the term, even if Joseph is careful to point out that Aw Tribu is not registered as an official fair trade company. “We buy direct from the maker so that the money he paid goes directly into the local economy,” he said, “we only buy products that come from a renewable source, like bamboo, rattan and coconut. And we do not buy products that have been made using child labour.”
Though Joseph’s ideas on exploitation and fair trade had been formed for many years, it was not until a holiday to Australia two years ago that he saw the opportunity to actually start operating a business along these principles. “During my stay in Australia,” he said, “I went to a three-day ethnic music festival, and while I was there I noticed some people carving drums. I got talking to them and within a few months I had started importing them to sell out of our Valletta outlet. Having sold all of them very quickly, I decided to go and see for myself what wood they were made of, as well as to source other arts and crafts from south-east Asia. In the meantime I had teamed up with a friend, Nick Cassar, who had already started importing arts and crafts from Peru. Then, in March 2000 I went to Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand and China on a six-week trip to identify possible suppliers and gather information about renewability of the materials that went into the products, as well as other practical details.”
Joseph’s marathon tour took him into the workshops and villages where the items he wanted to buy were being made. “I went to see how these craftspeople work, and where they work,” he explained. “One important thing for us is to cut out the middle man, the agent, and buy the items directly from the people who make them.
“This is essential not only for economic reasons, but also so that we can give a 100 per cent guarantee that the materials used are all from renewable sources, and that there is no child labour. Through my experiences I realise that unless you’re there and able to see with your own eyes that there is no child labour involved, no exploitation and no corruption, it is impossible to be certain.”
Aw Tribu has entered an extremely fashionable market. Outlets selling ethnic products similar to Aw Tribu’s merchandise have opened all over Malta, and the originality of the hand-made items allows many shop-owners to charge high prices for their goods. But, Joseph said, Aw Tribu’s practice of sending buyers out direct to the craftsmen in the villages means that their prices are kept to the absolute minimum – and explains why just a few months after having opened the Valletta branch of Aw Tribu, the much
larger Fgura branch was stocked and opened.
“Now we have travellers like Louise Pick travelling and buying stuff from our Asian suppliers,” said Joseph, “as well as John Farrugia doing the same thing in Africa. Besides that we have various individuals who source interesting merchandise for us. Aw Tribu, just a year after opening, and taking into account both outlets, has seven employees, and is already standing on its two feet.”
Further expansion is definitely on the agenda, according to Joseph. “If the opportunity arises we will definitely open more shops,” he said. “But what we are really looking for now is partners – be it businessmen with premises out of which they would like to sell our merchandise, or travellers on the same wavelength as us who would like to go out and source new products. This is an excellent way of making money without stepping on other people’s toes. Of making a profit for yourself, but also allowing others to prosper at the same time.”
Joseph has already set up a wholesale sector that will be buying and selling bamboo poles, a raw material that is highly renewable and can be used to manufacture a vast range of items. He is also looking forward to an international expansion, initially into Australia, where a business associate has already started importing some Aw Tribu items.
“We are also setting up a webpage,” added Joseph, “which, when ready, will be very detailed, giving not only prices and descriptions of items, but also information about the artist or craftsman who made the individual pieces, information about the area and the country they come from, and the economic situation of that place.”
Joseph believes that Aw Tribu can become an instrument of information to consumers with a conscience; in the meantime, the popularity of carved wooden animals, traditional tribal weapons and safari-inspired footstools and ornaments means he has a steadily growing stream of customers to marvel at the dexterity of tribal artisans. Do these customers choose to shop at Aw Tribu on any criteria other than price? This is a difficult question to answer, but if cost and fashion coincide to boost business for Aw Tribu, then perhaps Joseph’s fair trade principles will be disseminated along with his products.