Jojo

A) The main facts about the activities of the Company.

Jojo is a company that sells shoes. It was founded in 2009 by two friends; Matthieu Vaxelaire and Christoph Nagel. Their ambition was to create and sell a product with a strong concept that benefits the environment. The Jojo brand is one that falls in the category of ?alternative consumption? for people who want to take consuming one step further by showing their respect to humankind and the environment.
When you buy a pair of these shoes you can choose one out of two projects to support. Jojo has a partnership with two NGO?s based in Africa. The first project is the Tree Nation project; if you buy one pair of shoes one tree will be planted in Africa. The other project is The Water Project; this NGO installs water pumps in Africa. One pair of shoes generates one year of drinking water for one person in Africa.
The strength of Jojo lies in the fact that through their website you can follow the progression of your project. The Jojo team keeps their information regarding the projects as up to date as possible.
The design of the shoe is also part of their concept. It is a basic sneaker, but the stripes on the sides of the shoe look like bandages. The message of this design is that the world needs care; Jojo tries to ?take care of? certain fractures in the world.

B) The ethical challenges this company is addressing.

The two projects that Jojo supports are addressing two problems in the world. The Tree Nation project has the sustainability of the environment as their objective, by planting trees they try to fight against climate change, desertification and poverty. The Tree Nation project in Niger is the first Jojo forest, where at this moment in time they have planted 1 526 trees.
The second project, The Water Project, is dedicated to providing accessible water in Africa and India. Access to water is a very significant aspect of a person?s health and wellbeing; furthermore it enables irrigation and production of foodstuffs. Right now, 1482 people have access to drinkable water during one year.
Jojo also puts emphasis on the working conditions of the people producing their shoes, plus they respect the environment where the factory is located.
In essence, Jojo is trying to help the earth on an environmental level by replanting trees and on a social level by building water pumps. All the while being a good employer to the manufacturers of the shoes.

C) What makes us believe this company is really ethical and why we trust it.

We believe Jojo is really ethical since the ethical part is the cornerstone of their brand. It is what sets this business and this shoe apart from other shoe brands. The projects Jojo supports are what they sell together with the shoe.
Besides this, it generates a lot of trust if people can follow the progress of the projects. Allowing people to ?check? the projects is guaranteeing customers that their money will indeed be invested in the project.
Moreover, Jojo is a new company founded by young people who wish to see change in the world. This is the first company of the founders, and to them the brand follows personal ideals. By taking a look at the Jojo website you can see the personal level of the company straight away; they introduce themselves and explain why they started the company. This high level of personality in the firm gives customers a feeling of trust in Jojo.

D) The possible challenges facing the company in the future and how we think this company may improve.

As mentioned above, Jojo is a very young company so they face the possible problems that all starting companies face. Especially in times of crisis, the starting firms are the ones that get hit the hardest. But since they are still in business their strategy should be to expand to more countries. The whole world can order Jojo shoes online, but there are only a number of countries that actually sell the shoes in stores. A good objective would be to find more countries, and stores to sell their shoes. More customers, means more money for the firm and more money for the projects.
Another problem that Jojo could be facing in the future is more competition from other companies that have the same intention. A challenge for Jojo, when they face more competition, would be to keep their manufacturing in respectable factories, which provide good working conditions and maintain the environment. Jojo will have to prevent wanting to cut costs by moving their manufacturing to cheaper locations with worse conditions.