Welcome to episode 2 of our latest series of the Rainbow Turtle Rebooted Podcast. I have a real treat for you today where I meet Frank Braun of CaWeLa, the importer and supplier of fair trade goods in northern Bavaria, Germany. Well, that's how I viewed him when I met him earlier this year during my visit to Fürth. Following my recent interview I've completely changed how I view him.

During the Bosnian war, in the early 90s, he drove with a friend from Germany to the refugee camps in Hungary and Bosnia taking food and clothing to the people there. Later on he set up a charity to employ social workers to help women traumatised by the war.

He was part of Siemens' fast track programme for high potentials. He went to the US as part of their leadership team to start a new company in California. On his return he set up a change agent programme to look at cultural change.

He went to Peru with his wife, who was offered a teaching post there, and started mapping organic and sustainable businesses. Coming back home, he organised one of Germany's first transition towns in his local area.

Now he runs CaWeLa in his spare time whilst he provides business consultancy to struggling small organisations and is involved in the transition town movement in Germany. Throughout the interview he offers sage advice and I could've recorded a separate podcast with all his soundbites alone!

So, strap yourself in because we're about to embark on an exciting ride.

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Following my trip to Fürth in Germany back in February this year, I interviewed Yana Laber, the managing director of the Welt Haus or Centre for Fair Trade. The Welt Haus hosts the fair trade shop, the fair trade fashion store, the education centre as well as offices and meeting spaces for local community groups.

Yana also heads up their education programme that they teach to young people and adult groups. Yana is a keen organic gardener and has taken food, grown at the back of the Welt Haus, into schools to teach them how to grown and cook it.

I hope that you're inspired by Yana's enthusiasm for fair trade and sustainability as I was when I first me her.

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The Rainbow Turtle Rebooted Podcast is back, just in time for Fair Trade Fortnight 2026. This is a short taster to give you an idea of what this new series is about.

I have gone back to Fürth in northern Bavaria, Germany, to interview some of the interesting people I met who were involved in fair trade.

Episode 1 is with Yana Leber of the Welt Haus in Fürth. The Welt Haus houses the fair trade shop, Welt Laden, the fair trade clothing company, Farcap, and some local community groups. Yana is also heads up their fair trade education in schools and with adult groups.

In episode 2, I interview Frank Braun of CaWeLa, a local importer and distributer of fair trade products. He also has some really interesting stories of supplying clothing and food to refugee camps during the Bosnian war, of working for Siemens in the US and setting up Germany's first transition town.

For episode 3, I meet Andreas Schneider, the director of the Welt Laden, or fair trade shop in Fürth. He originally studied theology before moving into fair trade in Nuremberg and Fürth. As well as writing and speaking about fair trade he is a self professed expert in tea, coffee, chocolate and wines. A useful person to know!

I'm trying to line up a few more interviews that I hope to bring out for fair trade fortnight which starts on Monday 21st September...

Email us on info@rainbowturtle.org.uk

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