Karen Kammeraat

A fair income for everyone, that is the mission Karen Kammeraat is working on. In the Netherlands, through her FairShopping Foundation (www.eerlijkwinkelen.nl), a guide to shops that sell fair trade, organic and second hand products, available in more than 50 cities.
And in developing and emerging economies, with the Brilliant Entrepreneur programme (www.brilliantentrepreneur.net) that she founded together with Yvette van Dok. The Brilliant Entrepreneur trains women SME entrepreneurs. The programme is unique because it integrates talent and personal development with concrete result-oriented actions that benefit the company. It was implemented until now in Uganda, Zimbabwe and the Balkan and with groups from Congo, Jordan, Palestine, and other Middle East countries, all with impressive results on personal as well as company level.
Karen graduated in Industrial Design Engineering and Advanced Development Studies and has over 20 years of experience in development cooperation. She worked three years at the Centre for Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries, eight years at Oxfam Novib and lived for two years in Tanzania. In 2009 she started her own company Nyota (www.nyota.nl). She lives in The Hague with her husband and two daughters.