The Gloucestershire company aim to create a sustainable island where its 300 villagers can maintain their cultural heritage and stay on the island. Due to lack of income and jobs, many of the villagers were having to leave their homes in search for employment, leaving the island to become a shadow of its former self.
Founder of Bula Batiki, Callum Drummond’s first goal was to build a new office block for the school on the island. After approaching Managing Director, Michael Carter in 2012, E G Carter offered to help towards the building costs and materials to ensure the building was completed. The new office block gave the school access to have a library of books and new resources, and gave the school staff an area where struggling students can have small-group learning sessions outside of the large classroom environments.
In 2014, Callum and a team came up with the idea of exporting coconut oil from the island and selling it across the globe. Doing this enables the small island of Batiki to create a sustainable lifestyle, increase the income of the island and maintain their cultural heritage by staying on the island. E G Carter & Co Ltd helped by providing the transport to transfer 3/4 ton of coconut oil from ports in Ipswich and Doncaster back to Gloucester. Without this help Bula Batiki would not have been able to successfully get the oil back to Gloucester.
Callum said “Without the help of E G Carter & Co Ltd, we wouldn’t have been able to achieve building the new school office or transporting the goods back to Gloucester. If anything, E G Carter & Co Ltd have helped change the lives of the villagers on the island. Without them we wouldn’t be where we are now. Thank you.”