18th November 2015
CHT centres move to production
The Chittagong Hill Tracts is one tenth of the area of Bangladesh. It’s a huge and very beautiful part of the country but also very remote. Khagrachori district in the CHT is particularly remote and deprived where there is lack of communications and lack of education and also ongoing conflict. There are no […]
Read more
18th October 2015
AGM and Anti-Poverty week
On 18th October we held the AGM for Hathay Bunano at our finishing centre in Notun Bazar and also kicked off anti-poverty week with a programme including discussions about HBPS’ role in reducing poverty, as well as songs, performances and a drama. Everyone took part as well as some ladies coming from the rural […]
Read more
22nd April 2015
Story of Pebble in a presentation
Sometime ago I made a presentation on Haiku deck of the story of Pebble. If you’d like to know a little more about how Pebble came to be then this will give you some quick, short answers. It’s both fun and a challenge to condense 10 years of work developing a business, building a brand […]
Read more
15th April 2015
Visit by BGCCI
We were delighted this week to welcome Daniel Seidl, the Executive Director of the Bangladesh German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BGCCI) in Bangladesh to our office and finishing centre. The BGCCI is the largest chamber in Bangladesh with more than 600 members and it works to actively support trade between Bangladesh and Germany. […]
Read more
14th April 2015
Pohela Boishakh
Today is New Year in Bangladesh. When we meet people we say Shubo Nobo Borsho – Happy New Year. Its a day of celebration and is a public holiday. Everyone wears red and white and lots of people come into the public parks where there is music and games for the children. […]
Read more
3rd April 2015
Annual Picnic 2015
We and all of staff had a lot of fun on 2nd April as we celebrated the Annual Picnic 2015 on that day. So I would like to say a big thanks on behalf of all staff of HBPS. Image: staff all dressed up ready for the annual picnic The picnic followed food, Cultural […]
Read more
24th March 2015
Spring
This week heralded the start of Spring. I saw some lovely pictures from our distributor in the US of snow on his garden one day and crocuses the next! The winter has been tough for many in the northern hemisphere and I suspect spring cannot come too soon and you’re all looking forward […]
Read more
15th March 2015
Organic growth in rural centres
When we start to teach women to knit and crochet in new centres and in new areas there is often a lot of interest from the local area but also a fair amount of scepticism. Many NGO projects have come and gone before us in Bangladesh and in many areas the women are, quite […]
Read more
8th March 2015
International Women’s Day
In Dhaka we celebrated International Women’s Day yesterday at the Dhaka Craft Bazar with many of our friends and colleagues who are also working for women’s rights, empowerment and poverty alleviation in Bangladesh and it was great to celebrate and share with all of them as well as have some of our lovely toys available […]
Read more
19th February 2015
Distributor for South Korea
Last week, we were very happy to host Mr Lee and his translator, Mr Lucas, from South Korea. It was their first trip to Bangladesh. They visited our finishing centre in Notun Bazar as well as flying down to Cox’s Bazar to visit the new centres there. Travelling around Bangladesh has been difficult for […]
Read more
15th February 2015
Construction of Pebble centres
At Pebble and Hathay Bunano, the non profit organisation that makes the Pebble toys, we decided very early on that we needed to work with communities and enable them to improve themselves, rather than force change and our ideas upon them. A key example of this is with the construction of the Pebble centres. […]
Read more
16th January 2015
The making of the Pebble film
Whenever a blockbuster film is released in Hollywood, shortly after there is program about the making of that film. So in time honoured tradition, I’m writing a blog about the making of our Pebble video lol. Of course, the video is only a little over 2 minutes long and so the blog should […]
Read more
22nd December 2014
New centres in Sirajganj
Sirajganj is a very beautiful part of Bangladesh. It’s in an area known as the chars of Jamuna River. A char is basically an island in the river. The Jamuna river is huge and particularly during the monsoon it runs very fast and as such erosion of land is a huge problem. […]
Read more
15th December 2014
New centres in Cox’s Bazar
As more and more of you want to buy Pebble toys and we continue to expand sales, so we are able to continually set up and open more training centres in areas of extreme deprivation in Bangladesh. We’ve joined forces with Winrock International, under the CREL project (Climate Resistant Environment and Livelihoods project) funded […]
Read more
13th December 2014
USAID video of Sundarbans
We are delighted to be partnering with USAID, through Winrock International, in the Sundarbans. The Sundarbans is the largest natural mangrove forest in the world and the people living within it are extremely poor with very little opportunity. USAID have made a fabulous video with beautiful pictures and a very clear story telling us […]
Read more
8th December 2014
Opening preschool sponsored by Best Years Ltd
We are so delighted and so grateful to all the customers of our UK wholesalers, Best Years Ltd, for collecting lots of small amounts from the retailers they supply in the run up to Christmas. All those small individual amounts have added up to enough to set up a new preschool alongside one of […]
Read more
7th December 2014
Winter blanket distribution with Blankadesh
Every year Pebble teams up with a wonderful organisation, Blankedesh, to give out blankets at the beginning of winter. You would be right in thinking that Bangladesh is a tropical country and the temperature doesn’t drop anywhere near as low as in the UK, Europe or the US, but it does get cold. […]
Read more
7th December 2014
Collaboration with WTC
We are so happy to start working with the Women’s Training Centre (WTC) under BASE in Jessore. BASE is a fair trade organisation and an umbrella for a number of very small organisations mostly run by Catholic Sisters. They provide really invaluable help and assistance in very remote and difficult to reach communities […]
Read more
6th December 2014
UK wholesalers visit the Sundarbans
It’s great when Pebble wholesalers come to Bangladesh to see us and go out to visit the rural centres. It helps them to understand how important the work is and how vital they are in their role marketing and selling the products. It also helps them to understand some of the challenges we […]
Read more
22nd September 2014
HBPS collaborates with Barefoot College, India
HBPS is delighted to send Monora, Munjuara & Rejia – 3 illiterate ladies to Barefoot College in Rajasthan in Indian to attend 6 month training on solar electrification. As these ladies are from the HBPS Kazipur center so the HBPS Chairman, Golam Morshed and Executive Director, Rayhan Kabir accompanied the ladies during their journey and […]
Read more