As the President and Co-owner of Equifruit, Jennie Coleman has spent more than a decade making the case for paying banana farmers fairly. In her own words, she shares why she bought a business she barely understood, what she learned about walking away from bad treatment, and the advice she gives any woman who hasn’t started.
Jennie Coleman has spent more than a decade in the banana business, advocating for the farmers and workers who grow the fruit to be paid fairly. She is the President and Co-owner of Equifruit, North America’s leading importer of Fairtrade bananas, based in Montreal. She bought the company in 2013 to scratch a longstanding itch for entrepreneurship, knowing next to nothing about bananas. The industry she stepped into gave her a mission she has carried ever since.
Her work is as much about people as it is about fruit. Jennie built Equifruit on her own terms, and when she found herself in relationships that treated her badly, she learned she could walk away and keep growing. Rather than keep that lesson to herself, she offers it to other women still deciding whether they have to put up with the same. She leads with warmth instead of lectures, trusting that people would rather feel good about a choice than be told what to do.
Tell us about yourself and what you’re building.
My name is Jennie Coleman, I’m the President and Co-owner of Equifruit, North America’s leading importer and marketer of Fairtrade bananas.
Equifruit was established in 2006 by a family in Quebec that wanted to open the Canadian market for Fairtrade bananas. I bought the business in 2013, scratching a longstanding itch for entrepreneurship and Equifruit seemed like a perfect fit for me personally and professionally. I knew next to nothing about the banana industry at the time, and I couldn’t have predicted that Fairtrade bananas would become my life’s calling.
We get paid to move fruit from A to B, but what drives us is fair pay for banana farmers. The banana industry is notorious for its poor track record on human rights and low wages. In North America, we’re paying less for our bananas today than we were 30 years ago. The price of practically everything else has gone up with inflation (apples, pears, oranges can be 2-3x the price of bananas), but banana prices have been frozen in time. This isn’t an accident, this hides decades of exploitation of banana farmers and workers, with appalling working conditions and poor wages.
Treating other humans fairly shouldn’t be charity. There is deep unfairness in the traditional banana industry. At Equifruit, my team and I are on a mission to right the wrongs of banana business history by paying banana farmers and workers fairly for their fruit. Our bananas are 100% Fairtrade and our packaging sums up our mission: “Farmers gotta get paid.” Our goal is to raise awareness so that people stop and think twice about which bananas they’re buying.
What’s a belief about success, work, or how women should be treated that you live by?
When I bought the Equifruit business in 2013, I inherited a few deeply toxic relationships in the industry. At the time, I thought this was just part and parcel of being a woman in a male-dominated industry. It caused me a lot of stress and sleepless nights, but I truly believed the problem was with me and that I just had to grow a thicker skin and suck it up.
But then in 2017, my business partner Kim Chackal and I decided to call time on a particularly bad relationship with a distributor. We worked up the courage to walk away and seek out a new distribution partner. This turned out to be one of the best decisions I could have made, for myself and for my team.
Ever since then, one of my guiding mantras has been “Don’t work with jerks!”
At the time I was so worried about what ending this relationship would do to the business, but Equifruit’s growth has been strong ever since. We’re stocked in major retailers across Canada and we’ve appeared on The Globe and Mail’s Top Growing Companies list for the past four consecutive years. I see now that we didn’t have to put up with being treated badly, and ending those toxic relationships has done nothing to slow our growth. So my advice to all women out there is to have the confidence to call out poor behaviour. You have the right to be spoken to with respect.
What’s one small thing you did in your business to bring more meaning or light into the work you do?
When I bought the business, we inherited a very earnest marketing approach from the previous owners. We quickly understood that consumers don’t want a lecture on the banana industry every time they do their shopping. People want to feel good about the choices they make and no one wants to be preached at.
During the pandemic we did a full rebrand, bringing in humorous messages to win people over. The idea is that first we make people smile, then we bring it back to the serious stuff. Today, you’ll see that the messages on our packaging and on our social media channels are short and sometimes silly, but we always finish with our core message that farmers gotta get paid.
When you interact with Equifruit, whether that’s online or in store, the overall feeling is one of positivity and change that everyone can get on board with.
What would you tell the woman reading this who sees herself in your story but hasn’t started yet?
Si se puede! This is simple but it’s something I say to my team and to myself all the time. It’s Spanish for “Yes, we can!” It sums up Equifruit’s spirit of positivity and resilience on our path for Global Fairtrade Banana Domination.
I knew nothing about the banana industry or running a business when I bought Equifruit 13 years ago. I learned on the job and I’m so proud of where we’ve got to today and excited for all that’s still to come.
It might be a cliché but I’d say to anyone reading this at the start of your journey: trust your instincts, follow your dreams and believe in yourself. Si, se puede!
Jennie’s LIFT Index Stage Is: Significance (Leopard)
This is the stage where you are living and working in full alignment with your purpose, leading in ways that are both impactful and energizing. You focus on expanding your influence, guiding others, and leaving a meaningful legacy. You carry responsibility with intention, mentoring the next generation and creating structures that allow your contributions to endure. Your goal is to elevate your impact while staying replenished, ensuring your unique gifts continue to inspire without draining your energy.
This is also an opportunity to step away from the path you’ve forged for others and into a new path for yourself.
Women of Élanoura features women who are leading with purpose, and finding ways to LIFT other women as they go.
Connect with Jennie on LinkedIn and find Equifruit at equifruit.com, on Instagram @equifruit, and on LinkedIn.
