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Greg
Valerio
was born in
Toronto
in 1967. He moved to the
UK
in 1976 and is married to
Ruth
, a
Cambridge
theology graduate. They have 2 daughters Mali-Grace and Jemba-May.
Expelled from school at the age of 16 for being uneducatable and unruly, he moved to
London
and worked in the theatre. After finding himself homeless and then becoming a Christian,
Greg
was subsequently invited to deliver a development education programme in secondary schools in 1991 in partnership with
Christian
Aid
. Following a trip to
Tanzania
in 1993 and
Ethiopia
1994, he launched ‘Cred’ as a justice orientated response to poverty under the banner Justice not Charity. In 1996 he launched Cred Jewellery - a Fair Trade jewellery company that is credible, radical, ethical and desirable. Cred Jewellery is the
UK
’s first jewellery company to develop Fair Trade Gold and Platinum wedding rings.
In partnership with
Greenwich
University
and the Department for International Development he commissioned the
UK
’s first research programme into the social and environmental impact of the
UK
jewellery industry in the international supply chain.
Greg
is also working with The Fair Trade Foundation on securing the Fair Trade Mark on jewellery and is currently looking to establish a process that will deliver a Fair Trade Diamond.
Greg
also imports artwork from an artist co-operative in
Tanzania
and works with
Katharine
Hamnett
on supporting her work in the field of organic cotton production and its use in the fashion world.
Greg
is a Board member of
Sahara
, a drug rehab and HIV/Aids network in
New Delhi
,
India
. In
Ethiopia
he works with the IHA/UDP a Community Based Urban Development Project where he is working alongside slum jewellers assisting them to organise, improve working conditions, avoid exploitation and improve quality of product, and Woman at Risk, a child prostitute rehab network in
Addis Ababa
. In Nepal he works with a community trade partnership New Global Nepalese Industry (NGNI) a cottage industry silver jewellery manufacturer and more recently has become involved with The Green Gold Corporation a social and environmental certification programme in the rainforests of Columbia that support indigenous sustainable mining methods for gold and platinum.
In 2004 he was a co-founder of the Association for Responsible Mining, an international organisation seeking to lobby on behalf of small-scale mining communities amongst indigenous people groups around the world. www.cred.org.uk. | 