Editor’s Note
After two decades building a fair trade legacy in Orléans, William Rajaobelina is passing on his business to pursue a new eco-tourism venture on Nosy Be. He will continue to split his time between the Indian Ocean and the Loire city, carrying forward his commitment to ethical commerce.
After 20 years of fair trade commerce in Orléans, the warm and jovial William Rajaobelina has sold his business to embark on a new adventure with an eco-tourism project on the pearl of the Indian Ocean, Nosy Be. However, he will still work part of the year in the Loire city.
Opened in June 2004, Au Comptoir Malgache is a showcase for the riches and resources of this “Red Island,” which William Rajaobelina, the boutique’s creator, describes as a
Thus, minerals, jewelry set with fine and precious stones, essential oils, vanilla, cocoa, coffee, spices… all sourced from fair trade and the result of a journey he began when he left a subsidiary of a multinational retail corporation.
This prompted William to question his path: he flew to Madagascar, where he had not set foot since 1972, explored, and studied fair trade there—a system of exchange that did not yet exist in mainland France.
From then on, he was determined to do everything to make his country shine by participating, on his scale, in the development of trade. But more than a commercial adventure, a true odyssey awaited him: 2007, the subprime crisis; 2009, political crisis in Madagascar.
2010, separation; 2012, a stroke. Followed by the Yellow Vests crisis, surgery, the COVID crisis…
Today, retired, William has just sold his lovely boutique to two Malagasy partners who are still active and very involved in sustainable development. However, he remains the founder and will ensure follow-up so that the store’s ethics and spirit endure.
But another chapter is opening for the merchant: a new project on the island of Nosy Be in Madagascar where he plans to open an ecolodge in the heart of nature and develop eco-tourism. Another alternative to luxury tourism on this pearl considered the “Tahiti of the Indian Ocean.”
To achieve this, William plans to set up villages of artisans around his ecolodge, as well as poultry and ostrich breeders,
A tourist package is also under study with a discovery tour of the Red Island, from the capital Tana to Diego Suarez in the north, to support villages along the route, an unknown area with national parks to explore.
says William Rajaobelina, who will not leave Orléans permanently:
