The Baba Tree Basket Company

The Baba Tree Basket Company’s founder, Gregory ‘Ayinedollah’ MacCarthy has been traveling to and living in Ghana since winter 1999. Gregory first went to Ghana to study cultural drumming with the "Ga" tribe, who are based in the Greater Accra Region. After months of sweating it out over a drum, he had some extra brass in his pocket when it came time to leave. He had the quaint idea that buying some beads and cloth, with his surprising surplus of cash, and reselling them in Canada, would be a marvelous way of underwriting his drum studies. That was the illustrious start of The Baba Tree’s (formerly known as the dubiously named Swingpad International Imports) tenure of being the fairest trader in Bolgatanga. The Baba Tree’s world headquarters are based in Bolgatanga in Ghana’s Upper East Region where Gregory is surrounded by a beloved team of endearingly dedicated employees who suffer his presence daily. Arriving at The Baba Tree’s compound every day are dozens, sometimes hundreds, of weavers—men, women, children, and students—many of whom The Baba Tree has been working with for years. These are the people that butter our bread and must be compensated more fully for their artistry if Bolgatanga has any chance of developing.