FOR THE MEDIA
What is Moyo Gems?
Moyo Gems is a responsible miner-to-market gemstone collaboration born in East Africa. We work with the women artisanal gem miners (and their male allies) in Tanzania and Kenya to source rubies, sapphires, tourmaline, garnets, citrines, and amethysts, from responsible miner to market. We work to empower women miners to work safely, mine better, improve financial security, and create stable, equitable markets for fair trade. Approximately 60% of all Moyo Gems miners are women. While we do allow male allies to join the program, there are rules, and we are clear about our focus on women.
Moyo Gems is operated by the nonprofit development organization Pact, which has dynamic country offices worldwide and its headquarters in the USA. Pact Kenya, Pact Tanzania, and Pact's unique Mines to Markets program are behind this effort.
Pact works in seamless collaboration with the Tanzanian Women Miners Association (TAWOMA), the Association of Women in Extractive Industries in Kenya (AWEIK), East African exporters, and the responsible international trading companies ANZA Gems, Nineteen48, and Maison Piat. Together, we convene, engage, train, and encourage responsible community-based artisanal miners, and then buy, export, and market fully traced gemstones to jewelry makers and manufacturers worldwide, and on to responsibly-minded consumers.
What makes Moyo Gems different?
Moyo Gems is centered on artisanal and small-scale miners (ASM), the hidden workforce behind global products. They are easily to malign and they are almost always completely unknown to the consumer. Moyo Gems aims to change that by offering radical traceability, backed by blockchain, that connects the consumer to the dynamic communities of East Africa.
Moyo Gems has been co-designed by the gem miners themselves and has unique benefits:
- Miners make on average 95% of the export value of their gemstones. This is unprecedented anywhere. Anecdotally, miners report that this is 3 to 7 times more than what they are paid elsewhere.
- Miners receive free health and safety training, free gemology training, and -- where possible -- the opportunity to join free literacy and economic empowerment groups in their areas.
- Miners have local advocates. Women's miners' associations are full partners of Moyo Gems. In Tanzania, this is the Tanzanian Women Miners Association (TAWOMA). In Kenya, this is the Association of Women in Extractive Industries in Kenya (AWEIK). We're also making strategic partnerships with new organizations focused on youth.
- Moyo Gems is completely voluntary. Enrolled (qualified) miners are under no obligation to sell to Moyo (but they do because the prices are so much better than elsewhere).
Who can join Moyo and what are the rules?
Please check out our extensive FAQ section.
How is Moyo Gems viewed by the Governments of Tanzania and Kenya?
Governments typically love Moyo Gems too. Miners are required to be locally licensed, all royalties are paid at the point of sale and at export, and Moyo Gems helps with formalization of miners. How we pay taxes is unique because -- outside of Moyo -- it is extremely common for gemstones to be blantantly smuggled across borders with no taxes paid at all, nor license registration. Moyo Gems pays taxes twice! We pay when the miner sells gems to Moyo, and again on export. All miners that have sold to Moyo have had their licenses verified, meaning that they either have a license in their name, their name is on a group license, or there is a bridge agreement in place to document their agreement with the license-holder.
Ultimately, Moyo Gems aims to capture the maximum possible value for miners and their communities. We are piloting additional sales opportunities for Moyo-qualified miners. For example, read this recent case study.
Why do we emphasize women miners?
It was the women miners of Tanzania that first captured the world's attention and were the force to create Moyo Gems. Pact and its partners want to maintain that focus to honor our roots. Women miners are 60% of program participants at minimum, and men are allowed to participate under the rules set by the local Moyo Gems program. Women typically face enormous obstacles in every day life, and enormous discrimination in mining, which is another reason their needs are elevated within Moyo. You can read more about that in the 2023 "State of the ASM Sector Report" by the World Bank and Pact, or in this recent PhD research focused on the challenges of women gemstone miners specifically.
Official media:
Program website - https://moyogems.com/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/moyogems/
Frequently Asked Questions
These are the common questions that we receive. If you have others, please use the 'contact us' form to get in touch.
Media mentions
Check out this partial list of news about Moyo Gems...
Print, TV, and online press:
Robb Report - February 2022- "7 Ultra-Rare Precious Stones We Saw at the Tucson Gem Shows"
https://robbreport.com/style/jewelry/tucson-gem-show-highlights-1234662472/
France Channel 1 - December 2021 - ""Les coulisses de la place Vendôme / Grands Reportages"
https://www.tf1.fr/tf1/grands-reportages
The Financial Times (Denmark) - December 2021 - "køb diamanter med tjek på etikken" / "Buying verified ethical diamonds" (print only)
The Financial Times (UK) - How to Spend It - November 2021 - "The Good Gems Guide"
https://www.ft.com/content/9ec1b86d-b9b8-46c6-9e1b-57b13b0aef93
National Jeweler - November 2021 - "Moyo Gems Is Expanding Into Kenya" https://www.nationaljeweler.com/articles/10369-moyo-gems-is-expanding-into-kenya
Rapaport Jewelry Connoisseur - September 2021 - "Women's Work"
https://jewelryconnoisseur.net/womens-work-moyo-gems/
National Jeweler - March 2021 - "Brilliant Earth Launches Moyo Gems Collection " https://www.nationaljeweler.com/articles/8641-brilliant-earth-launches-moyo-gems-collection
British Vogue - September 2020 - " Good News: In 2020, Sustainable Jewellery Is Finally Top Of The Agenda"
https://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/article/sustainable-jewellery-technology
Scottish Sunday Post - November 2019 -- "Miner miracle: Scots jeweller joins global fight to end unethical trade in gems from Africa" https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/moyo-gemstones/
National Jeweler - October 2019 -" You Can Now Buy Stones from Moyo Gems"
https://www.nationaljeweler.com/blog/8227-you-can-now-buy-stones-from-moyo-gems
National Jeweler - April 2019 - "Sustainability Stories: Mine to Market with Moyo Gemstones" https://www.nationaljeweler.com/blog/7668-sustainability-stories-mine-to-market-with-moyo-gemstones
Forbes -- April 2019 -- " Moyo Gemstone Collaboration A Model For Responsible Jewelry Initiatives "
https://www.forbes.com/sites/andreahill/2019/04/26/moyo-gemstone-responsible-jewelry-initiative/
Blog posts:
"The Women Behind a Bespoke Bracelet "
Steve Quick Jeweler, 2021
https://www.stevequickjeweler.com/blog/26-women-behind-bespoke-bracelet
"Material Study: Moyo Gems"
https://madelinejewelry.com/blogs/material-study/material-study-moyo-gems
" Ethically sourced gemstones- Moyo Gems"
https://www.jacquilarsson.com/2020/06/moyo-gems-ethically-sourced-coloured-gemstones/
"How it all began"
https://www.nineteen48.com/blog/moyo-gemstones---how-it-all-began
"Tanzania: Moyo Gemstones' initiative to ensure female gemstone miners get a fair share of profit"
Webinars This is a 1-hour video of a webinar we ran on Tuesday 9th June 2020 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRLQkpp1jEU A webinar with National Jeweler discussing what we have achieved in the first 2 years - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgxTof59VMQ
Also, check out these cool videos and posts from Pact:
"At Paris Fashion Week, luxury brand Repossi launches new jewelry collection with stones from Moyo Gems"
"MEET YOUR MINER Women gemstone producers of Tanzania's Umba Valley"
https://pactworld.exposure.co/meet-your-miner
"What makes a Moyo gemstone different?"
"Meet your miner: Fatuma"
"Meet your miner: Prisca"
"Meet your miner: Asha"