In The Hot Seat: Siddharth Sanghvi

Most true globetrotters can name their favorite bazaars in the world and then describe a colorful scene filled with local artisan products. These places occupy the small corners of the world and the reward for traveling to these remote places was to return home with a suitcase or (sometimes a shipping container) full of unique pieces of hand crafted work. A few years ago the rest of us (without a ton of vacation time and perhaps less exploratory instincts) could only dream about unique pieces of art and textiles crafted by different cultures. But World of Good changed that ... giving us all the opportunity to have global style while at the same time supporting local artisans, their families and in some cases, keeping cultural traditions alive in an increasingly globalized world.

World of Good, in partnership with eBay, created an online marketplace for sustainable shopping, featuring tens of thousands of Fair Trade, ethically sourced and eco-friendly products. Not only can individuals log on to worldofgood.ebay.com to browse thousands of fair trade products, but World of Good has also connected these developing communities with mainstream retail markets. The company has developed customized lines of products for retailers including Whole Foods, Hallmark, Disney and LVMH. This has given 25,000-plus producers from more than 70 countries access to reach consumers in over 1,200 retail locations around the United States. This is shopping you can feel good about!

Siddharth Sanghvi is the general manager of WorldofGood.com and was the co-founder and marketing director of World of Good Inc. before the brand was acquired by eBay in 2010. Tonic gets him to take a break from globetrotting and puts him In The Hot Seat:

How are your business goals tied to your mission?

The beauty of the World of Good business model is that as the business scales, so does the impact we are able to make on producers and communities around the world. In effect, our business goals are defined by our mission. eBay's acquisition of the World of Good brand solidified both companies commitment to truly affecting social change through sustainable commerce.?When World of Good, Inc., met eBay to begin the development of WorldofGood.com, what we saw was the world's largest online marketplace: Eighty billion dollars of trade that's occurring annually. Right now, informal sector Fair Trade products in the US make up only an estimated $300 to $400 million. That's a small number. And just think — the entire gift industry in the US is $55 billion dollars. So if only $300 or $400 million dollars of that is ethically traded, there's so much more we can shift.?By creating a platform where sellers, trust providers and thousands of people who care about making an impact can meet in one place, we can build something so much bigger that can really help shift hundreds of millions of dollars of trade — and create a similarly monumental change in how consumers shop.

Where do you see WorldofGood.com in five years?

In five years, I think there will be thousands of online and offline destinations for buying socially responsible products and WorldofGood.com will be the largest of them all. I also see us as a destination fostering strong connections between our sellers and shoppers. I envision that WorldofGood.com will enable consumers to not just read about the producers they buy from, but relate to them in a more personal way — through pictures, video, perhaps even real time —that empowers our shoppers to feel a true connection to what they are purchasing, who they are buying it from, and how they are making a tangible difference in people's lives.

What's your mantra?

I wish I could say I had one deeply philosophical adage that I live by — I don't, but my general philosophy goes something like this: We are all going to die, so why not always do what we can to make the short stay on this planet as pleasant and meaningful as possible for everyone involved. You're hedging your bets in the event that you believe in karmic rebirth, and if not, making the world a better place in general is not such a bad backup plan. (Also, bottled water is the devil.)??

What did you want to be when you were growing up?

I always thought I would be a marine biologist or conservation biologist and work deep in the rainforests of Brazil or savannahs in Africa. I even majored in biology and environmental science in college — that's when I got a glimpse into the painstaking research that would be involved. I'm quite impatient, and so I decided that would not be the best path for me.??

What thing you are most proud of?

A few years ago, I would have said that it would have to be founding World of Good and growing it to the scale it achieved in a short span of time. Now I'll say that it's my 1-year-old daughter — everything is relative, I guess.

Do you have any regrets?

I'm a look-forward kind of guy, so not really — except maybe I should have bought a bunch of Apple stock 10 years ago. But seriously, I believe that everything is a sequence of related events, so changing an undesirable event or outcome in the past could have prevented other desirable outcomes that followed it.

Read more Dollars & Sense.

Photo courtesy Worldofgood.com.