Eve Branson Foundation

The Eve Branson Foundation is a small non-profit based in Morocco, spearheaded by Richard Branson's mum, Eve Branson. The mission of the Eve Branson Foundation (EBF) is to provide young people with artisanal skills-training and to preserve traditional Moroccan and Berber crafts, enriching the lives of local families from High Atlas Mountain communities. Since 2005, our collaborative programmes have helped to sustain livelihoods in the region and we continue to work in close partnership with award-winning hotel Kasbah Tamadot. To achieve better living standards, EBF works at a community level to develop initiatives in four key areas: artisanal training; environment, healthcare and education. Eve's vision was for a community where young people, women and men, have opportunities to earn a living and build a secure and healthy future. Today, EBF provides training to more than 75 local young women and men across three craft centres, offering programmes in weaving, carpet-making, embroidery, tailoring and woodworking. Each centre encourages the production and selling of artisan goods so that the young people are able to generate a small income for themselves and their families. Since the beginning, we have worked hand in hand with the team at Kasbah Tamadot, who employ 100% Moroccan staff, to enhance living standards in some of the most impoverished communities surrounding the property. We believe in working in partnership with each village to bring about transformations both economically and socially, and have learned through mutual respect and determination, how to successfully combine our entrepreneurial spirit with the Berber culture.