Johor Green Markets
Evolution of Johor's first Green Market
How it Started
Green Markets is how Johor Green started, with its first market organized on Oct 22 2011, for JARO in Sungai Chat, Johor Bahru in Oct 2011. JARO was a non profit specialised in artisanal basket making and book binding, made by handicapped artisans. The idea was to provide a broader context of other nature based vendors- farmers, pantry goods, toiletries, gardening supplies to emphasise the hand made, nature based social enterprise that they were as being of a green lifestyle.
Green U Market
Although the event at Jaro was successful and Johor Green emerged out of that event- we could never find another suitable venue until Akata, a vendor at that first market found one at Happy Farm, Kangkar Pulai. He eventually took over that farm and started Green U Market as a regular monthly green market.
Green Markets Iskandar Puteri
In Dec 2015 we started to bring Green Markets under Johor Green in partnership with Green U, to the Iskandar Puteri area in collaboration with UEM Sunrise, where we became a regular feature at events and festivals there substantially increasing our offering of vendors and workshops.
In the process we transitioned from a loose association of friends and like minded people to an enterprise - JOGreen that runs the Johor Green platform and organises Green Markets amidst plans to establish a permanent site in Medini with a farm, regular markets and weekly programming.
Green Markets at Edible Park
In May 2018 JOGREEN established Edible Park with funding from Kahzanah and partnered with Green U to bring their Green market there every first Saturday of the month as well as some ad hoc special events and festivals held there until 2019 when we ended our tenure there.
Ad Hoc Green Markets
Green U now organises green markets on an adhoc basis when the opportunity arises. There have been markets at Sunway Big Box, Emerald Boulevard and Ecoworld.l.
When we did our first market back in 2011, the idea of a green market was new to both the vendors we approached and the customers that attended in their understanding of a more holistic offering that required rules around sourcing, sustainable methods and environmentally conscious packaging. While there have been other markets in the city’s developments and shopping malls, none of have quite adhered to the stricter rules we insisted on. Now some of the green entrepreneurs that originally started with us as weekend hobbyists or small enterprises have their own shopfronts. There has also been an rise here and in other cities of plant based, zero waste and sustainability focussed enterprises.