BAMKO Announces Strategic Partnership With Carder and Associates LLC

Last week, BAMKO announced a new strategic partnership with corporate gifting company Carder and Associates LLC. BAMKO likened the partnership model to a Silicon Valley incubator, where the company uses its stature to nurture another and help it achieve growth.

It also provides BAMKO with growth opportunities, including greater access in markets like Brazil, where Carder CEO Ana Carder is from.

"We start any process like this by looking for a culture fit," Josh White, senior vice president of strategic growth for BAMKO, told PM. "Humility, work ethic, hunger and a growth mindset are the foundation upon which we build great things. We saw something special in Ana Carder and her team that we are confident is poised for hyper-growth. Now we get to do the fun work of going and making that happen together."

As part of this partnership, Carder will preserve its ownership and autonomy, but will merge some operations and share resources unique to each company. Through this model, BAMKO hopes to allow smaller distributorships to better compete with larger ones.

"Ana impressed us with her character and hunger for growth," said BAMKO president Jake Himelstein. "Simply put, she's someone we believe in. BAMKO believes in betting on talent and character. We're going to do everything in our power to ensure this bet pays off."

BAMKO previously created a partnership with Lapgevity, which it calls an "incredible growth story" over the last two years, and attributed some of the success for both parties to being selective when it comes to picking partners, and weighing opportunity costs of involvement.