by MARC APOLLONIO

January 1996. Dusty and tired, Michèle Bruneau pulled on to Isla de la Piedra - in truth a peninsula - off the west coast of Mexico on the back of her Honda 650cc.

It was while camping on the peninsula for two months with her friend, fellow Montréalaise Isabelle Gauthier-Nadeau, that the proverbial coconut hit her on the head and a plan was hatched.

"I'm going to come back here one day and not just as a tourist," she said to herself.

Bruneau, aka Coconut Lady, aka Madame Coco, is today the first importer of fair-trade coconut products onto Canadian soil - made from trees from that very peninsula she pulled onto 10 years ago.

In the interim, Bruneau went on to get a degree and work in international development. Gauthier-Nadeau, meanwhile, never even left the island, falling for and marrying a local. Working by phone and e-mail, with Bruneau in Montreal and the husband-wife team in Mexico, the foundations were laid for what is now Eco-coco, a plantation/production/importing company that currently pays its employees double the Mexican minimum wage - quite a boost to a largely unemployed community that counts on day-tourists from Mazatlan.

"Everything I've learned in my studies and travels, and everything I've seen - it's as if I've pulled it all together and made it into a kind of nest, a coherent project," says Bruneau, 31.

Eco-coco is in its infancy - its first shipment of coco-handicrafts has just arrived in Montreal - but according to Bruneau's business plan, she'll be selling organic, fair-trade oil and fibre across the city within three years. With seven part-time workers now, the company will likely create 20 full-time jobs in Mexico when in full swing, as well as a development fund to be spent according to a community council.

"If you can help people gain economic independence, they'll take care of the community development themselves," says Bruneau.

Her products are available at www.ecococo.org.