The notion of conscious consumerism, especially when it comes to products like coffee, has taken off in recent years. Purchasing fair trade goods has eased the minds of many people, letting them know that they aren’t contributing to exploitation.
But what about buying coffee in a way that actively invests in farmers in developing countries? Bantu Coffee, a startup currently working out of the Harvard iLab, will let you do just that.
Creating a sustainable venture
Andy Agaba, Bantu Coffee Founder and student at the Harvard Kennedy School, told me that the company was an organic spin-off from a nonprofit he and his wife Sonya had started in 2012 called Hiinga. The organization focuses on microfinance, investing in coffee farmers in East Africa – not only giving them crops to plant, but also teaching them skills to farm their land better.
However, Hiinga needed help, and Agaba was frustrated with a lack of donations.
“I was coming back from San Francisco, where I had spent a week trying to raise money for a nonprofit social venture I had founded,” Agaba started to explain.
“What I’m doing isn’t a theory. I’ve lived it and I know it."
“I had been hoping to raise, you know, half a million dollars in Silicon Valley,” he continued. “But when I came back, I had no commitment, no money from anyone, no hope. I was very discouraged. So I started to think about what I could do as a business that supports farmers, where I don’t have to feel like I’m begging.”
Agaba knew he needed to come up with a sustainable venture that still leads to the same outcome of investing in farmers. And when it came to thinking of a product, it was basically a no-brainer.
“I was getting ready to give a gift to my host in California, getting them a gift bag of coffee to thank them,” Agaba told me. “Then I started thinking, ‘Wait a minute, I’m sending coffee to this person. They can afford to buy coffee. In fact, everyone I spoke to on the trip could afford to buy a bag of coffee. People who don’t even know me could buy coffee. And they could all support farmers while doing that.’”
Thus, last November, Bantu Coffee was born. A large percentage of the revenue generated by its coffee sales supports Hiinga’s efforts to invest in farmers. According to Bantu Coffee’s website, a year-long coffee subscription translates to 52 trees given to farmers in East Africa.
While the startup’s mission is heart-warming, some coffee snobs may be wondering whether Bantu’s brew measures up to other top-tier brands. Agaba said that quality and taste aren’t secondary priorities for the company. In fact, he chose to launch in the Bay Area first, where coffee competition is stiff, to test how it would hold up.
“I think about how can we have a great product that people will love, that can compete with others on the market in terms of quality, but at the same time could let us generate revenue for a social outcome,” he said.
A farmer's boy is giving back
At the moment, Bantu Coffee is supporting Hiinga with its investment in only East African farmers. Plans for expansion into other countries around the world are a possibility, but right now, focusing on this particular region is important for Agaba for personal reasons.
“I grew up farming there,” Agaba said. “I’m a farmer’s boy, and being involved on that end has taught me that the money is made here in retail, not at the farmer’s end. Now I can take advantage of the opportunity I have here and give profits back to farmers.”
Having that direct experience farming in East Africa has pushed Agaba not only to give back to the people there, but also to have a sense of confidence knowing that Bantu Coffee and Hiinga can make an impact.
“What I’m doing isn’t a theory,” he began. “I’ve lived it and I know it. Farmers who have access to the information and resources to be better will succeed. They can make the money to go to school, achieve the dreams that their parents had.”
“Farming is how we made money and that’s what paid for my education,” Agaba added. “Right now, I am living my mother’s dream: To have the education that she never did. She never even got to go to primary school, and here I am.”
Image via Andy Agaba. Photo Credit Harvard Innovation Lab/Evgenia Eliseeva.
