The market
Global coffee production will produce 125 million bags (7.5 million tonnes) in 2010, 2.3 percent less than last year due to bad climatic conditions. Colombia undergoes the largest drop by more than 2 million bags, which results in a global increase in prices of 10 percent. Peru is one of the exceptions in this business, with an increase in exports of 12 percent last year and a doubling of production over a decade to reach 5 million bags. Although this volume is rather insignificant compared to global demand, Peru has positioned itself as the world's leading producer of certified biological coffee. The number of coffee farmers worldwide is estimated at 25 million, and although prices have risen slightly, they only record a slight increase after almost 40 years of continuous decrease in revenue. After oil, coffee is the main export product of the southern hemisphere. On the other side of the spectrum, the five largest coffee buyers represent 70 percent of world trade. Since Max Havelaar introduced fair coffee in 1989 to Dutch and Belgian consumers, global equitable certified coffee consumption has continued to grow, demonstrating solid consumers' sympathy for the fate of producers, ensuring them a fair price, fair working conditions and community development. Coffee is the first consumption product enriched with certificates and labels which aim to increase the income of farmers, while responding to the specific interests of consumers. Countries like Ethiopia aim to protect their designation of origin, because certain regions like Sidamo are known to produce excellent varieties. Organic coffee has been cultivated without artificial chemical inputs. Rainforest Alliance promotes cultivated coffee in the shade which requires less water and causes less erosion of the soil. Finally, there is the Café Bird Friendly, which is mostly linked to the cafe cultivated in the shade. About 150 birds live on farms that produce coffee grown in the shade, while open farms only house 20 species. The massive introduction of monoculture coffee plantations has led to a constant decrease in the local population of singing birds. Experts agree that if coffee grows slower in the shade, it produces more sugars and biochemical substances which give it a particular taste. The environment, biodiversity and quality therefore go hand in hand.
Innovation
While we applaud all the efforts of companies and NGOs to reserve time, efforts and money to assume corporate social responsibility through all these certificates, in the end, this always implies that the Company must first make money in its main activity, operating its essential skills as well as the management and marketing of the logistics chain. If the coffee grown in the shade takes more time, it costs more on the market, and if consumers care about birds so much, it should be offset by a higher price. The money earned can then be reserved for the financing of certain social and environmental causes which make it possible to advance the global societal agenda beyond business. When Helen Russell and Brooke McDonnell, two women entrepreneurs with an exceptional reputation as a suppliers and roasters of high quality cafes, learned during the meeting of the Specialty Coffee Association in Atlanta, Georgie (USA), how Chido Govero learned To the women of Zimbabwe how to cultivate mushrooms on local coffee waste, it has become obvious to them that the opportunity arose to do much more than known certificates and CSR. The two founders of Equator Coffees & Teas, based in San Rafael, California, imagined how to design a business model which, by the simple sale of high quality products at competitive prices, would finance the training of more women in Africa that their limited CSR budget could not finance.
The first cash flow
Helen and Brooke then created "Chido's Blend", a mixture of cafes mainly from farms that reuse waste grains and plants to produce mushrooms. The fact that coffee is bought and labeled with a direct link created with the farms themselves, generates 25 cents of dollars per income book, which finances the training of women. Each 17 -ton container responsible for coffee beans generates a budget of almost $ 10,000 for local training programs. At the cost of only $ 50 per woman, he gives them the means to achieve food security. Commercial company Neumann has facilitated the early purchase of the first container. The possibility of funding the training, while regenerating the export of the Zimbabwean coffee, which has been in oblivion for more than a decade, has a cascade of beneficial effects. First of all, women, for most single mothers, orphans and the elderly, have access to proteins thanks to local and easily available resources. This creates jobs, and the combination of work and food is often everything you need to end the violence against women. If women are respected at all ages, this slows down the sex trade and even reduces the risks of AIDS at the heart of society.
The opportunity
Who could have imagined that by promoting "Chido's Blend", it would be possible to contribute to training, food security, reduction of abuses and the fight against AIDS? If it is possible with a coffee book, imagine what would be possible if this approach was used everywhere? While this initiative first proven itself in Zimbabwe, the same logic was applied elsewhere. The place, in the Netherlands, was the pioneer of a comparable approach after learning from both Chido and Equator. These innovative approaches generate quality jobs and foods in Amsterdam and its surroundings. Since these cases were documented, the pioneer approach has inspired others in Madrid and Berlin. Several of the entrepreneurs who have witnessed this emerging trend to go beyond CSR have now decided to offer Chido Govero, the orphan who has advanced this strategy without money or experience since the age of 12 years , actions in companies that appear in the world. To make the pioneer a shareholder is to push the concept of CSR in a whole new dimension.
