In my home village of Kathera, a remarkable transformation is underway, one that has brought renewed hope and prosperity to our coffee farmers. Thanks to the efforts of Eva’s Coffee and the unwavering support of our partners, the Kathera coffee factories, originally built in 1948, have undergone a modernization process that is nothing short of revolutionary.

Embracing the Future with Digital Technology

The new funding has equipped our farmers with state-of-the-art digital weighing machines connected to the internet and their phones, ensuring full traceability. As we gear up for the stringent requirements of the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), Kathera farmers are ready to meet these standards head-on. This digital leap forward not only improves transparency but also empowers our farmers with real-time data, enhancing their decision-making and ensuring the best quality coffee reaches global markets.

Enhancing Quality Assurance

Quality is at the heart of what we do, and the upgrades reflect this commitment. The installation of new fermentation tanks, drying beds, and secure warehousing facilities fitted with security cameras ensures that every step of the coffee production process is meticulously monitored and controlled. These improvements are a testament to our dedication to delivering the finest specialty coffee to the world.

Strengthening Leadership and Infrastructure

Leadership and organization are key to sustainable growth. With the construction of a fully furnished, air-conditioned boardroom and a new office block equipped with internet and a digital center, Kathera is now better prepared than ever to train and engage with our youth. This space is more than just an office; it is a hub for learning, innovation, and community development. Our young people now have a place to connect, learn digital skills, and contribute to the future of coffee farming in our village.

Championing Climate-Smart Farming

Climate change is a reality that our farmers face daily, and adapting to it is crucial for our survival. With the support of brand new motorbikes for our extension workers and the provision of genuine organic fertilizers, farm inputs, and pesticides from credible suppliers, we are leading the way in climate-smart farming. These initiatives not only protect our environment but also enhance the resilience of our coffee farms, ensuring that they continue to thrive despite the challenges posed by a changing climate.

Building Capacity for the Future

Empowerment through education is a cornerstone of our approach. The extensive training provided to both the board and farmers is laying the foundation for a more knowledgeable and skilled community. This capacity building is crucial for the long-term sustainability and success of our coffee production efforts.

Going Digital: The Future of Farming

The digital revolution has reached Kathera, and our farmers are at the forefront of this transformation. With a robust digitization initiative that includes the creation of websites, a strong social media presence, and the provision of computers, printers, scanners, and WiFi for our 17 officers, we are ensuring that our farmers are well-equipped to navigate the digital age. This connectivity opens up new avenues for marketing, communication, and growth, putting Kathera farmers on the global map.

Access to Finance: Empowering Growth

Financial security is essential for growth, and the establishment of a revolving fund provides our farmers with the financial support they need to invest in their farms and improve their livelihoods. This fund is a critical resource that enables farmers to take on new opportunities and overcome challenges with confidence.

Kathera: A Story of Resilience and Triumph

The transformation of Kathera is a story of resilience, determination, and triumph. It is a story of farmers who refused to be left behind, who embraced change and worked tirelessly to create a brighter future for themselves and their community. The modernization of our factories, the adoption of digital technologies, and the commitment to quality and sustainability are all part of this remarkable journey.

Originally posted here>>
Eva established E-Logistics in 2008 to both trade in coffee and create inclusive linkages across the coffee global value chain. She is committed to seeing women participate at all levels of the coffee value chain. E-Logistics is fully licensed by the Coffee Board of Kenya as a coffee dealer. In addition to growing, buying, roasting, packaging and selling coffee internationally, Eva has launched Eva’s Coffee, a registered trademark of E-Logistics Ltd. A social entrepreneur at heart, Eva is heavily involved in coffee policy advocacy work in Kenya. She links the coffee sub-sector to policy makers and helps communities of coffee farmers develop strategic options and actionable plans. E-Logistics employs ten full time employees.

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• How a conversation during a spices mission to Europe turned Eva into a coffee trader who firmly believes in doing good profitably.
• How through African Family Health (AFH) – the E-Logistics corporate social responsibility arm –Eva has cultivated trust among both Kenya’s coffee farmer communities and international buyers and gained a point of entry into the elite global coffee club.
• Eva’s success in building a coffee business around what she is known for – gender-mainstreaming and strong negotiation skills. Knowing your niche.
• Starting a business from her savings.
• The importance of belonging to various chambers of commerce.
• Her joy in being able to earn a livelihood from trading coffee.
• Eva’s encounters with gender-based business constraints within her own family. Her words of encouragement to women facing similar issues: “Stand steady. Don’t take it personally.”
• Eva’s wish to see more collaboration versus competition among the coffee farmers of Kenya.
• Challenge overcome: Creating a locally grown, roasted and packaged coffee brand: Eva’s Coffee.
• Pending challenge: Obtaining machinery so E-Logistics can roast coffee in-house and mechanize grading and packaging. Her efforts to ensure that her company is ready when a financing opportunity arises.
• Lessons learned: Never pass up a networking opportunity; and always follow-up! Trust is serious coffee currency.
• Pending dream: Creating a system through which she can cost-effectively source coffee from any African coffee-growing country and sell it to buyers all over the world.
• Words of inspiration: Getting involved in agriculture is like helping tend the biblical Garden of Eden, a wonderful way to fulfill your dreams!

Useful Resources
Coffee Board of Kenya: http://www.coffeeboard.co.ke/

E-Logistics / Eva’s Coffee Kenya Ltd.
Website: https://evascoffee.co.ke/
E-mail: evascoffee.co.ke
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Eva.Kahawa/
Twitter: @evamuthuuri

We would love to hear from you: 
Website: www.bizchatshub.com
E-mail: info@bizchatshub.com
Twitter: @bizchatshub

Eva Muthuuri is a remarkable figure in the coffee industry, particularly known forfoundingEva’s Coffee in Kenya. Her company is celebrated for being youthful women-ownedand has a strong ethos of supporting youth and women growers and their communities.Her journey in the coffee business is deeply personal. Growing up on a coffee farm, her fatherandgrandfather taught her about coffee farming, and these memories play a significant role inher work as reflected in the booklet she shares with youth in this conference. Eva Muthuuri’sstory is one of passion, dedication, and a drive to make a positive impact on the coffee industryand the lives of youth in Kenya2 .1

Read More>>

Originally POsted here>>

By HERB KEINON

JULY 6, 2016 03:01

NAIROBI – When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta talk about wanting to strengthen Israeli-Kenyan business connections, they are not talking only about big companies like Israel Aircrafts Industries, but also about small business people such as Eva Muthuuri.
Muthuuri, who lives in Nairobi, was one of hundreds of Kenyan business people who met Tuesday in Netanyahu’s hotel – the Villa Rosa Kempinski – with Israeli businessmen from some 50 companies who flew in at their own expense to explore business opportunities in the country as part of a Kenya-Israel business forum.
Muthuuri heads a small business called African Family Health that sells “healthy organic produce grown in Africa by families.” She is looking to export her produce abroad, and believes that Israeli know-how can help her.
At the business-to-business meeting, she met with a representative of GreenArava, an Israeli firm already active in Kenya that “develops sustainable agricultural businesses in developed areas and emerging economies.”
“I was totally overwhelmed talking to them,” she said, in a hotel ballroom waiting for addresses to the group from both Netanyahu and Kenyatta.
“What they do, and the way they describe farming, is nothing like what we do,” she said.
Her farms are located in Meru, in a fertile area in eastern Kenya. “We call it the Canaan of Kenya,” she said, chuckling.
Muthuuri grows fruits and vegetables, and is currently exporting to the Netherlands.
She said she also has subcontracted to other small farms in the area, with an emphasis on contracting with farmers in which one family member has cancer. The reason, she explained, is to provide an income to families burdened with high medical expenses.
The businesswoman said she heard about Tuesday’s meeting through the local chamber of commerce and a network of women entrepreneurs, and was interested in doing business with Israel because “it has very good technology.”
Plus, she added, “Your economy is driven by exports. If you want to export, you have good expertise on that, as well as good agricultural technology.”
She said she would like to get the technology from Israel needed to bring her produce up to international standards, which will enable wider export possibilities.
An additional reason she wants to do business with Israel is her Christian faith.
“We Christians in Kenya have a lot of attachment to Israel, and that helps in wanting to do business with the country,” she said. “In our minds, you are honest business people. Doing business with Israel would be both good business and spiritual nourishment.”
Later in the day, in the same hotel ballroom, Netanyahu met a group of pro-Israel Evangelicals called the Kenya Friends of Israel.
Francis Gitau, the head of the group, said to a smiling Netanyahu that his group is pleased the prime minister does not do what is popular, but rather what he thinks is right.
Referring to the Entebbe raid 40 years ago, Gitau said to cheers, that ”As watchmen of Israel, we hereby declare that no Jewish blood will be spilled on African soil again.”
Netanyahu, who received applause when he said he “brings greetings from Jerusalem and the Land of Israel,” received an even greater ovation when he said that, in today’s Middle East, there is one place in the region “where the Christian community is not only not shrinking, but striving and expanding, and it is safe – and that place is Israel.”

Originally posted here>>
Ten years ago, IWCA Global Leaders embarked on an exploratory tour of five countries in East Africa to engage with women in this diverse coffee growing region of the continent. Fast forward to present day, there are now locally-driven IWCA chapters across seven countries in East Africa including Burundi, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania, with an eighth country, Kenya, in the process of forming an IWCA Chapter.

Joselyne Nineza, IWCA Burundi: Joselyne is an agronomist, currently taking care of the statistics service of the the development department of ODECA, Office de Développement du Café. She has been in the coffee sector since 2008, and serving as IWCA Burundi Chapter president since 2017.

Patricia Tomaino Ndam Njoya, IWCA Cameroon: Patricia is the Executive Director COOPAGRO Cooperative, the Gender Committee President of the African and Malagasy Robusta Coffee Agency (ACRAM), Board President of AFECC, and the Mayor of Foumban.

Julie Kavira Kamungele, IWCA Democratic Republic of Congo: Julie is the Deputy Export Director of Ets. TSONGO KASEREKA, a family owned and run Green Coffee and Cocoa Beans, in the North Kivu Province. She is the National Representative of IFCCA (Initiative des Femmes dans le Café Cacao). Mrs. Kamungele holds a degree in accounting from the “Ecole Professionnelle des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (EPHEC)” in Brussels, Belgium.

Meseret Desta, IWCA Ethiopia (Ethiopian Women in Coffee, EWiC): Meseret has a bachelor of degree in law and an MBA in international business. She knows coffee from farm to cup, including as shareholder and CEO of Green bean agro-processing PLC, Godere Coffee, and as owner and general manager of Afro-Flavor Café.

Claudine Kalila Kantengwa, IWCA Rwanda: Claudine is the Managing Director of Teuscher Invest Ltd a Coffee Company with the brand name Kivubelt Coffee where she coordinates all activities of the company from farming and processing to export. She began working in the coffee sector in 2014 as accountant, and finance manager in 2015, before taking on the role of Managing Director.

Bahati Mlwilo, IWCA Tanzania (Tanzania Women in Coffee, TAWOCA): Bahati has a Master Degree in Coffee Economics and Science in the city of Trieste Italy, and an MBA master majoring in Agribusiness. She has previously held roles with ECOM Trading and Volcafe, and is proud to be one of the founding members of TAWOCA.

Dorreen Rweihangwe, IWCA Uganda: Doreen holds a Master of Business degree from Uganda Martyrs University, Nkozi and a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences. She is licensed Q- Robusta and Arabica grader and assistant Q-Arabica Instructor. She is a Taste of Harvest Ambassador for Uganda. She has over 25 years of experience in coffee quality analysis and training in post-harvest handling.

IWCA Chapter in Formation, Kenya:

Dr. Cecilia Kathurima is a research scientist and a certified Q Grader. She has worked for Coffee Research Institute for over 20 years building stakeholders capacity in coffee quality management.

Eva Muthuuri is a child of coffee, born into a family of coffee growers running to 3 generations. She is the first to go into value addition and trading.

Njoki Ndikwe is a coffee producer and exporter. She holds several positions including chairing the Nairobi Coffee Exchange and as representative to the AFCA Kenya Chapter.