Bristol based charity For-Ethiopia (FE) is seeking to inspire people to
host & roast coffee - ie Ethiopian Coffee ‘Ceremonies’ as a fundraising tool, in a similar yet clearly different approach to the other food and drink related fundraisers that raise many £ms.
Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee and has formed an important part of its tradition for centuries. Coffee in Ethiopia comprises neighbours meeting to roast raw beans over a charcoal fire, brew, drink and share coffee
together. This unique aspect of roasting the beans prior to drinking provides a critical point of differentiation for this project in a crowded and sophisticated market place.
By providing (selling at cost) equipment, basic training and a marketing platform it is estimated £250K could be raised within 5 years for health, education and poverty alleviation projects in Ethiopia.
We believe it will work because:
** We only need to secure the smallest slice of the UK £6bn coffee shop habit
** Its 'scalable' – in retail terms if we prove the concept we can grow it – and can roll it out in a similar fashion to other charity food and drinks based fund raisers; lemonade by US charity Alex’s, curry nights, traditional UK coffee mornings etc
** Ethical aspect of coffee as a concept is already well established with coffee drinkers via Fair Trade etc
** It's highly profitable – less than 5% of the cost of a cup of coffee is in the beans – everything else is staff and premises etc – enabling c95% of donations/income to be invested in health, education and poverty alleviation in Ethiopia
** In the UK the sophistication around coffee drinking continues to grow – roasting is the natural next step for coffee aficionados
Substantial pro bono commercial support for the project has already been secured – branding, PR, photography, project management – and there only remains website and distribution support to enable the project to launch late spring 2015.
Coffee is the second most valuable commodity in the world. Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries. Can a food crop and coffee habit help change a nation?