Grant: Business Training for Coffee Farm Households in East Africa

Workers sort harvested coffee cherries.

About the Grantee:
TechnoServe Inc. was founded in 1968 with a mission to help entrepreneurial people in the developing world build businesses that will generate income and lead to economic growth.

Grant Amount: $47 million

Grant Term: November 2007 – October 2011

Grant Location: East African highlands

This grant includes a plan for third-party evaluation.

Grantee: TechnoServe, Inc

The market for premium coffee is growing. East African coffee farmers who live at high altitudes are well-situated to supply this market because they can grow high-quality Arabica beans. However, many small farmers have struggled to take advantage of this business opportunity because they lack the knowledge and access to processing facilities to deliver consistently high-quality coffee beans to market.

To sell to major specialty coffee buyers, farmers need to adopt a range of business practices—everything from arranging financing and producing business plans to using and maintaining machinery.

This grant to TechnoServe is designed to help farmers gain the business skills they need to participate in this global economy. Farmers will receive agronomy training and learn how to process their coffee using wet mills and then assess its quality. Ultimately, the goal is for farmers to have more coffee to sell at higher prices, thus doubling their incomes.