Mighty Peace Coffee, our importing partner for our delicious Congo Idjwi coffee has a date w/ the United Nations this coming spring. At stake is an opportunity to rally the $100B coffee industry around their Peace Trade Model, urging industry leaders to adopt models of inclusion and diversity in decision making and it all came about by a chance meeting.
During a field visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 2018, Marcel Elgers, the Energy Team Lead with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), l heard about the private sector initiative through a chance meeting with Gilbert Makelele, a community leader and President of a coffee cooperative who told him about Mighty Peace Coffee; a company based in the U.S. who had Congolese ownership, women leadership and was committed to being a true partner to the Congolese and elevate the local coffee industry to global renown. The Mighty Peace Coffee team was confident about succeeding in its mission, as numerous coffee quality experts raved about Congolese coffee’s uniqueness while lamenting it’s lack of availability in the global marketplace; this gap was proof of a business opportunity, an opportunity to use business for good.
Elgers was intrigued to find out more about Mighty Peace Coffee, its business model and local impact and sought to meet the organization’s leadership upon his return to the UNDP headquarters in New York City. As a result, a meeting was arranged with Elgers’ core team to do a deep dive into Mighty Peace Coffee in order to understand how decisions are made, how prices are set, how meaningfully the team works with Congolese and how empowered the coffee cooperatives are to chart their path forward. Impressed by findings from the session as well as its own due diligence, the UNDP team suggested a larger session at the headquarters to rally international development professionals and the coffee industry to showcase this as a future model for the coffee industry as well as for future private sector led initiatives across other industries.
We couldn't be more excited for JD, Liza and the entire Mighty Peace crew. Supporting the good work that the folks at Mighty Peace are doing is simple. Grab a bag or two of the true fruits of their labor. Our Congo Idjwi coffee is world-class coffee we medium roast to pull out all of its rich, nutty, sweet chocolaty goodness. Available online and at your neighborhood Barriques.
