Many people harbour the dream of studying at Harvard and thereafter, securing a well-paying job which was the case for Margaret Nyamumbo, the CEO of Kahawa 1893 in the US.
Nyamumbo has lived in them for years now ever since she attained her MBA in Business from Harvard.
In a recent interview with Travel Noire, the US-based Kenyan entrepreneur landed a job on Wall Street which she left in 2017 after founding Kahawa 1893.
She says her decision was informed by the need to help female coffee workers deal with inequalities in the coffee industry.
Having grown up on a coffee farm, she loved coffee and wanted to have a platform that would sell it to the world whilst bridging the gender inequality gap.
“In Kenya, women provide 90% of the labor in coffee, but go mostly uncompensated. I founded Kahawa 1893 to make sure the women were visible and get a fair share for their outsized contributions to coffee,” she explains.
Her “Kahawa 1893” brand is symbolic with the year that coffee growing kicked off in Kenya courtesy of the white settlers. It is Arabica Coffee from Kenya and Ethiopia.
Nyamumbo is happy that she has established a brand that has selling in Trader Joe’s stores. Currently, Kahawa 1893 is available in California, New York and Chicago.
For her, it is all about selling the beauty of African coffee in the best way possible.
“It’s pretty exciting to be the first Black woman-owned coffee brand at Trader Joe’s and I have been amazed by all the support we have received from customers. As a regular shopper at Trader Joe’s, it’s even more meaningful because the coffee category has always consisted of only TJ branded coffee. I want to celebrate this with everyone in the community who can now shop for a Black-owned coffee brand at their local store,” she notes.
To better wages for women working as coffee workers, Kahawa 1893 has established a women’s fund kitty.
Further, each coffee back purchased has a QR code which is scanned in contributing.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the fund cushioned many families who depend on coffee wages for survival.
Besides Trader Joe’s, one can order online through www.kahawa1893.com. There is a variety to choose from; Espresso, Peaberry, Decaf, Safari blend and Serengeti blend.