Global cafeNation
Global CafeNation is a sustainable social business using the profits from coffee sales to help fund secondary education for children in developing nations. Our goal is to increase access to secondary education in developing nations in order to help create a sustainable solution to poverty alleviation.
About You
Section 1: About You
First Name
Nichole
Last Name
Parker
Website
Country
United States, CO, Arapahoe County
Section 2: About Your Organization
Is your initiative connected to an established organization?
Yes
Organization Name
Global CafeNation
Organization Website
Organization Phone
Organization Address
Organization Country
United States, CO, Arapahoe County
Is your organization a
For‐profit
How long has this organization been operating?
Less than a year
Your idea
Name Your Project
Global cafeNation
Describe your Social Enterprise
Global CafeNation is a sustainable social business using the profits from coffee sales to help fund secondary education for children in developing nations. Our goal is to increase access to secondary education in developing nations in order to help create a sustainable solution to poverty alleviation.
Country your work focuses on
Tanzania, AR
Innovation
What makes your innovation unique?
1. What makes Global CaféNation (GCN) unique is its emphasis on sustainability. GCN focuses on sustainability internally and externally. Sustainability is the current avant-garde movement and GCN is keeping up with that movement by implementing a sustainable solution to poverty alleviation. We will achieve a sustainable business model through selling direct-trade and fair-trade coffee and then sending back 70% of the profit from coffee sales to the country it came from to support students through secondary education. Because the model is a business model depending on sales of a hot commodity (fair trade coffee), rather than a non-profit model depending on grants and donations, the model is sustainable and has more room to grow. This ability allows us to continuously support more students as we sell more coffee. The second distinctive attribute of our innovation stemmed from our belief in helping others help themselves. This is the education facet of GCN in which we are dedicated to supporting students in developing nations through secondary education so they can lift themselves out of poverty. Furthermore, we are partnering with a school focused on entrepreneurship in hopes that the students we support can become innovative and entrepreneurial and help stimulate their own country with their knowledge and experience.
Do you have a patent for this idea?
No
Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
Tell us about the social impact of your innovation. Please include both numbers and stories as evidence of this impact
2. Global CaféNation is a business, but also a social enterprise dedicated to creating a sustainable solution to poverty alleviation. This poverty alleviation is made possible through providing secondary education to those without access to it. The ultimate goal is to provide students with an education emphasizing entrepreneurship and how to break out of the cycle of poverty through innovation and knowledge. The school we donate our coffee profits to is Peace House Africa located in northern Tanzania. The school has a selective application process ensuring that the students receiving the Peace House education are the students with capacity for success and the highest need. The students then receive a secondary education and room and board at Peace House completely covered by scholarship. What students receive at Peace House is more than an education; they receive skills for a lifestyle leading to success. Students are completely engaged in every area at Peace House from leadership, to starting clubs, to environmental awareness and learning to cook. Students are encouraged to take action in their own life and encouraged to act while learning the skills to thrive outside of Peace House. Our first goal is to support 1 student through secondary education at Peace House Africa and we are on our way to doing this right now. Our second goal will be to sponsor five students through secondary education the next year from profits of coffee sales. GCN also seeks a second form of social impact by spreading awareness of our mission at home. We are dedicated to engaging others by holding sustainability forums and coffee-shop talks where members of our community in Denver can discuss poverty alleviation, and other things that people are passionate about. We discuss how to apply this passion and start making positive changes in our communities, taking small steps to social change to achieve larger social, economic and environmental change.
Problem: Describe the primary problem(s) that your innovation is addressing
The issue that Global CafeNation tackles is twofold. One aspect is the lack of the attention paid to sustainable solutions to poverty alleviation across the globe, and the other is the lack of access to education for children in developing nations. The efforts of organizations today do not have a lasting impact on poverty. The problem with the methods of aiding the reduction of poverty is that many organizations are focused on giving people what they need, not teaching, showing or giving resources that help people get what they need. The aid of money donations only goes so far as the money is often used up quickly leaving people with no other access to resources, or it is used in an unintended ways by the government. An organization that helps create sustainable solutions to poverty alleviation is one that enables and empowers the people of a community to do things that make it possible for them to lift themselves out of poverty. GCN believes education is the only way to create sustainable solutions giving light to the famous quote, “Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.” However, education is often inaccessible to developing nations as many families do not have enough money to send their children to secondary school. This being said, GCN is conscious that education is essential in sustainable development because in order to develop, developing nations need citizens capable of creating new enterprises that will help build their economies.
(Information collected by Becky Tinsley from her article, Money Down the Drain in Africa in the Telegraph UK).
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Actions: Describe the steps that you are taking to make your innovation a success. Include a description of the business model. What might prevent that success?
What happens when you combine two things – coffee and education - with college students’ passion? An innovative, international coffee business run solely by students emerges. Global CaféNation looks to fight poverty in developing countries such as Tanzania across the globe. In order to accomplish the company goals, premium grade Arabica coffee imported from East Africa is sold to United States consumers. Once enough profits are earned, the proceeds are donated to a non-profit based out of Minnesota that built a school, Peace House Africa, in northern Tanzania. This demonstrates one of the many steps currently taking place to make this effort a success. Another step which has taken place so far was creating a partnership with Sweet Unity Coffee Farms. Sweet Unity ships green coffee beans from Tanzania over to their roasting facilities in New York. From there, Sweet Unity Coffee Farms drop ships across the country wherever an order for Global CaféNation takes place.
Despite the seemingly simplistic business model, many factors may hinder success. Our goal of providing only direct trade coffee instead of Fair Trade certified coffee, eliminating the most middlemen possible, serves as a difficult task because it is such a new niche. Marketing this new product takes time and effort, which full-time college students do not have much of. To combat this, Global CaféNation has recently recruited five new students to join the team and help create a strong marketing plan. Barriers to entry are the biggest factors preventing success. The coffee industry serves billions of coffee drinkers each year and thousands of coffee shops continue to spring up all over the country. With that in mind, we have continually met with business professionals from the coffee industry. These meetings allow us to constantly gain knowledge that will help propel the company into the future.
Results: Describe the expected results of these actions over the next three years. Please address each year separately, if possible
There are many barriers to entry into the coffee industry; therefore, maintaining realistic goals is something that Global CaféNation must continue to keep in mind. At Peace House Africa, similar to a boarding school, all of life’s essentials are provided causing the tuition to be expensive. The cost of attendance at Peace House Africa is roughly $1,200. This number may not seem like very much, but it is about the GDP per capita in Tanzania.
As education at a quality school is hard to come by, this is the main focus for Global CaféNation over the coming years. Each year, we would like to have enough sales to sponsor at least one additional child at Peace House Africa. After year one, our goal is to have enough profits to sponsor one child. After year two, we aim to have enough profit to sponsor three children. Finally, after year three, our goal is to sponsor 10 children.
How many people will your project serve annually?
1001‐10,000
What is the average monthly household income in your target community, in US Dollars?
Less than $50
Does your innovation seek to have an impact on public policy?
No
If your innovation seeks to impact public policy, how?
Approximately 150 words left (1200 characters).
Sustainability
What stage is your Social Enterprise in?
Operating for less than a year
Does your organization have a board of directors or an advisory board?
Yes
Does your organization have a non monetary partnerships with NGOs?
No
Does your organization have a non monetary partnerships with businesses?
Yes
Does your organization have a non monetary partnerships with government?
No
Please tell us more about how partnerships could be critical to the success of your Social Enterprise
In order to tackle the issue of lack of sustainable solutions to poverty alleviation and also lack of access to education in impoverished nations, GCN is collaborating with selective partners to insure a sustainable practice. GCN works directly with Sweet Unity Coffee Farms, a coffee co-op in Tanzania that sells direct trade coffee. GCN decided to partner with Sweet Unity Coffee Farms partly because they sell direct trade coffee. GCN is looking forward to many more partnerships with other direct trade coffee co-ops. By doing so, these affiliations will aid GCN by satisfying our goal of partnering with co-ops all over the world to in return send profits back to those developing nations to promote secondary education. An additional partnership that has also been established but has yet to flourish is GCN’s partnership with Peace House International located in Tanzania. Peace House is the secondary school GCN plans to donate their funds to. Along with the Peace House partnership, GCN is looking forward to instituting many more partners within secondary schools in order to benefit as many children as possible. In addition to partnering with coffee co-ops and secondary schools, GCN needs to become a known partner to the community of Denver. With more community members aware of our mission, and wanting to join our cause, GCN will increase distribution of coffee to the surrounding communities as well as spread the word about the importance of sustainability. Without the supporting partnerships of the community, GCN will cease to exist since coffee sales, as well as angel investing, would plummet too far for the business to maintain positive finances.
We would like to learn more about how your initiative is financially supported. Please explain your business plan/revenue model
In the spring of 2009, we entered a business plan at the Bard Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Colorado at Denver. Through this competition, we won $3,000 in seed capital. In the fall of 2009, we applied for a grant from the Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning at the University of Denver. From this, we earned an additional $2,400 in seed capital. With this seed capital, we were able to launch a website and begin selling coffee. We are currently looking for one more grant to help us cover the cost of building our inventory of coffee. Once we have this inventory, we will be a self-sustaining business, and no longer rely on grant funding.
Each year, our target is to donate 70% of our profits to Peace House in Tanzania. This money will go into the scholarship funds used for children to attend Peace House. However, we will not donate the 70% if we did not sell enough coffee to have a reserve of at least $1,000 at the end of the year.
The Story
What was the defining moment that led you to this innovation?
In the spring of 2009, the two founders, Jake Sager and Nichole Parker, attended a leadership conference in Colorado Springs about poverty alleviation through sustainable business models. Jake and Nichole were inspired by the conference, and when they came back to campus, began meeting with other motivated students who attended the conference. Together, the group of roughly eight students wanted to start a business which combated poverty. When the idea of a project with international ties came about, Jake suggested a project dealing with coffee in Tanzania since he had traveled and met with a coffee company there. Most of the students did not think the idea was viable to work with a coffee company based out of East Africa, and decided not to pursue the idea with Jake. Jake then talked with mentor and local entrepreneur Craig Harrison who told him, “forget what everyone else says, convince one other person to help with this idea and run with it. You just have to pull the trigger!” After hearing these words, Jake went to Nichole, who had shown interest earlier, to ask if she wanted to join the cause and make something happen. Initiating this tipping point was the defining moment. From that day onward, Nichole and Jake proceeded to develop the business plan, enter a business plan competition (making it to the finals), and have continued to fine tune the business since.
Tell us about the person—the social innovator—behind this idea.
There are two social innovators behind Global CaféNation: Jake Sager and Nichole Parker.
Traveling across the world, including Tanzania, has allowed Jake Sager to witness many diverse cultures and people. This also allowed him to become more well-rounded as a person, motivating him to accomplish all his large, ambitious goals in life.
Playing soccer year round also depicts a passion of his. He has played soccer for thirteen years now and plans on continuing upon graduation. During his free time, he also enjoys playing basketball, working out, and hanging out with friends. HIs favorite winter activity is snowboarding.
Nichole Parker loves to travel, especially to Spanish-speaking nations where she can practice her Spanish and learn about new cultures. Traveling to Mexico City as a sophomore in high school was the first time she saw, first hand, extreme poverty. Since then, Nichole has wanted to help people living in extreme poverty.
The past year as a Resident Assistant (RA) at the University of Denver, Nichole had the opportunity to learn about community building, conflict management, and other life skills. Aside from being an RA, she loves to dance and has been dancing for 14 years. Volunteering in the Denver community with organizations such as World Vision and Girl Scouts of America also brings joy to Nichole’s life.
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