Moyee Coffee, severely impacted by office and foodservice closures, continues to give back with ‘Buy One – Gift One’ campaign
Moyee Coffee, an Irish social enterprise which produces ethical ‘FairChain’ coffee has pledged to deliver free coffee to frontline staff and continued support for African farmers during the Covid-19 crisis. Founded three years ago by Irish entrepreneurs Shane Reilly and Killian Stokes, Moyee Coffee has been severely impacted by the closure of offices and foodservice outlets which accounts for more than 90% of its business. In response, Moyee Coffee has launched a ‘Buy One – Gift One’ campaign to bring coffee directly to consumers while giving back to frontline staff.
The campaign is not about making a profit for the company, however it allows consumers to gift coffee to frontline workers while helping to stabilise supply chains so that the African communities in which Moyee Coffee operates can continue to develop. In 2019, Moyee Coffee received funding from the Irish Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) and Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) through the African Agri-Food Development (AADP) Programme for a two-year project which will see the social enterprise enhance facilities in Kenya and Ethiopia, building a farm and a storage facility for harvested coffee.
Shane Reilly, Co-Founder of Moyee Coffee said, “Even during a crisis, Moyee Coffee has to continue delivering impact for farmers, roasters and the forest of the African coffee belt. While our corporate business in Ireland and the UK has come to a standstill as a result of the Government implemented safety measures, we have just completed a 4km road in Misan Teferi, Ethiopia which connected a previously-isolated community of 345 families to access vital facilities. Our ‘Buy One – Gift One’ campaign is designed to offer Irish consumers a way to gift coffee to frontline staff so that we can play a small part in giving back to our local communities in this time of crisis.”
The FairChain model
Moyee is the world’s first ‘FairChain’ coffee. The FairChain business model adopted by Moyee Coffee aims to rebalance the coffee production supply chain, providing sustainable ‘living’ income and employment opportunities to the source countries in which they operate. Moyee Coffee empowers local communities by returning the value-added stages of processing and packing coffee beans to the regions in which it sources its beans. Once roasted, coffee beans increase in value five to seven-fold, therefore by conducting all element of the production process within the one location this contributes to a circular economy and sustainable production system.
Killian Stokes, Co-Founder of Moyee Coffee said, “The coffee industry in Africa has traditionally benefitted select multinational companies, resulting in a biased allocation of wealth to the first world. Annually coffee is an industry worth 100 billion dollars, yet 90% of the world’s coffee farmers and their families (that’s 90 million people) earn less than €2 a day. By harnessing the power of craftsmanship and technology we aim to overhaul the sector and see as much as 50% of what is paid for coffee stay in the country of origin. Our goal is to move our farmers from about €400 a year to more than €1,000 to help them earn a living wage. Our ‘FairChain’ model aims to empower impoverished communities and enable these regions to evolve”.
Sustainability and Traceability
On the ground, Moyee Coffee works with local farmers to demonstrate the benefits of growing coffee beans within indigenous forestry instead of open fields. This method promotes the natural bio-diversity and reduces the c02 emissions generated from coffee harvesting.
The company is also aiming to create a ‘Blockchain Traceable Coffee Movement’ using blockchain technology to record and capture data, providing 100% transparency on every transaction. Moyee Coffee is giving farmers mobile wallets, tap cards, unique ID numbers and barcodes to enable them to be paid digitally, and geo-tagging farms and washing stations to verify location. This means that every stage of production and payment is recorded as data on the BlockChain.
Buy One-Gift One Campaign
The Buy One-Gift One initiative allows consumers to purchase a 1kg bag of Moyee Single-Origin, Double-Blend, Triple-Blend and Dark Roast Coffee and nominate frontline staff or a friend to receive the same bag for free.
For more information visit www.moyeecoffee.ie or follow @MoyeeCoffeeIRL on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.
