Coffee is a $200 billion global industry, yet the people who grow it, especially women, see little of that wealth. In East Africa, where coffee is a major export, farmers typically earn just $2 to $3 daily. Women, who do 70% of the labor on coffee farms, lack land ownership, financial independence, and decision-making power. Margaret Nyamumbo, a third-generation coffee farmer from Kenya, is trying to change this.
Despite women’s contributions, they are frequently excluded from coffee profits. This economic imbalance is unfair and unsustainable. With climate change and volatile coffee prices threatening farmers’ livelihoods, the industry needs a new model that empowers the people who sustain it. Through Kahawa 1893, Margaret Nyamumbo has created a direct path for farmers, especially women, to earn more and take control of their economic future.
From Kenyan coffee farms to Wall Street and back
Nyamumbo grew up on a coffee farm in Kenya, watching her grandfather and other farmers work tirelessly, only to receive a fraction of what their coffee was worth. That reality stayed with her as she moved to the United States (US) for college. She earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and built a successful career on Wall Street—but something was missing.
“I realised that despite all this money flowing through the coffee industry, the farmers were still struggling. I wanted to change that,” she said in an interview with CNBC.
Margaret Nyamumbo left her finance career to start Kahawa 1893, a company that offers premium East African coffee to the American market while ensuring that the women who grow it receive direct financial support.
Kahawa 1893 empowers women farmers
Most coffee brands rely on fair trade labels or middlemen to determine farmer wages. However, Nyamumbo has taken a different approach, allowing consumers to support farmers directly.
Each bag of Kahawa 1893 coffee includes a QR code that enables customers to tip the farmers directly. The company then matches every tip dollar for dollar, doubling the impact. So far, this system has distributed over $90,000 directly to farmers.
While Fair Trade sets a minimum price for coffee at approximately $1.40 per pound, Kahawa 1893 pays between $3.50 and $5.50 per pound. This additional income helps farmers to enhance their operations and allows women to invest in livestock, start small businesses, and send their children to school. Some Kenyan farmers have used these tip funds to launch maise milling businesses and tailoring shops, while Rwandan farmers have invested in dairy cows to create a steady income from milk sales.
Breaking barriers in the Coffee industry
Nyamumbo’s vision has caught the attention of major business players. In 2023, she appeared on Shark Tank and secured a $350,000 investment from Emma Grede, a business mogul known for co-founding SKIMS and Good American.
Kahawa 1893 became the first Black woman-owned coffee brand sold at Trader Joe’s, an American grocery store chain headquartered in Monrovia, California. This is a significant milestone as less than 1% of coffee brands in U.S. grocery stores are Black-owned.
Kahawa 1893 also received a score of 92/100 from the Coffee Review, highlighting the quality and excellence of its specialty-grade coffee sourced from East Africa. The brand has since expanded into Target, Sprouts, Costco, and Keurig, making it one of the fastest-growing specialty coffee brands in the US.
