Kahawa 1893 is a coffee company founded by Margaret Nyamumbo, a third-generation Kenyan coffee farmer, with a mission to empower women coffee producers in East Africa. Nyamumbo, who holds an MBA from Harvard and previously worked on Wall Street, established the company in 2017 after witnessing gender inequality in coffee farming communities. The company sources coffee directly from women farmers in countries like Kenya, Rwanda, and Congo, aiming to provide better economic opportunities than traditional supply chains.
One of the key initiatives of Kahawa 1893 is a tipping platform where customers can send funds directly to women farmers through their cooperatives. The company matches these tips dollar-for-dollar, significantly increasing the financial benefits for the farmers. These funds have been used for various impact projects, including establishing small businesses like sugarcane farms and corn mills in Kenya, providing scholarships for girls to prevent school dropouts, purchasing livestock for Rwandan farmers, and supporting disaster relief efforts in Congo after floods in early 2024.
Kahawa 1893's approach goes beyond standard fair trade practices, paying more than double the Fair Trade minimum price for specialty coffee. The company also markets women-produced coffee to increase its value and demand. Kahawa 1893 exports green coffee from East Africa to the U.S., where it is roasted and packaged for sale online, in grocery stores, and for major corporations like Goldman Sachs, The New York Times, BlackRock, and Airbnb. The company is also expanding its partnerships to include Ethiopia, Uganda, and Tanzania, and recently launched functional coffee blends, Metaboost and Mindboost, featuring ingredients like African mango seed extract.
