The search for ethical coffee begun in earnest on 31 March 2009, at the Headquarters of OTTIMO Cafe in Tottenham North London.
There were two sides in the "pot" so to say. The charity Let Them Help Themselves out of Poverty and OTTIMO
The charity works on various community projects in Uganda and relies heavily on the generosity of friends and volunteers, however this is not sustainable especially in the current economic environment.
On the other hand OTTIMO wanted to improve its Corporate Social Responsibility and had been frustrated with the existing models of helping African farmers.
It was therefore agreed that Charity would sell its expertise of working with communities in Uganda in particular to OTTIMO and that OTTIMO would share some of their profits with the charity to enable it to continue its work in Uganda, with specific emphasis on communities in the coffee growing regions
The next step was to travel to Uganda. It was agreed early on that this was a necessary step in the discussions. It would help us understand how the coffee industry in Uganda operates, enable us to meet the growers and establish a working relationship with them, as well as get a clear understanding on doing business in Uganda.
So it was that on 12 May we hit the road to Uganda in search of ethical coffee. In next blog I will write about the coffee trail, and post some photos from the trip
Saturday, 30 May 2009
Tuesday, 26 May 2009
Being in the wrong place at the right time or is it? part 3
I am glad I followed through my promise to send Adam and Tony Ugandan. Adam promptly got in touch and started asking a lot of questions about how I had come by this tea and how easy was it to get hold of other stuff from Uganda.
All this was by email being a curious so and so, I picked up the phone and asked why Adam wanted to know all this sort of information. It was at this point that he opened up to me. Like me he had Tony had turned up in Leicester and later in London with a view to meeting some Ugandan Asians. They wanted to start trading ethically and were already in talks with a company owned by a Uganda Asian whom they believed would help them “change” their ways however for some unknown reasons the person they had been in talks with stopped retuning their calls or emails and appeared to have dropped off the face of the earth.
They therefore wondered if I could help them through my contacts in Uganda and other African countries. This was late November 2008. I got as much information for them as I possibly could and I was suddenly hit by a feeling of “I am being used” I told them I would not provide further information from that point unless they were willing to pay for it as it was costing me money and time to find it.
They told me they didn’t have the sort of money I was asking and therefore were walking away. Something in me told me to look a little closer at this, so I asked them more questions about their intentions and with this information we were able to bring people that we each know from different walks of life and we had 3 hour meeting talking through the pros and cons of the idea.. the search for Ethical coffee had begun..
All this was by email being a curious so and so, I picked up the phone and asked why Adam wanted to know all this sort of information. It was at this point that he opened up to me. Like me he had Tony had turned up in Leicester and later in London with a view to meeting some Ugandan Asians. They wanted to start trading ethically and were already in talks with a company owned by a Uganda Asian whom they believed would help them “change” their ways however for some unknown reasons the person they had been in talks with stopped retuning their calls or emails and appeared to have dropped off the face of the earth.
They therefore wondered if I could help them through my contacts in Uganda and other African countries. This was late November 2008. I got as much information for them as I possibly could and I was suddenly hit by a feeling of “I am being used” I told them I would not provide further information from that point unless they were willing to pay for it as it was costing me money and time to find it.
They told me they didn’t have the sort of money I was asking and therefore were walking away. Something in me told me to look a little closer at this, so I asked them more questions about their intentions and with this information we were able to bring people that we each know from different walks of life and we had 3 hour meeting talking through the pros and cons of the idea.. the search for Ethical coffee had begun..
Monday, 25 May 2009
Being in the wrong place at the right time or is it? part 2
The visit to Leicester was interesting in many ways than one. First I got to meet the Ugandan Asians, most of them had been children when Idi Amin expelled the Asians from Uganda. Through the various conversations I learned that for most Uganda will always be home and indeed some were in the process of relocating there
During the question and answer session I was given the opportunity to discuss my work in SW Uganda. This was more than I had expected mainly because Uganda’s First lady is the MP for the district where my project is located and up until now I had not had the opportunity to speak to her about the project but here I was addressing both her and the President.
I also learned about an upcoming launch of a new network called UK Uganda Business and Professionals Association the following month. This meeting attracted most of the folk that were in Leicester as well those looking for investment opportunities in Uganda.
During a networking session I had a conversation with two chaps Tony and Adam who introduced themselves as coffee roasters from North London. I cheekily asked them whether they knew much about Ugandan tea and they challenged me to find them fine Uganda tea by way of shutting me up and I agreed!
One of the things I learned early on about networking is that the “fortune is in following up”. I asked my mother to send me some fine Ugandan tea via a friend who was in Uganda and when it arrived I sent it off to Tony and Adam.
Be back tomorrow with what happened next!
During the question and answer session I was given the opportunity to discuss my work in SW Uganda. This was more than I had expected mainly because Uganda’s First lady is the MP for the district where my project is located and up until now I had not had the opportunity to speak to her about the project but here I was addressing both her and the President.
I also learned about an upcoming launch of a new network called UK Uganda Business and Professionals Association the following month. This meeting attracted most of the folk that were in Leicester as well those looking for investment opportunities in Uganda.
During a networking session I had a conversation with two chaps Tony and Adam who introduced themselves as coffee roasters from North London. I cheekily asked them whether they knew much about Ugandan tea and they challenged me to find them fine Uganda tea by way of shutting me up and I agreed!
One of the things I learned early on about networking is that the “fortune is in following up”. I asked my mother to send me some fine Ugandan tea via a friend who was in Uganda and when it arrived I sent it off to Tony and Adam.
Be back tomorrow with what happened next!
Sunday, 24 May 2009
Being in the wrong place at the right time or is it?
Back in 2007 I decided to go into a new direction that saw me set up Ethnic Supplies a social enterprise. As a civil servant I had no idea where to start and a quick search on the internet lead me to my local business link in Woking.
I was put through a programme lasting 10 weeks where I learned about marketing, sales, accounting, PR, website etc.
The programme ended with an invitation to a Business exhibition by Business link where I got to attend various workshops. Back then I had a real fear of anything techy and as I selected which of the workshops I should attend I made a mental note to avoid any workshops dealing with IT.
Looking back this doesn’t make sense at all as those are the very workshops I should have attended so I could learn. By a bizarre twist of luck that is exactly what happened.
Whilst searching for a workshop on marketing I ended up in the wrong room where the workshop was ICT related. I got in just in time to hear the facilitator say “Google loves Ecademy and Craig’s list” and he went on to ask who in the audience was signed up to either.
I realised I was in the wrong room and left but made a mental note to look up those two “things” (didn’t know what they were back then) when I got home. I did and signed up to both.
I found Ecademy in particular interesting. I connected with people easily, and one of those was Charles Okwalinga a Ugandan man who owns an African restaurant in Hackney East London. I had eaten at this restaurant but I had never met him.
He suggested that I drop in next time I happened to be in London and I did and I met Fred his friend. Fred is also Ugandan. We got into a long discussion on various issues including Ethnic Supplies. Fred asked me to stay in touch as he felt there ways he could get involved in Ethnic supplies.
Fast forward to 2008 and I am thrown into fundraising to bring clean water into a remote Ugandan village.
Whilst organising the event, one of our aim was to reach people with ties to Uganda. I therefore got in touch with Fred and asked if he knew any Uganda Asians and how I could reach them He told me he would send me some details on this and if I was free on 20 Sept 2008 he would get me an invitation to go and meet them in person. For you see the Ugandan President was travelling to Leicester to meet the Ugandan Asians that were thrown out the country by Idi Amin
I couldn't believe my luck! check back tommorrow for what happened next!
I was put through a programme lasting 10 weeks where I learned about marketing, sales, accounting, PR, website etc.
The programme ended with an invitation to a Business exhibition by Business link where I got to attend various workshops. Back then I had a real fear of anything techy and as I selected which of the workshops I should attend I made a mental note to avoid any workshops dealing with IT.
Looking back this doesn’t make sense at all as those are the very workshops I should have attended so I could learn. By a bizarre twist of luck that is exactly what happened.
Whilst searching for a workshop on marketing I ended up in the wrong room where the workshop was ICT related. I got in just in time to hear the facilitator say “Google loves Ecademy and Craig’s list” and he went on to ask who in the audience was signed up to either.
I realised I was in the wrong room and left but made a mental note to look up those two “things” (didn’t know what they were back then) when I got home. I did and signed up to both.
I found Ecademy in particular interesting. I connected with people easily, and one of those was Charles Okwalinga a Ugandan man who owns an African restaurant in Hackney East London. I had eaten at this restaurant but I had never met him.
He suggested that I drop in next time I happened to be in London and I did and I met Fred his friend. Fred is also Ugandan. We got into a long discussion on various issues including Ethnic Supplies. Fred asked me to stay in touch as he felt there ways he could get involved in Ethnic supplies.
Fast forward to 2008 and I am thrown into fundraising to bring clean water into a remote Ugandan village.
Whilst organising the event, one of our aim was to reach people with ties to Uganda. I therefore got in touch with Fred and asked if he knew any Uganda Asians and how I could reach them He told me he would send me some details on this and if I was free on 20 Sept 2008 he would get me an invitation to go and meet them in person. For you see the Ugandan President was travelling to Leicester to meet the Ugandan Asians that were thrown out the country by Idi Amin
I couldn't believe my luck! check back tommorrow for what happened next!
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