Our Story

How It Started

In 2013, Bloomberg Philanthropies engaged Sustainable Growers as a partner, a non-profit that brought an innovative training component to the coffee business and had a commitment to bring smallholder farmers up the coffee value chain. Sustainable Growers provides agricultural training, coffee processing, and market-based skills to women coffee farmers and their families in Rwanda and DRC. To date over 40,000 women farmers have been enrolled in training which helped to increase the value of their crops in the first months of training by more than 40%.

Our Journey
2013
Year One
Let's Talk Coffee 2013
  • The first Let's Talk Coffee conference happened at the Women's Opportunity Center in Kayonza — introducing the Sustainable Growers coffee program to women coffee farmers, buyers, roasters and key partners.
2014
Two Coops
  • Coffee Program begins. The first two cooperatives enrolled — Nyampinga (61 devoted women members) and Twongerumusaruro wa Kawa (TUK) — training women farmers on the full seed-to-cup process to create more business opportunities in the coffee value chain.
  • Devised the Premium Sharing Rewards (PSR) model — recognising and rewarding the best performing farmers and farmer teams, funded by an additional premium paid by coffee buyers, roasters and consumers.
  • 4,001 women farmers enrolled from two cooperatives in the coffee program.
2015
First Harvest
  • Held the first graduations and PSR ceremonies — 95% of enrollees successfully completed the training curriculum.
  • The second Let's Talk Coffee at Serena Kigali Hotel welcomed players across the coffee value chain including farmers, buyers, government officials, researchers and agronomists.
  • Launched coffee washing stations and the first processing season. Profits enabled both cooperatives to construct their own storage, office facilities and drying tables. Nyampinga later extended to include a canteen, offices and conference hall.
2016
Question Coffee
  • Question Coffee opened to showcase the high-quality, specialty coffee grown by graduates of the training program — selling locally to every major hotel, restaurant and national park in Rwanda. All revenues were reinvested directly in the coffee training program.
2017
Scaling Up
  • Enrolled an additional 28,883 women farmers in Rwanda and 4,386 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, across 75 cooperatives (Rwanda) and 2 (DRC).
  • Launched the Relationship Coffee Women model to provide extension services to farmers in the field.
  • Third Let's Talk Coffee at Kigali Marriott Hotel, spotlighting continued partnerships between buyers and female coffee farmers.
  • Facilitated coffee farmers to attend the African Fine Coffees Association (AFCA) in Ethiopia.
2018
New Roots
  • Question Coffee became a dedicated coffee centre and training hub at its newly established location.
  • Graduation and PSR ceremonies held for the 2018 cohort.
  • Launched a climate change mainstreaming pilot under the Ministry of Agriculture, funded by the Rwanda Green Fund — Sustainable Growers serving as the coffee implementation partner.
  • Coffee tourism began with farm tours led by TUK cooperative farmers alongside Question Coffee, offering visitors a full seed-to-cup immersion with the people behind award-winning Rwandan specialty coffee.
2019
Global Reach
  • Cupping lab and exhibition room constructed for TUK in Kayonza District.
  • By September, home roasting training delivered to 28,232 women farmers.
  • Fourth Let's Talk Coffee at Serena Kigali Hotel, themed Farming Families as a Business.
  • Farmers attended AFCA in Uganda; cooperative leaders attended the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) conference in Boston, Massachusetts.
  • Visited The Wing, a co-working space for women in New York City, with cooperative leaders.
2020
World Stage
  • Question Coffee selected from 1,175 finalists for Expo 2020 Dubai — one of just 25 global projects chosen for Best Practice Events, showcasing Sustainable Growers' work empowering women and opening international market access for coffee growers.
  • Coffee washing station, cupping lab, office and storage facilities launched for Mayogi Coffee in Gicumbi District, Northern Province.
2021
Growing On
  • Equipped cupping lab and showroom launched at Nyampinga in Nyaruguru District.

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