In 2012, I set off on a mission to bring specialty coffee from my village to the world. The area of Kanungu, on the western border of Uganda, and its surrounding districts has been producing coffee for generations. Historically, all of the coffee had been sold to middlemen for $0.03 – $0.05 per pound and, due to its low quality, was labeled as “non-exportable: local consumption only”.
I set out to change that.
In partnership with groups like Temple Coffee Roasters (based in Sacramento, CA), we started by training local farmers in proper growing and harvesting techniques. Over time, our work has resulted in drastic increases in cherry quality.
We built the facility to harvest and process raw cherries into green coffee beans.
Our work is in producing coffee, however increasing quality (and therefore the price) goes far beyond coffee itself. Through the process of increasing the quality of coffee we have also addressed education, agricultural practices, social (family) dynamics, quality of living, and working infrastructure for local farmers. By addressing these issues, we are able to pay living wages to farmers and offer indirect support for our other projects such as clean well water, and higher education (building schools, even one accredited university) for the community.
We are excited by the work we’ve been doing to support the local farming community and bring high quality Uganda coffee to the world, but we are just getting started.
- Gerald K. Mbabazi
Carbon neutral by 2024
We are working to neutralize our carbon footprint to protect our environment. We believe the coffee value chain can do better for our planet. Over the last 4 years we have changed our production systems so as to conserve water and have zero carbon emissions on all our production locations. We have perfected our naturals, and honeys not only for flavor profile but also attain net zero emissions.
Organic Certified by 2024
We have 1200 farmer in transition and we are experimenting with live organisms to “clean the soil” in areas where farmers have used harmful chemicals in the past. The need to be organic certified is our commitment to regenerative agriculture techniques which will stop contamination of natural soil organisms.
SDGs 1,2,3,4,6 and 13
Gorilla summit coffee is a social enterprise working with small holder farmers to bring more money into communities.
1. We Want zero poverty that is why we pay a premium for coffee.
2. We support food intercropping with coffee so as to ensure food security.
3. We set up community and school health camps to support community health and well being.
4. We sponsor students and support schools with learning materials and teacher training because education is very transformative to communities.
6. We have build clean water wells and supported communities with water filters and purification tablets because clean water is life.
13. We have seen climate change in real time with reduced yields, shorter rains, harsher dry seasons, to mention but a few. We are supporting climate smart and climate adaptation and mitigation techniques to support small holder famers increase yields and incomes.
