Women are behind many incredible initiatives across the supply chain, from non-profits focused on community leadership to impact-driven roasters, activist farmers and feminist grower organisations. In this webinar, we welcome four speakers who are industry leaders in gender equity, trade, storytelling, research and training.
Webinar: What if women ruled the supply chain?
Be inspired by the examples of women involved in farmer education, trade, finances and storytelling. Learn about new projects to get involved with, what women have achieved and why it matters to keep dreaming about a more equitable supply chain.
Learn from four female leaders in coffee
Learn about Equal Origin's Gender Equity Index, Grounds for Empowerment's female producer business skills workshops, Gente del Futuro's coffee skills trainee program and Bean Voyage's informal networks and positive masculinity workshops. The best part is that you can get involved in all these projects! How? Watch the recording to find out...
6:47 The coffee industry’s unique potential to promote gender equity.
9:18 Being a female coffee entrepreneur still means being an outlier.
12:52 Evolution and shortcoming of gender equity in the coffee supply chain.
16:55 The Gender Equity Index: how companies can get a snapshot of gender equity in their businesses and put in place a development plan.
24:26: Grounds for Empowerment Business Skills Workshops. How the platform is developing an industry-wide network of farmers, mentors and students and driving further collaboration.
33:50: The importance of local leadership and locally-led initiatives in a sector where empowerment and goals are dictated by the Western world, robbing farmers of their agency.
37:22 Bean Voyage’s partnership with Needle & Frame enabling women smallholder coffee producers in Costa Rica to make their own short films telling their stories.
40:32 Questioning the traditional rhetoric about coffee producers and women in the industry.
47:30 Gente del Futuro’s history from Colombia to Tanzania and Kenya. The trainee matrix and the timeline of the program for 2022.
56:36: Bean Voyage’s key impact metrics and how the organisation connects farmers with local entities and the market, creating formal and informal support groups.
About the speakers
Kimberly Easson
Kimberly Easson is the Founder and CEO of Equal Origins (formerly the Partnership for Gender Equity) a not-for-profit social enterprise focused on improving equity and sustainability along coffee and cocoa supply chains. She has worked 30 years in agricultural supply chains and development around the world. She previously worked as Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Gender Program Advisor for the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) where she was responsible for the private and public sector stakeholder engagement to strengthen CQI's position as a thought-leader for quality coffee development programs.
As the former Director of Producer Services and Relations at Fairtrade International in Bonn, Germany, she held responsibility for producer capacity building services for over one million Fairtrade producers in 63 countries. She played a leadership role in the early development of the Fairtrade market in the US for ten years.
Kimberly served four years on the board of directors of the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA), and ten years as a member of the Sustainability Council. She is Co-Founder and past-President of the International Women's Coffee Alliance (IWCA), and co-founder of JavaJog for a Cause which has raised nearly $100,000 for women in coffee farming communities. She got her start in coffee during four years working at Café Britt in Costa Rica, and always loves the chance to return to her coffee roots in Central America.
As the former Director of Producer Services and Relations at Fairtrade International in Bonn, Germany, she held responsibility for producer capacity building services for over one million Fairtrade producers in 63 countries. She played a leadership role in the early development of the Fairtrade market in the US for ten years.
Kimberly served four years on the board of directors of the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA), and ten years as a member of the Sustainability Council. She is Co-Founder and past-President of the International Women's Coffee Alliance (IWCA), and co-founder of JavaJog for a Cause which has raised nearly $100,000 for women in coffee farming communities. She got her start in coffee during four years working at Café Britt in Costa Rica, and always loves the chance to return to her coffee roots in Central America.
Vava Angwenyi
With a Masters's degree-MSc in International Finance and Management from the University of Groningen, a certificate in Global Asset Management from the Warrington College of Business, and a BSC in Statistics & Actuarial Science from the University of Western Ontario, Vava’s vision is to challenge the status quo and promote positive social disruption within the coffee industry.
Vava is also a Q grader and served on the SCA board in 2019 and 2020 on the Finance and Sustainability Committees. In 2009, Vava Angwenyi started Vava Coffee, a Benefit Corporation (B-corp) with a Social enterprise model that exports, roasts and consults on coffee value chains. The organization aims to contribute to better future prospects for coffee communities and the industry as a whole. The company ensures sustainable livelihoods for the people and communities in which it works.
Vava is also the co-founder and director of business development & fundraising at Gente del Futuro (People of the Future). GDF was formed in 2017 is an organization born out of a partnership between African Plantations Kilimanjaro, Vava Coffee and Oro Molido, three private sector players within the coffee sector to tackle two of the main problems we face as an industry - producer profitability and next-generation involvement.
Vava is also the co-founder and director of business development & fundraising at Gente del Futuro (People of the Future). GDF was formed in 2017 is an organization born out of a partnership between African Plantations Kilimanjaro, Vava Coffee and Oro Molido, three private sector players within the coffee sector to tackle two of the main problems we face as an industry - producer profitability and next-generation involvement.
Sunghee Tark
Sunghee is the co-founder & Chief Executive Officer of Bean Voyage, a feminist organisation that provides smallholder womxn coffee producers with training on sustainable coffee production and access to markets. Bean Voyage is the Grand Prize Winner of the Facebook Social Entrepreneurship Award 2018, UN Youth Report's 50 Gaming Changing Plan and also Emma Watson's Gender Equality Scholarship.
Sunghee is responsible for market outreach, programming and strategic planning. She is an SCA's LEAD Scholar, Re:co Fellow, SOCAP Fellow, Byron Fellow, and Davis Scholar, who regularly contributes to coffee magazines. Previously, she led organisations working on youth empowerment, early childhood education, and human rights. She holds an MSc in Public Policy at the London School of Economics and a B.A. in Economics from Earlham College.
Giselle Carias
Giselle is the Program Manager for Grounds for Empowerment, carried out by the same team as the Specialty Coffee Transaction Guide, both developed by the Business & Society Institute within the Goizueta Business School at Emory University in Atlanta, United States.
Grounds for Empowerment is a program that provides female coffee producers with the business know-how that helps them reach their full economic potential through education, networking, financial analysis and seed grant applications. Its Business Tools Workshops help women transform promising coffee farms into prosperous small businesses.
Prior to joining the Business & Society Institute, Giselle worked in management consulting (Deloitte) and supply chain (Chevron Corporation). Giselle has an MBA from Emory University's Goizueta Business School and a Bachelor in Business from Universidad Centroamericana in El Salvador. Her areas of interest include international economic development, social entrepreneurship, sustainability, and of course, the coffee industry!
