Fall 2019: Business Tools Workshop in Guatemala

This past week, the Grounds for Empowerment team returned to Guatemala for the second Business Tools Workshop in partnership with ANACAFE where we were joined by 13 women coffee producers.

With the support of six Emory University students and six coffee sector mentors, the team facilitated it’s Business Tools Workshop over the course of four days, producing over a dozen inspiring stories and market insights.

DAY 1: Storytelling

The first day focused on the development of each producer’s farm and business identity within the specialty coffee market. Through this work, each producer will have a farm profile posted on the Grounds for Empowerment web page, supporting the program’s goal of giving participants a tool to differentiate their coffees and to empower their business narratives.

We ended the first day with a transition into goal planning through resource mapping. This exercise is meant to empower each participant to actively plan for her business’s future, including the analysis of available financial, natural, material, social and human resources!

DAY 2: Farm Visit

Farmers were given the option of joining us at GFE mentor Ashley Prentice’s family farm, Finca de Dios. As she showcased her family’s business and story, Ashley guided the visiting group through the farm’s crop, wet mill, and drying facilities. This visit provided participating producers with an opportunity to share their experiences with cultivation, processing, and quality control.

DAY 3: Cupping and Financial Planning

At each workshop, GFE hosts a coffee cupping at ANACAFE’s cupping lab – participants were asked to submit a green coffee sample as a part of this exercise.

Grounds for Empowerment encourages farmers to know their coffee’s quality, a piece of information that can empower producers to own their side of transactions with buyers. With the help of GFE mentors like Ashley Prentice (founder of Gento Coffee) and the Chica Bean team including Alene, Josue and Abby, farmers cupped each other’s coffees and discussed the importance of sample storage for future selling opportunities.

Chad Trewick, team member and mentor, followed the coffee cupping with a discussion about the Specialty Coffee Transaction Guide, another coffee initiative powered by Emory University. Chad introduced the Guide as a tool that can be used to empower producers as they start thinking about future transactions, financial goals and quality improvement goals within the specialty coffee market.

The third day ended with a session on financial planning that utilizes a tool created by the Grounds for Empowerment team. The tool is meant to challenge farmers to think analytically about cost of production and farm investments made throughout the year. This exercise served as a powerful opportunity for the participants to think about their business’s financial future.

DAY 4: Workshop Closing

After several days of hard work, the GFE team closed the workshop by asking mentors to share candid insights into and opinions on the future of the specialty coffee market. We reviewed ways to mobilize storytelling and financial planning skills, including an exercise wherein each producer shared her oral story and farm goals with the group.

In the words of GFE Director Peter Roberts, we hope that this workshop serves as the beginning of a more empowered and equitable future for women specialty coffee producers.