Garden of Coffee Official Opening
The official opening of Garden of Coffee, that took place on February 9, 2017, was inaugurated by H.E. First Lady Roman Tesfaye, the First Lady of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia(FDRE) in the presence of Ministers, Ambassadors, government officials and other invited guests.
H.E. First Lady Roman Tesfaye cutting the ribbon with the owners: Betelhem and Tewdros accompanied by H.E. Demitu Hambisa, Minister of Women and Children Affairs
The guests of honor visiting the coffee roasting facility and receiving explanation on the coffee packing, labeling, etc. from Betlehem
During the official opening, remarks were made by H.E. Sani Redi, Director General of the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Development & Marketing Authority, H.E. Demitu Hambisa, Minister of Women and Children Affairs and H.E. First Lady Roman Tesfaye. In her remarks H.E. First Lady Roman Tesfaye congratulated the owners for the successful opening of the roasting company and urged the concerned government officials and other stakeholders to continue providing their support to such kinds of companies in encouraging and complementing their continued growth.
From Left to Right: Giving their remarks on the day’s event, H.E. Sani Redi, H.E. Demitu Hambisa, and H.E. First Lady Roman Tesfaye
Garden of Coffee is the brain child of Bethlehem Tilahun, founder and owner of Sole Rebels with her partner Ato Tewdros. Their new coffee shop and roasting company is located around Bole area, near Rwandan Embassy.
Owners Betelhem and Tewdros during the official opening ceremony
The roasting facility at Garden of Coffee is unique in its use of ceramic plates and hand roasting to produce the perfect cup. In addition to being the first hand roasting exporting company using ceramic plates, what makes this company unique is that, it demonstrates the roasting live making it open to all consumers to see. On top of that, inits newly opened facility, Garden of coffee has also availed business center in the first floor of its building; which is also open to customers.
Coffee being roasted on ceramic plates at the Garden of Coffee roasting facility
Garden of Coffee is a pioneer in OriginTRADETM where by roasting the coffee right in Ethiopia, Garden of Coffee insures the absolute best coffees to customers with low impact for the environment.
Following the official opening, organized by CAWEE, a meeting took place at the business center of the Garden of Coffee facility,where in attendance were Women in Coffee (WiC) that are CAWEE members and the concerned government stakeholders, where this meeting was chaired by H.E. First Lady Roman Tesfaye.
From the Government offices present in the meeting were: the Minister of Women and Children Affairs, the Director General of the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Development & Marketing Authority, the CEO of the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange, the Acting Director General from the Ethiopian Food, Beverage and Pharmaceutical Industry Development Agency, the Head of the Women’s Affairs from the Ministry of Trade and Director of the Agro-processing Directorate from the Ministry of Industry.
Meeting Participants at the Garden of Coffee Business Center
The meeting was a follow-up from the previous meeting, the first round meeting, which was also Chaired by H.E. First Lady Roman Tesfaye, which took place on March 31, 2016 at the Prime Minister’s Office, where the discussion was held on the challenges faced by women in coffee, involved as farmers, roasters, exporters and agents. That past meeting discussed major policy issues and concerns that have posed challenges for both women coffee farmers, green and roasted coffee exporters.
The second meeting held on February 9, 2017 was a follow-up of the first round meeting, which focused on exploring and discussing:
- If there is any development seen so far on the major problem areas and concerns that the WiC mentioned in the first meeting and the promises given by the concerned Government Officials and
- How best the existing barriers and problems can be solved, so that WiC can easily continue exporting their green as well as roasted/ground coffee, contributing their level best to the successful accomplishment of the Second Growth & Transformation Plan (GTP2), which gives more focus on value addition in the sector of coffee.
At the meeting, the Government officials provided up-dates, on the progresses that have been made so far. In addition, the meeting gave the opportunity for the women in coffee to share their concerns directly to those concerned ones, which was a great opportunity to be able to find quick solutions.
The meeting was concluded with remarks made by the officials from the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Development & Marketing Authority and the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange to follow-up on issues, particularly on out-grower schemes (to establish direct market linkages with women in export) and roasters (to be able to get higher grade coffee to roast and export), where during the discussion, the issues of traceability was deeply discussed. Finally, the meeting was closed with a remark note delivered by the Chair, H. E. Roman Tesfaye.
The DAILY COFFEE NEWS also published an article authored by Nick Brown titled ” Garden of Coffee Cultivating Ethiopian Coffee Experience for Global Growth” . To read more about the coverage click here