(Third Sector, UK) The Oromo Coffee Company is a Fairtrade Foundation-certified social enterprise, set up by refugees in the UK to sell high-quality coffee imported from their Ethiopian homeland.
In the six months since the Oromo Coffee Company was first conceived, the organisation has gone from strength to strength. It has brokered a deal with growers from the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union in Ethiopia to ship coffee to the UK, where it is roasted.
Tameside-based Oromo Coffee Company produces coffee directly linking Ethiopian coffee growers with Oromo Ethiopians living in Greater Manchester. The company produces whole beans for grinding, or pre-ground coffee.
The venture is backed by Tameside council, the charity Lorna Young Foundation and West Yorkshire-based Bolling Coffee, which helps to import and roast the coffee and provides assistance with product development.
The Fairtrade enterprise cuts out the middleman and ensures a greater level of profit is generated for the OCC, its members and Oromo coffee growers in Ethiopia
- Oromo Coffee Company (OCC) PROFILE
The Oromo Coffee Company (OCC) is a unique social enterprise – the first ever community to community direct trading coffee initiative.
Owned and run by members of the North West Oromo Community, UK, the OCC sources Fairtrade certified coffee of an exceptional quality, directly from smallholder farmers in Ethiopia.
OCC aims to:
- Work towards ‘direct trade’ between Oromos in Ethiopia and the UK; reducing supply chains and maximising profits to be used by both communities;
- Strive for better ethical trading practices and prices for farmers;
- Create employment and training opportunities for Oromos both in the UK and in Ethiopia;
- Foster the pride and self-esteem of UK Oromos;
- Forge strong relationships and business opportunities between UK Oromos and the indigenous UK community.
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