At a Glance
Location: Lima, Perú
Impact Areas: Sustainable Income, Environment, Technology
People Supported:
Small Producers & Artisans, Rural
Joined NESsT Portfolio:
2016
Overview
Over two billion cups of coffee are consumed by the world every day. As the world’s 11th-largest coffee producer, Peru accounts significantly for this supply. Though coffee is the country’s second-biggest agricultural export by value, most small farmers responsible for growing the nation’s coffee live in poverty, with little protection against the impact of unsustainable business practices, market fluctuations, and climate change. And this burgeoning coffee culture has also threatened the biodiversity of the Amazon in Peru, leading it to become one of the major drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in the country.
Initially, the co-founders of Café Compadre took an engineering approach to help marginalized coffee farmers access higher incomes in Peru. With their technical background, José Uechi and Juan Pablo Pérez developed a solar-powered coffee roaster to help coffee farmers take greater ownership of the coffee production process. By equipping farmers to roast their coffee beans, farmers were able to access the higher prices that are paid for roasted coffee versus parchment coffee.
Through this model, Café Compadre is able to pay its farmers at least 40-70% higher than the average price paid to farmers by traditional commercial coffee buyers. Café Compadre has built a direct-to-consumer brand that is responsible for 80% of its sales.
Meet the Café Compadre team. Click on the image above to watch a video about how the company was started and how they're improving the lives of coffee farmers in Peru.
Results & Impact
1.3 tons
of roasted coffee produced in 2016
70%
estimated increase in income for coffee producers
450
small-scale coffee producers and families to be reached by 2020
“The mission of Café Compadre is to boost the value of small-scale farming. I want people to be proud to say they are farmers. I want them to say it from the heart and with as much pride as saying engineer or doctor.”
NESsT Investment
Café Compadre joined the NESsT portfolio in 2016. The company's founders developed the solar-powered coffee roaster technology while studying at top universities in Peru. Café Compadre was incubated as a start-up by UTEC Ventures, a prestigious program from the University of Engineering and Technology (UTEC).
NESsT originally invested in Café Compadre to support its growth as it sought to validate its technology and business model. In its first year in the portfolio, NESsT supported Café Compadre in the technical and functional validation of its coffee roaster. NESsT also advised the enterprise on the design and execution of its business model. Café Compadre decided that it would develop and manage the entire value chain of the coffee; from purchasing the roasted coffee beans from the farmers to processing to packaging to sales. This resulted in higher margins which it could then pass onto to the coffee producers.
Cafe Compadre has consistently grown its B2B sales with 85% of sales targeting offices and the HoReCa market. With increasing demand, the enterprise decided to also begin purchasing raw coffee beans from the farmers and to roast them at in their own facility in Lima.
Business assistance from NESsT includes mentoring on team management, marketing strategies to accelerate sales, and financial tools to improve business management and growth.
With a consolidated value chain, the enterprise is now well-positioned to expand sales significantly to well-known coffee brands. For now, Café Compadre has been highly affected by Covid-19, and stay at home policies. NESsT is helping the enterprise to move to B2C digital sales.
