An unapologetic entrepreneur, Margaret Nyamumbo left Wall Street to start a grassroots coffee company that would turn the standard supply chain on its head and show the world how things can be done differently.
Africa is resource-rich with products from the continent often hailed among the world’s best —and coffee is no exception. The history of the brewed delicacy traces back centuries to Ethiopia, slowly making its way to the Arabian Peninsula and eventually South America.
In Kenya, coffee was first commercially introduced in 1893 and is counted among the top five best across the globe with its unique taste thanks to its growth process. Unlike other coffees, Kenyan coffee is grown on rich volcanic soil found in the highlands. Coffee beans from the East African country are renowned for their rich body, high acidity, delightful aroma, and intense flavour profile.
It is therefore no surprise that a Kenyan American entrepreneur, Margaret Nyamumbo, founder and CEO of Kahawa 1893, made history in May 2021 when she became the first Black woman-owned coffee brand to be stocked at Trader Joe’s in the US. The brand also started selling at retail giant, Target in September this year. The Harvard Business School graduate, who moved to the US for her undergraduate studies in 2007, left her lucrative Wall Street job working with retail and consumer companies to start Kahawa 1893 in 2017.
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Traditionally a tea-drinking nation, Kenya slowly woke up to coffee. Kenyans were not permitted to grow or drink coffee during the British colonial era, creating a bittersweet victory for Kenyan-born Nyamumbo. “I’m revisiting our roots and confronting colonialism and reclaiming Kenyan history through Kahawa,” she says. A third-generation coffee farmer, Nyamumbo says everything about the brand, from the name — Kahawa means “coffee” in Swahili — to the packaging, which represents Africa’s vibrant colours, is an ode to her family and country’s legacy.
While many consume coffee to get through the day, coffee is much more than just a drink, it is also one of the world’s most traded commodities, with the global coffee market estimated to reach over $155 billion by 2026, and $434 million by 2025 in Kenya. Although the sector is flourishing, women are unlikely to reap the benefits due to inequalities in pay and land ownership — something Nyamumbo seeks to correct.
Empowering female farmers who grow coffee
Women are involved in almost every step of the process from beans to cup, but the end of the chain is white male dominated. Figures show between 20 to 30 percent of coffee farms across the globe are female-operated. In Nyamumbo’s native Kenya, women provide up to 90 percent of labour in coffee production but own less than 1 percent of land.
Coffee is a complex product and the procedure from a commodity to a luxury product requires a lot of skills from start to finish. The process of making Kenyan coffee is also different. Once the coffee berry is harvested, it gets taken to a factory where the seed is removed and undergoes a process called double fermentation to develop taste — a method unique to Kenyan coffee. It then gets dried on African sunbeds, another process distinctive to coffee from the continent, then the seeds go to a mill where its grated and skin mucilage is removed, after which the final end product gets exported.
Nyamumbo, who is based in San Francisco, is far from an ordinary coffee entrepreneur and knows the work well. The former consultant at the World Bank in Kenya says her role helped her understand the inner workings of Africa’s agribusiness, sparking her quest to help the women who grow the coffee and eliminate unfairness in the supply chain. “Women do almost all the labour in Kenya’s coffee sector, but all the money goes to the men,” Nyamumbo explains. The trailblazer possesses a unique insight as both an insider and outsider and as such shares a close bond with female farmers; she was raised on her grandfather’s farm just minutes away from the farm that now produces Kahawa 1893’s coffee in Kisii, Western Kenya. Her grandfather’s farm was the first factory allowing locals to grow and process coffee. “Working with the community near where I grew up was intentional due to the rich heritage and historical precedents,” says Nyamumbo. “For me, the memento was sharing the story of female farmers without intermediaries who romanticise.”
"Our mission is to empower women through coffee"
“Our mission is to empower women through coffee,” she says. And that’s exactly what she did, ensuring fair wages for women using various methods. Instead of building a new road, Nyamumbo sought to directly involve the women. Kahawa1893 donates a percentage of its profits to a women’s fund to meet their primal needs. Nyamumbo also invited customers to contribute — taking advantage of today’s tech world, the brand created a QR code system that allows customers to leave tips in cash and cryptocurrency. Kahawa matches the donations 100 percent and distributes it to the female farmer groups.
The funds directly benefit female farmers and Nyamumbo shares stories of women who are now able to take care of sick relatives and afford education for their children. One woman who lived in a mud hut was able to put a roof over her head as a result of the fairer labour market Kahawa created. “I want to put women in a place of power. Poverty leaves you in a state of not planning for tomorrow, you are constantly surviving. So, the Trader Joe’s launch is not just my achievement; it is also a milestone for the women and the pot of donations has been growing as a result of the sales.”
Her next step is to help women invest in a posho (maize) mill machine, allowing them to process their own meals and eliminate the need to walk long distances for the nearest one. The project will employ some of the women to run and work at the mill.
Road to entrepreneurship and finding mentors
It was Nyamumbo’s experience covering leading firms like Nestle and Starbucks and her struggle to find Kenyan coffee while living in New York that sowed the seed of her entrepreneurial journey. “I was curious about how these companies got started, especially as they source a lot of their raw materials from Africa,” she says. “I remember being in New York, visiting specialty coffee shops and never finding Kenyan coffee, which was surprising because farmers back home struggle to find a market.” She soon realised that there wasn’t just a gap in the market, but there was also a disconnect between African farmers and big corporations. “The farmers are struggling and can’t get paid and people in the US were willing to pay $5 for a cup of coffee so there was a weird dynamic.”
According to Nyamumbo, Kenya has the best microclimate for coffee with mountainous and equator climate and the Rift Valley passing through. Being situated between the equator and Mount Kenya creates extreme conditions as the weather dips at night due to the mountains — this slows down development — and it's hot during the day. The land and weather conditions are unique to Kenya, determining the taste of the coffee. Trials using the same weather patterns and land conditions to grow similar coffee in other countries have proven unsuccessful.
Competing in a market where the majority of brands are European owned as an African woman came with its own struggles, but Nyamumbo’s persistence and knowledge of the sector paid off. She sought out mentors who would help her achieve her goal. “I found a mentor early on who had been in the industry for over 20 years, who took me under his wing, encouraged me to create a brand and taught me the basics of the market, like where to buy packaging.” Nyamumbo’s mentor was instrumental in getting her up to speed and helping her become confident in her abilities to succeed. “It’s vital having someone in your corner rooting for you.” Having a wide network was another invaluable asset. “I had a deeper network to tap into, from the connections I made at Harvard to the ones I made on Wall Street and at the World Bank,” she adds.
Despite her positive mindset Nyamumbo still received suggestions not to start Kahawa 1893 and was even encouraged to sell the coffee company, so others could market it. “When I started attending industry conferences people would assume I was either a barista or a farmer, because those were the only two things I could be.” There was also the issue of differing Western and Eastern taste pallets and seeing the world through a white gaze — highlighting the significance of her brand. “It’s absurd [that] Africa is the birthplace of coffee and yet there were no African coffee brands. It’s like France not having a French wine brand or Italy not having a pasta brand.”
Plans for the future
Kahawa’s triumph in the US along with the women's projects in Kenya has created the perfect blend of success; Nyamumbo wants to continue challenging the skewed history of coffee, while elevating the narrative of Africa. She plans to create more opportunities and further monetise the coffee sector with a vision to take Kahawa 1893 worldwide. “I want to continue confronting the history of coffee and elevate the narrative of East Africa,” Nyamumbo says. “I want to open up cafes across Kenya and East Africa and eventually expand to the rest of the continent in the upcoming years.” She is also keen to branch into other areas and hopes to take a similar approach as with her coffee brand to highlight issues women face in other prominent African sectors.