HOT NEWS!

We have just received confirmation (25 February 09) that the Project has been awarded a grant of £5,000 towards start-up costs from the Church Urban Fund .

Church Urban Fund is a not-for-profit organisation supporting social action in the poorest parts of England. Through their work the Fund supports local organisations working to tackle the effects of poverty in their communities and make a real difference to the lives of those around them. The grant is awarded from the Mustard Seed Fund which sets out to help pojects get off the ground and to lever in additional funding from other sources.

What is the Project?

On Friday 16th January in Stalybridge, James Purnell, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions launched this exciting new business venture. The Bishop of Manchester and Afzal Khan, former Lord Mayor of the City of Manchester backed the initiative.

The Lorna Young Foundation has initiated this new ‘Beyond Fairtrade - community to community' social enterprise, named ‘The Oromo Coffee Company' which will cut out the middlemen in purchasing, importing, branding and selling a new Ethiopian coffee within the UK . The new company is owned by the Oromo community who are now in the process of creating and selling their own brand of roast and ground coffee, sourced directly from smallholders in Ethiopia . By shortening the supply chain involved in the sales and marketing of coffee, a greater level of profit – even than achieved by Fair Trade – will be generated for both the social enterprise in Greater Manchester and the coffee growers in Ethiopia .

Garedew Yadessa, one of the Oromo community members involved in setting up the enterprise said “It is very encouraging that local people are supporting us to set up this business. It's important to us to be independent and it's even better if we can help the coffee growers in Ethiopia to get a better deal because sadly, the coffee market has been famous for its exploitation of smallholder farmers in the past”.

The venture is being backed by Tameside Council, with commercial support coming from Bolling Coffee, West Yorkshire based coffee company who are experts in importing and roasting coffee from around the world; Bolling will assist the enterprise in importing and processing the new product.

Ian Agnew, Director of the Lorna Young Foundation said “This is a totally unique project. Fair Trade is a brilliant development and is now quite rightly, entering the mainstream. But Fair Trade prices are still limited for most growers. The Lorna Young Foundation wants to go beyond this and It's excellent to see that the Government here recognise that this kind of initiative needs to be supported. We are so pleased that Bolling Coffee are lending us their assistance and we would like to invite other businesses to come forward to offer support, sponsorship or mentoring to help the enterprise to become a big success when we come to marketing the new coffee”.

The Rev Ian Stubbs, vicar of St George's Church, Stalybridge which has been instrumental in supporting the project idea said “Its been a real privilege to meet members of the Oromo community who came to Tameside as refugees and to see how they are willing to work together on this venture. By supporting this exciting initiative churches and faith groups will build even further on their excellent record in promoting Fairtrade. We hope that by producing a smashing cup of ‘Beyond Fairtrade' coffee we can also educate people about the exploitation that all too often occurs in the supply chain of commodities that we buy from abroad”

Ian Bamforth, Managing Director of Bolling Coffee said; “Bolling Coffee were really impressed by this initiative. We take the issue of ethical trading very seriously and believe that we have a corporate responsibility to assist marginalised groups. This is an excellent way of doing both – helping out the communities here in the UK and also abroad - whilst providing a high quality cup of coffee”

About the Oromo Ethiopians

The Oromo Ethiopians are a group of 30 people who came to Tameside in April 2008 as part of a United Nations humanitarian programme. In total there are around 250 households living primarily in Manchester, Ashton under Lyne, Stalybridge, Bury, Bolton, Oldham, Sheffield, Stockport and Salford as legal refugees with full residential status. They were resettled in the UK during 2006-2008 following persecution in Ethiopia and many years in refugee camps in Kenya..

How Can YOU Help?

The Lorna Young Foundation are looking for corporate sponsorship for the project, both prior to the coffee product being launched later on in 2009 and during its first year of operation. In particular we are seeking to work with businesses or community groups/ faith groups who can:

• Provide monetary donations to support the project

• Produce a design label in order to market the coffee

• Provide a premises or equipment to assist the initiative

• Consider placing an order with The Oromo Coffee Company

• Act as a sales point/ retail outlet for the coffee

• Provide business ‘mentoring' for the company (i.e. marketing, sales, business planning, publicity etc)

 

If you feel that you can contribute in any way, please contact the Lorna Young Foundation