October 1st is a special date for The Good Coffee Project ™️ ☕️🌱 for a number of reasons. Firstly, it’s International Coffee Day; secondly, it marks the start of Black History Month and thirdly, it’s the first anniversary of the launch of our e-commerce store on Shopify, who is a huge supporter of Black-owned brands and initiatives.
The culture, community and history that goes into making a single cup of coffee is mind-blowing to me, as an entrepreneur in this industry. When I was given the seed to buy my first coffee machine to build a profitable business from. Since making the discovery on coffee’s colonial past, I felt it necessary to be different from other offerings in the market who continue to generate profits with little thought for the farmers who make the coffee possible. In line with the start of BHM here in the UK, it makes sense to remember this history.
October 1st also marks the start of Black History Month, an annual event to challenge racism and celebrate the achievements of generations of Black British people across the world and in the UK. The initiative has been running for over 30 years, change is happening but there are still structural barriers in place when it comes to starting a business - despite making up more than 8% of the population, less than 1% of businesses are Black-owned.
One of the most direct and sustainable ways to support the community is to shop from Black-owned brands, that is why I make so much effort to maintain the grassroots brand I launched officially a year ago today.
Just to outline, The Good Coffee Project ™️ is Black owned and Female owned and as the Founder, it is my responsibility to spread the good word about our specialty coffee beans ☕️🌱 and all we are doing to improve the lives of coffee farmers around the world. 🌍
We are still a very young company and to think that we are just a year into establishing this brand and making the strides that have made is a phenomenal achievement.
Many businesses fail for giving up at this point, but there is so much good work to be done in this industry that I know The Good Coffee Project ™️ is needed - and we are here to stay! ✊🏽
Wishing you all a wonderful October, whatever that means to you; whether it’s Breast Cancer Awareness month, as marked in the USA 🇺🇸, Independence Day as marked in Nigeria 🇳🇬 or Diwali, the Festival of Lights as celebrated in India 🇮🇳 or the celebration of Harvest 🌽 for farmers around the world, my thoughts are with all my brothers and sisters around the world. 🙏🏽😇✨
