Private Exporters

Mekuria Merga

Mekuria Merga has been working in the industry for 23 years and is renowned for his high quality washing stations that have been supplying several exporters over the last ten years. Mekuria decided to establish his own export company to take advantage of his well-earned reputation in the industry. He is ambitious and quality focused, which naturally led to a mutually beneficial partnership with Tropiq  in 2018/2019. Mekuria is a private exporter who owns several washing stations.

SNAP coffee 

Negusse D. Weldyes is a coffee-passionate entrepreneur. The company’s supply policy rests on three main pillars:

  1. Process speciality coffee consistently; 
  2. Transfer the required know-how to the outgrowing farmers along with training in processing and cleaning methods; 
  3. Protect the environment through waste recycling systems.

We began working with SNAP in the 2018/2019 harvest and this relationship gives us ongoing access to coffees from sought-after washing stations. SNAP Coffee is a private exporter who owns a washing station, and has partnered with several others.

Testi Coffee

Faisel was exposed to the coffee industry at a young age through close relatives who were, and still are, involved in coffee farming. His company, Testi Coffee, is strictly focused on quality and innovation. It is a private exporter that owns a washing station, and has partnered with several others.

BNT Coffee

Bire and Teddy Yilak established an exporting company in 2009. At the time, few people were looking seriously at speciality coffee, so the pair saw a great opportunity. In their first year of operations, they exported 82% of the total speciality coffee exported from Ethiopia. With the huge growth in the specialty sector, they now contribute about 20% of this total. Despite their diminishing market share, they still contribute enormously to the industry, and played a huge role in actually creating the market for Ethiopian speciality coffee. BNT owns seven washing stations. 

Kanketi 

Fikadu manages the production and quality control at the stations. He has been involved in the family business for a long time, but only began working full time for the company in 2015. His sister Tsedenia studied marketing and worked for other companies before she joined the family coffee business full time in 2017. She manages administration and customer relations, and divides her time between Addis and the family home in Yirgacheffe during the season. Kanketi is a private exporter who exports coffee from their own washing stations.

Representatives

Ayidefer

Ayidefer is the founder of a farmer representative company which gives farmers direct access to roasters and importers. His company manages logistics, milling, warehousing, export documentation and transport for medium sized farmers who have their own export license.

Cooperatives and Unions

Keta Muduga

Asnake is the General Manager, and Ephrem is the Export Manager of Keta Maduga Cooperative Union. They focus on the following: 

  1. Development of their direct marketing channel to provide better prices for their contracts;
  2. Returning profits to their primary cooperatives; 
  3. Traceability from the Gera, Goma, and Gumai areas.

Year after year, through political unrest and global warming they have managed to deliver coffee of the highest quality and distinctive profile.


Sidama Union

Sidama Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (SCFCU) was founded in 2001 to represent coffee producing cooperatives located throughout the Sidama Zone of southern Ethiopia both locally and in international markets. Today, SCFCU has grown to represent 51 cooperatives and more than 76,000 small-scale farmer families — making SCFCU the second largest Coffee Farmer Cooperative Union in Ethiopia.

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