ZÜRICH, Switzerland – On the occasion of its third anniversary, the Swiss coffee and tech startup algrano is inviting Almir Narayamoga Suruí, world famous leader of the Suruí Paiter indigenous community of the Brazilian Amazonas, to the global coffee exhibition World of Coffee in Amsterdam next week.
Last year, Almir sought the support of algrano to help his tribe sell their coffee directly to the European market, using their coffee as a media to raise awareness about their fight against deforestation. As the world’s specialty coffee community gathers in Amsterdam between 21st and 23rd June, Almir will be showcasing his coffee to visitors in celebration of the first success of this pioneering partnership with algrano.
The 43-year-old chief said: “From our thirty tonnes of annual coffee production, the first four tonnes were shipped to Europe this year. Our plans are to place emphasis on quality and to maintain the forest so that both can cohabit in equilibrium with the environment. In this way, we can get a good price for our crop to fortify our local economy and give value back to our culture”.
“We were immediately thrilled by algrano’s proposition to support the Suruí and it quickly became clear that we would source their coffee.”, says Beatrice Rast, from Rast Kaffee roasters who bought the coffee offered by the Suruí people on the algrano platform.
Chief Almir, who was ranked among the 100 most creative people in business in the world by Fast Company Magazine, has already been using technology to campaign for the preservation of his people’s ancestral land while developing a sustainable future for his community. This partnership with another innovative tech company to develop relationships with coffee roasters in Europe was then a natural step.
“We are delighted to mark our third anniversary with this very special partnership between algrano, the indigenous Suruí Paiter community and Rast Kaffee. It is a shining example of how new innovative models of trade can bring together and benefit coffee communities at both ends of the value chain,” says Raphael Studer, CEO and co-founder of the young company.
Three years after its launch, algrano’s online direct trade platform is growing at a fast pace. The company just closed a 2 millions USD investment round. This new investment will be used to double algrano’s business and software development teams whilst furthering the digitization of coffee trading to build transparent supply chain solutions.
