How it works
Two simple ideas.
Pay farmers better and earlier. Make it easy for Zimbabweans to drink Zimbabwean coffee. The second pays for the first.
For farmers
Contracts and deposits before picking season.
- A written contract. Before picking starts, each farmer signs a simple contract with us: how much coffee, what quality, and the price we will pay.
- A cash deposit. The farmer gets part of the money at signing. That cash pays for picking and household costs before the harvest is sold.
- A quality check. When the coffee is delivered, we check every lot for moisture, defects and taste.
- A better price. Coffee that passes gets our price, which is above the local buyer rate. The deposit is taken off the final payment.
- Clear feedback. Every farmer sees the results of the checks, so they know what to improve for next season.
Why contracts and deposits
A study of Colombian coffee found that farmers only invest in better quality when they can trust that a quality premium will really be paid. In a buyer-led programme, farmers received around 10% more than the guaranteed price for top grade coffee. The programme raised the total value created along the coffee chain by 8 to 18%, and farmers kept 36 to 62% of those gains. Our written contracts and deposits before the season are there to make that promise believable.
Source: Macchiavello, Miquel-Florensa, de Roux, Verhoogen, Bernasconi and Farrell, Quality Upgrading in Global Supply Chains: Evidence from Colombian Coffee, IZA Discussion Paper No. 18335, December 2025.
For coffee drinkers in Zimbabwe
Community grinding points in shops.
In Switzerland, supermarkets like Coop and Migros have a coffee grinder in the store. You buy whole beans and grind them on the spot. We are bringing the same idea to Zimbabwe.
- A grinder in a local shop. We place a coffee grinder with a partner shop.
- Buy whole beans. Customers pick a bag of ZiMM coffee from the shelf.
- Grind it there. They grind it for their brewer, from fine for espresso to coarse for a French press.
- Brew at home. Anyone with a moka pot can make good coffee at home. No machine needed.
The shop gets a reason for people to come in. The customer gets fresh coffee at a fair price. Every bag sold pays for the farmer premium.
