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April showers bring May flowers

Another month passed by and our coffee washing stations are working harder and harder in order to process all the cherries carefully brought by our farmers. A mix of rain and sun at the heart of Africa are always good working conditions, so we are ready to give the best of ourselves during this harvest peak to produce the best coffee in Burundi once again!

Harvest, what's up?

If March came with a radiant sun perfect for preparing our natural coffees, April in Burundi is always characterized by its rains, which means we must make way for our Fully Washed coffees. So far, cherry volumes are not currently as high as last year due to the country´s harvest cyclicity, but we expect to come back as the season peak approaches!

The first step of a marathon!

Our first coffees are arriving at our lab in order to be cupped! From now on, our quality team will concentrate all their knowledge and efforts to identify and select the best coffees that we can offer. The first day of cupping we took the opportunity to make a small motivational talk and encourage each other before the kick-off: we were about to start with the first cup out of the total of over 7,000 we estimate we are going to cup this year! As we say in Burundi: buke buke (slow slow), but steadily.

Greenco becomes #1 employer

Like every year during the harvest, our CWS are running at full capacity. This means that during the following months we are employing more than 1,800 people, making us the first private employer in Ngozi and Kayanza provinces, where we are present. In addition to the quantitative aspect, of which we are very proud, we would also like to highlight the qualitative side of employment, which is what worries us most. Indeed, our employees are obviously paid punctually on a monthly basis, they also have medical coverage in the CWS, they enjoy rest days during the week and of course they are paid the overtime they´ve earned. All this may sound obvious in the developed world, but in the hills of Burundi, where more than half the population is unemployed and working conditions are generally poor, it is a small revolution. Success is all about relationships and for us there is no other way of working and succeeding together.

CoE effort pays off!

Eight of our CWS in both Ngozi and Kayanza provinces have received this month an additional bonus as a result of the premium selling price of our Cup of Excellence awarded coffees. Hard work pays off! For this important occasion, we had the pleasure of having the presence of several authorities including the Governor of Kayanza province. Happiness and excitement spread among the farmers and our employees at the coffee stations: not to be missed!

International Workers' Day

Burundians celebrate the International Workers’ Day doing a parade, and in Greenco we like to continue the party having some good brochettes (skewers), the typical national dish, outdoors. For this occasion, we organized a talent show in which we were able to discover hidden talents of our team such as musical skills, funny dance steps or impressive acrobatics. Before opening the first beer (i.e. while we still had the attention of the attendees), we took the opportunity to thank all our employees for the hard work done and to encourage them for all the work ahead. 2019 promises to be a fantastic year!

#Mondaymotivation

In order to cheer your Monday’s up, we have decided to launch weekly motivational quotes through the hashtag #1cup1quote. A good cup of coffee and inspirational quotes will put aside that bad Monday mood. If you want to check them out just follow us in our Instagram and Facebook accounts; let’s show Garfield how wrong he was to hate Mondays!

Carlos' Words

The harvest advances rapidly, time flies and sometimes we don't realize how lucky we are to be able to dedicate ourselves to what we like most. That's what I like most about this newsletter, since it allows us to look back and feel tremendously fortunate to have the incredible opportunity to fulfil our dream of working in the world of coffee and to do it in a country as special as Burundi where so much help is needed.

This month we are especially proud of our work for the recognition Burundi has had in being selected 2019 Portrait Country at the Specialty Coffee Association 2019 Expo held in Boston - USA. There´s still a long way to go but in Greenco we don’t see obstacles, we see opportunities.

Next month we will return loaded with amazing news, including a very special visit from Greenco owner and true coffee aficionado, Mr François Bercher, and the distribution to our farmers of more than 80 pigs and 140 goats thanks to the contribution of several roasters to our famous “Goat Project” (yes, we need a new name). Want to know more? Stay tuned!

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Greenco S.U · 33 Route Ngozi-Gitega · Ngozi · Burundi