Click here to download the program for Let’s Talk Coffee® Rwanda 2019.
The Power of Family Farming as a Business
Over the past year, coffee prices have fallen to historic lows, depressing farm family incomes and weakening cooperatives that support farm families. Let’s Talk Coffee® Rwanda 2019 will highlight new ideas and strategies to lean into these global headwinds, showcasing the potential of Family Farming as a Business to improve livelihoods throughout periods of both market stability and market volatility.
The conference will feature a variety of lively discussions on innovative ways farmers can become successful coffee entrepreneurs and the important role global coffee stakeholders play in fostering a successful business environment for farm families. Through the program, participants will learn about the latest ideas in crop diversification and how to leverage weather technology to cope with climate change. Producers will acquire the financial skills they need to evaluate their options as they build a family business. And expert speakers will discuss how local domestic coffee culture can insulate coffee producing countries from the volatility of the international market.
By uniting the global coffee supply chain, Let’s Talk Coffee® Rwanda will demonstrate the power of partnerships: Through collaboration, we can build a future for coffee that provides a decent living for producers, ensuring a long-lasting supply of coffee for the world.
Program Overview
Let’s Talk Coffee® Rwanda 2019 features the following schedule:
- June 17: The event kicks off at 6 p.m. with a welcome cocktail and Ultimate Barista Competition
- June 18: First full day of the event program featuring keynote presentations, panels, coffee breaks, and tasting and cupping activities, as well as a dinner and cultural night event.
- June 19: Second full day of the event program featuring keynote presentations, panels, coffee breaks, tasting and cupping activities, as well as an evening BBQ dinner
- June 20: Departure to field trips. Attendees have several field trip options to choose from:
- Field Trip 1: Day trip to Nyampinga women’s cooperative.
- Field trip 2: Overnight trip to Koakaka, a Fair Trade certified cooperative (Nyampinga does not have certifications) with a stop to see a World Coffee Research On-Farm Technology Trial site.
For details about when you should arrive and depart Rwanda in order to attend all the event’s activities, please see our Venue and Travel page.
Program Sessions
Let’s Talk Coffee® Rwanda 2019 will feature the following sessions:
- Local Solutions to the Global Coffee Price Crisis: Increasing Domestic Consumption
- South to South: Women Supporting Women Around the Globe
- New Future for Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Stabilizing Family Income through Crop Diversification
- Managing the Family Finances: Data Information Management & Calculating the Cost of Production
- Building Social Enterprise through Philanthropy and Industry Partnerships
- The Value Proposition of Social Enterprise: The Corporate Partner Perspective
- Scaling the Domestic Consumption Market through Tourism, Conferences, and Media
- Women and Youth in Business
- CCoping with Climate Change: Technology as a Tool
- Growing a Business: Access to Finance
Check out the event speakers here.
