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Fairtrade coffee from Berlin

August 16, 2022

An interview with Coffee Circle CEO Martin Elwert about Community.

Martin Elwert

The sun rises, a new day begins, and in millions of kitchens around the world, a steaming cup of coffee sits on the table. The brown powder that is part of daily life for so many is one of the most valuable resources on Earth. Globally, approximately 125 million people earn their livelihood from coffee.
What many are unaware of is that coffee is primarily grown by smallholder farmers. However, only a fraction of the revenue from the billion-dollar coffee industry flows back to the farmers. To be precise, they receive, on average, only 3 cents for a coffee sold for three euros. In many cases, this is not even enough to cover basic living expenses.
Driven by the vision of rethinking the coffee value chain, certified B Corp Coffee Circle aims to set new standards for fair consumption. This year, the German company received the “Best of Community” award but has been part of the B Corp Movement since 2016. “Best of Community” means that it is among the top 5% of B Corps worldwide in the “Community” impact area within its size category.
Coffee Circle not only advocates for fair payment for coffee farmers but also collaborates with local communities on projects that improve lives in the coffee’s countries of origin. CEO Martin Elwert shared more about the company’s beginnings, its Impact Business Model, and their collaboration with the community with B Leader Fabian Vermum during a coffee break after winning the award.

Fabian: What motivated you and your co-founders Moritz and Robert to start selling coffee?

Martin: The first time we seriously thought about coffee was during our trip to Ethiopia. There, we supported Moritz’s brother in building a school. When we returned from Ethiopia, we started thinking about how we could contribute in our own way.
Drawing from our experiences and Ethiopia’s rich history with coffee, the idea of selling coffee came to us. From the very beginning, it was clear that we wanted to work with as few intermediaries as possible. At the same time, we wanted to give back to the local community. That’s how the idea of returning €1 per kilogram of coffee to the countries of origin was born.

F: On your website, you openly discuss the many labels and certifications available. Why did you decide to join the B Corp Movement?

M: Fundamentally, I would differentiate between standard certifications for individual products—some of which only represent minimum standards—and B Corp. B Corp is one of the few certifications that delves deeper into the topics of social and environmental responsibility.

F: You won the Best of the World award in the “Community” impact area. How do you define your community?

M: For us, the community includes everyone we work with, from our customers to our partners in the coffee-growing regions. It’s important to us to engage with our partners as equals and to be personally present on-site.
Our Impact Business Model is unique in that we source our product from the same place where we also give back. In our case, we give €1 per kilogram of coffee back to the people who grow the coffee. Actually, I don’t like the word “give” in this context, although technically it’s correct. I want to emphasize that we don’t simply donate the money to random causes; instead, we try to reintegrate it into our value chain. Our partners earn this money by producing high-quality products, which I believe is far more dignified and effective than traditional donation models.

F: What role do personal relationships with your suppliers play? How do you maintain these relationships?

M: Relationships are built by nurturing them. This means not just visiting when there’s work to do, but continuously supporting each other. Whenever possible, we visit our partners regularly. Over many years, these visits have fostered friendships that go beyond a purely professional relationship.
Since we spend days and nights, sometimes in tents, in the middle of the communities, a special bond has developed with the residents. This close connection helps us better understand local challenges and collaboratively design projects that truly meet the needs of the communities.
The most important thing for us is treating our community with respect and as equals.

coffee circle

F: How do you choose the projects you support?

M: First and foremost, we talk to our community to understand where the real needs are. For larger projects, we even conduct multi-week baseline studies to better understand the project’s impact. What we aim to avoid is creating dependencies.
For example, we might build a school and ensure that the government provides teachers, but we wouldn’t pay for the staff ourselves. If we suddenly couldn’t provide funding, the entire system would collapse. Even though we’ve intuitively done a lot of things right with our projects, the B Corp certification has helped us consider all perspectives.
The true value of B Corp emerges when you use it as a management system. Companies that want to continuously evolve particularly benefit from the B Corp Assessment (also called the “B Impact Assessment”) because it helps approach social and environmental responsibility holistically.

F: Which project are you particularly proud of?

M: The most meaningful project was the first school we built. Education is a topic very close to my heart, alongside all the other important issues. We also received incredible support from our partners at the time.
We had challenges with the government because we weren’t a registered NGO, so our money transfers needed to buy materials didn’t go through. To keep the project going, the school principal collected tiny sums of money from thousands of people in the community. Essentially, the community lent us the money until we could pay them back.
The school is still standing, and the project remains a great success to this day. Something like this is only possible because we built such a close relationship with the people involved.

F: How does B Corp help you in your search for international partners?

M: What helps us the most is the global B Corp community. It especially makes life easier when selecting new partners. For example, we work with Daterra, a B Corp-certified farm in South America. Since they are also part of the B Corp community, we knew from the start that we shared a similar understanding of corporate responsibility. With this foundation, we were able to establish a successful working relationship, which continues to this day.

F: If you had to compare Coffee Circle to the journey of a coffee bean, where would you say you are right now, and where is the journey headed?

M: (Laughs) I think we’ve already been picked, but I’m not sure if we’ve been processed yet. We definitely haven’t been shipped. I’d say we’re still in storage in the country of origin.

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