Located in the heart of Nairobi’s historical coffee area, Spring Valley Coffee was started in 2009. The area was known for it’s collection of budding coffee farms literally on the edge of the city. Today it’s a vibrant part of Nairobi, and the Spring Valley coffee shop and roastery is an ever popular place for Nairobi’s to pop in for their daily dose of caffeine.
Supporting Local Communities
When Spring Valley opened in 2009 as a friendly neighbourhood coffee shop, the main difference was that all their coffee was purchased green, and roasted on site. For two years, they honed their technique for roasting, creating a truly artisanal and well known (and loved) brand. In 2016, Ritesh Doshi joined the ownership of Spring Valley, and brought with him a desire to try and create more equality within the value chain of coffee. Today, Spring Valley buys directly from farmers and always offers a fair price.
Farmers
By roasting coffee in Kenya and selling the roasted beans domestically as well as internationally, Spring Valley is creating more value in Kenya, allowing for farmers to get paid better prices for their coffee. Roasting locally also allows Spring Valley to share a higher percentage of profits with Kenyan growers, and pay a better salary to the roasters and baristas.
Some of the single cooperative coffees Spring Valley Coffee buys receive a premium for their beans through forward contracts that guarantee the price and allow cooperatives to invest in their farms and inputs. This kind of social impact is really important as Kenyan struggles with staggering youth unemployment.
As Ritesh says “You know one thing that my grandfather has always said to me, and he’s 91 now, is that there’s always enough for everyone. I think there are parts of our society globally, that believe in a winner-takes-all model, in a zero sum game, which I completely disagree with”. Instead, Ritesh prefers a more holistic approach. “Don’t we have the responsibility to improve the lives of those around us? I fundamentally believe that we do”.
