RWASHOSCCO

The Rwandan Smallholder Specialty Coffee Company (RWASHOSCCO) is a farmer-owned marketing, exporting and roasting company through which we source many of our Rwandan offerings. 

In the aftermath of the horrific Rwandan Genocide, the Rwandan government, aided by numerous international NGOs, saw the production of high quality coffee as a perfect tool to rebuild its badly damaged economic and social landscape. Developing and reshaping the already established industry to support quality production required significant financial investment and arduous training, and it took years until Cyarumbo, the country’s first specialty-focused washing station, finally became operational in 2001. Constructed by Maraba Cooperative, the opening of the model station marked the beginning of the Rwandan coffee industry’s incredibly successful cooperative movement.

RWASHOSCCO was founded in 2005 as a means of creating a more sustainable supply chain for newly established cooperatives. Its shareholders are Dukunde Kawa Cooperative, in the Northern Province; COCAGI, in the Western Province; COCAHU, in the Eastern Province; Maraba and Koakaka Cooperatives, in the Southern Province; and Buf Coffee, a family-owned company also operating in the Southern Province. Realising that international funding for coffee projects would eventually run out, RWASHOSCCO’s six founders came together to create a model where cooperatives, and ultimately farmers, could own and consolidate their own business without relying on donations to turn a profit.

Today, RWASHOSCCO is recognised around the world for its role in leading Rwanda’s specialty coffee sector towards greater profitability. Under the leadership of Angelique Karekezi, RWASHOSCCO has achieved its success by directly linking coffee farmers to international markets and buyers, ensuring growers receive reliable and fair incomes for their crop. Through their education programs, which include workshops on financial literacy, gender equality and the best agronomic practices to follow, the company has also helped thousands of farmers around the country establish more sustainably-operated farms, ensuring the future of coffee production in the country is safeguarded.

For MCM, RWASHOSCCO’s guidance and expertise have been pivotal in expanding our Rwandan offerings. We first sourced coffee through the company in 2008, when we bought our very first lot from Dukunde Kawa Cooperative, and we have remained in constant communication since. Every time we visit the country, we begin our trips by spending time at RWASHOSCCO’s office and QC lab in Rwanda’s capital city Kigali, cupping through the best lots of the season and learning about the unique challenges and rewards of the current harvest. Over years of cupping together, we’ve become well-calibrated with the team’s cuppers and have come to trust their coffee curation completely. This was particularly helpful during the Covid-19 pandemic when – despite sourcing from arm’s length – the quality of the lots we were offered and confirmed remained as high as ever.

Beyond their green coffee exports, RWASHOSCCO also sells roasted coffee from roasting plants in Kigali (Rwanda) and Hamburg (Germany) to home coffee drinkers. They do this through two roasted coffee brands: Café de Maraba, their first and most well-known brand, which is sold mostly locally; and Angelique’s Finest, a brand fully produced by women, which is sold internationally (particularly to the German market).