Circle of Excellence – Micro Washing Station Program

SMALLHOLDER COFFEE FARMERS

CAMEROON BOYO™

THE COFFEE QUEST COFFEE IMPORTS

we@thecoffeequest.eu

CAMEROON BOYO

hello@cameroonboyo.com

PROJECT INFORMATION, PROPOSAL FOR PARTICIPATION AUG 2017

INVEST WITH USThank you for your interest in this project in which Cameroon Boyo/

Hilltop Farmers, the farmers of Sho village ‘CoE’ – Circle of Excellence

group, together with The Coffee Quest and a group of EU roasters are

developing a washing station together!

Cameroon Boyo is the commercial identity of Hilltop Dynamic

enterprises in Cameroon. It was created as a face for specialty coffee

development in the Boyo area, by Matti Foncha. The Coffee Quest is

a EU based green coffee wholesaler and direct trade facilitator. The

Coffee Quest functions as agent for Hilltop and supports its effort to

link up directly with roasters.

Cameroon Boyo/Hilltop has been running a pilot washing station in

Belo town, and has been gathering experience on how to run it properly

together with the producers in the area. This group is now being

formalized into a “Circle of Excellence” (CoE), the governing body for

the group.

By using washing stations and micro mills, Rwandans and Costa Ricans

among others have been able to raise the quality and price of their

products and have been able to better connect to the market. This has

created a proper coffee based middleclass with all the developmental

benefits accompanying it.

The Farmers of the Sho CoE have been supplying coffee to the EU

through The Coffee Quest for the past 3 years with farmer washed

coffee (pulped and processed on farm), and are ready to take the next

step. We proposed to build a washing station in their area, and asked

them if they would want to participate with their crop, time, energy and

dedication, and they said yes! Sho village is also close to Belo, so when

we build the station, support will be close by.

Cameroon Boyo, The Coffee Quest and the farmers of the Sho CoE are

now looking for roaster investors who want to join us on this adventure,

and co-develop the Cameroonian specialty coffee industry.

We will be able to make special order micro lots like Naturals and Honeys.

The opportunities reach far, but to grasp them will be your initiative and

responsibility. The Coffee Quest and Cameroon Boyo will organize and

facilitate the process.

The benefit we all get from this project is building our capacity as coffee

professionals, and reaping results like; processing co-developed micro

lots, involve consumers to a cause, creating meaningful impact chain-

wide and making friends while doing it.

We are planning an expedition to Cameroon in Q4 of 2017 to meet the

CoE and explore the Cameroonian coffee world. Q2 2018, the fresh crop

in which you invested will arrive. Amongst it will be the lot you worked

on with your new producer-friends, coming from the station you helped

build.

A typical entry investment and exit moment could look like: invest €1000,

take a certain volume of coffee for 2 years, and get the €1000 back in

discount as opposed to the standard product price.

Apart from the improvement in quality of the coffee delivered, other factors, including

cultural and social structures in villages, can present opportunities for, as well as

challenges to the collaborative functioning of our initiative.

The Circle of Excellence concept takes advantage of the opportunities and mitigates

risks associated with challenges. It is the dependable starting point in the value chain

of coffee; it is transformative and empowering as its member-farmers are accepted

as co-professional in our collaborative value chain; and it is our “building block” which

we replicate either to achieve larger volumes of coffee or connect directly with end

markets as unique micro lots.

A Cameroon Boyo™ Coffee CoE

• is registered as a “Simple Cooperative”, providing the group with a legal identity

• is limited to 20 farmers – governance: everyone has a voice

• harvests collectively and uses “peer review” of harvest to review cup quality

• means: (Co-)ownership of Micro Washing Station, village development; infrastructure

improvement

The liberalization of the coffee and cocoa sectors of Cameroon in the early 1990s

made coffee production unsustainable for smallholder farmers, leading many to

replace their coffee trees for food crops. The Cameroon Boyo™ Coffee project was

launched in 1998 with the goal to develop a new approach, the collaborative trade

process, that would revive the production of coffee and bring about the economic

empowerment of farmers in the process. To this end, the Cameroon Boyo™ Coffee

brand was registered to provide the commercial identity that would differentiate the

collaboratively traded, farmer-owned coffee from the coffee that was bought and

sold along the established supply chain which left farmers impoverished and unable

to sustain coffee production.

ORGANIZATION, GOALS AND ACTIVITIES

Hilltop Dynamic General Enterprises was registered in Cameroon in 2010 to provide

an operational support team of administrative, agronomic and logistica personnel.

They:

• coordinate the organization of farmers into small groups called, Circles of Excellence

• establish communication channels and procedures ensuring production of high

quality coffee

• carry out export processing to ensure that the farmer-owned Cameroon Boyo™

Coffee is shipped correctly to collaborating partners for sale in world markets

• maintain close, transparent relationships with market partners.

THE CIRCLE OF EXCELLENCE (COE) GROUP

The quality of coffee delivered to market is largely determined by procedures and

processes followed by farmers during and after harvesting of their coffee fruit. When

coffee from small holder farmers is consolidated (as in our case) to achieve exportable

volumes, it becomes very important to set uniform standards for the procedures and

processes, and to monitor adherence by the participating farmers.

CAMEROON BOYOTM

3

The Coffee Quest is a green coffee importer, wholesaler and Direct-

Trade Facilitator in the EU. The Coffee Quest is a registered trade name

by, International Direct Sourcing B.V.

In our vision, all chain participants are coffee professionals, or in the

processes of becoming one, and no chain participant should live in

poverty because he/she participates in the chain. Our mission is to work

with producers of high quality coffee, and create integrated, equal and

sustainable value chains by facilitating Grower and Roaster collaboration.

ORGANIZATION, GOALS AND ACTIVITIES

IN THE EU MARKET AND AT ORIGIN

The Coffee Quest has a few different ways of working:

• We Import, do marketing and sales of specialty and premium coffee

from our SPOT positions.

• We organize Direct! Programs for clients: pre-order lots at origin, and

participate in the sourcing process.

• We provide roaster sourcing service: Logisitcs, Financing, Quality

Control, Warehousing and Distribution.

• We representation several farmers(‘ groups): For producers like

Cameroon Boyo and the Peralta family in Nicaragua, we do marketing

and sales. Here we work for (and in name of) the farmer.

• We design and organize chain upgrade programs, coffee tourism and

roaster origin trips and other activities related to ‘opening doors’ and

‘building bridges between buyers and sellers.

CAMEROON BOYO AND THE COFFEE QUEST

The Coffee Quest is agent for Cameroon Boyo, and represents the

organization, its participating farmers and products in the European

market.

THE COFFEE QUEST

The Circle of Excellence (CoE) groups are the “building blocks” we employ to ensure

quality and growth. Farmers with adjoining farm lands organize themselves in groups

of 20 or fewer self-governing and self-policing units to form a Circle of Excellence.

The CoE provides an opportunity for investments in farm processing facilities that

would increase both yield and quality while reducing effort and cost of production.

CIRCLE OF EXCELLENCE

VILLAGE ACTIVE SINCE STATUS INFRASTRUCTUREBelo - - Micro Washing

Station PILOTSho - - Location of 2nd

Washing StationAnjayua - Partly Adopted -Asuchuf - Adopted by single

roaster-

Kikfuini - Adopted by single roaster

-

PARTICIPATING VILLAGES THE COFFEE QUEST PROGRAM

FARMER OWNERSHIP / MOVE TOWARDS A SIMPLE COOPERATIVE STRUCTURE

Currently all “CoE’s” are informally organized and administrated by Hilltop’s central

organization. We strive towards a network of farmer-owned and operated CoE groups

legally registered as “simple cooperatives”.

The move towards this formalization of ownership structure goes hand in hand with

the successful marketing of farmers’ coffee by Cameroon Boyo and its agents, and

the investment in CoE infrastructure by Cameroon Boyo and other third parties, to

create a healthy and professional farmer owned cooperative from the start.

The Micro washing station project is meant to guide investment in “CoE” processing

infrastructure. Cameroon Boyo has developed a design meant to facilitate the

professionalization of processing for “CoE” groups of about 20 farmer who operate

within the bounds of a single village. The design is based on the idea that farmers

organize themselves in simple cooperative structures and take ownership and

administration of the infrastructure.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of the Micro Washing Station Project, is to help create village level

coffee professionals in coffee processing, and to give more chain responsibility and

opportunity into the hand of “CoE” farmers.

The vision is based on co-professionalism and self-determination. Examples of coffee

farmer development and benefits of washing stations and micro milling include:

- Costa Rica micro mill revolution: creating diversified specialty coffee for niche

markets by total professionalism and control over small scale and innovative coffee

processing and milling.

- Rwanda washing station and quality revolution: Until recently only know to produce

‘fillers’ and commodity type coffee, the investment in washing stations, their staff and

equipment gave them the possibility to differentiate and offer high quality lots to

high price markets. We use best practices, design and examples from throughout the

sector, and use their lessons for the design of a Cameroonian implementation.

The secondary objective is to enable coffee roasters to expand on their craft and

trade, by providing a platform on which they can engage directly with coffee farmers

and processors to co-develop the products they use and challenge their personal

and professional development as coffee professionals.

MICRO WASHING STATION

WET HOUSE AND WATER BASIN

The wet house is a closable shed in which, or from which most wet activities will take

place. The wet house is equipped with:

- Connection to clean water

- A water basin, used for floater removal and fermentation

- A mechanized pulper

- Tools and implement for cherry and wet parchment logistics, floater removal and

maintenance.

- Space to store and maintain drying tables

Clean water is key to producing defect free coffee by facilitating a hygienic condition

for fermentation and washing in which bacterial and fungal infection is effectively

kept to a minimal level on which it cannot take hold of a batch of coffee.

The water basin is connected to a clean water supply, and exhausts into an adequate

channel, tank or pit. The basin has a lid, to improve fermentation. The basin is used for

several activities, and cleaned in between of these activities, namely:

- Water used for removing floaters from incoming cherry. This is usually done in large

plastic buckets

- Storage of woven baskets which hold fermenting coffee batches

- Washing of the coffee batches, in the baskets, using clean water. The dirty water is

drained and the process repeated until the coffee is scrubbed clean.

Hilltop started construction of the pilot micro washing station in June 2013 on a piece

of land made available by one of our leading farmers in the town of Belo using locally

available material and personnel. The initial construction consisted of the platform

for the pulping machine and the fermentation tank followed by piping for water. A

shed was then built over the fermentation tank and pulping platform. Some African

bed drying tables were constructed as coffee ripened and farmers were asked to

bring freshly harvested cherries to the pilot station.

Design and setup

The design and setup of the Micro Washing Stations takes into account the cultural

and historic way in which people work with, and process their coffee. Therefore we

chose not to copy and implement designs from for example Costa Rican or Rwandan

success stories one on one, into Cameroon. Instead the design and setup is tailor-

made for the Cameroonian situation.

We spilt our design in a ‘wet house’, ‘warehouse’ and a ‘drying table’ portion of the

project/process, in which we focus initially on the dry part (Drying tables) because

it requires less investment, and can reach more farmers in less time. The wet house,

a facility with clean water, meant to facilitate pulping, fermentation and washing

will have a huge quality and standardization impact, but will take more investment,

and longer to roll out, as will the ‘warehouse’ meant to store processed parchment

hygienically and well ventilated.

Through this project proposal we hope to be able to roll out the wet house, warehouse

and drying table element of the Micro Washing Station simultaneous in selected

village CoE groups.

DRYING TABLES

Because Cameroonian farmers are not used to produce for quality demanding

markets, they never dried their products in a very quality effective manner, and

mostly dried them on the dirt, or plastics sheets when asked to. When new groups

of farmers start working with Cameroon Boyo, one of the first things we do is inform

them on the necessity to use hygienic drying facilities to combat coffee defects and

fungal or bacterial infection of the drying batch.

Moreover, the various drying methods and unstandardized drying process creates

the possibility for drying defects in the coffee, like over fermentation or moldy beans.

The drying tables are a second level upgrade of CoE drying capacity, and place on

tactical (preferably centralized) locations in the CoE area, at the premises of one

or more of the participants. The tables are made by local craftsmen, using locally

available materials. Moreover, they are designed keeping in mind the necessity for

durability.

You can see a video of the current ongoing production of drying table for placement

in multiple villages in the “Micro Washing Station Program” on the The Coffee Quest

Facebook wall of the 16th of October 2016.

MICRO WASHING STATION

PULPER EQUIPMENT

Farmers in CoE groups use various means of pulping their coffee. This ranges from

mechanized pulpers owned by individual farmers and shared/rented by others, to

farmers using low tech method like stone and mortar. These various methods create

nipping defects, which require additional sorting and screening due to damage to the

wet beans. Furthermore, various pulping methods create a wide spread pulped bean

result in terms of mucilage left on the bean. This in turn has effect on the fermentation

time necessary to soften the mucilage, and can lead to over fermentation in ‘well

pulped beans’ as opposed to merely skinned beans.

The Micro washing Station design is equipped with a small mechanized pulper with

the capacity to service the CoE group for the foreseeable future. The model, brand

and specifications are not know by the writer of this document at this stage, but

the people in Cameroon already know which machines they need, and what their

approximate price is, as you can see in the budget.

WAREHOUSE

The warehouse was added to the Belo pilot washing station in the onset of the

2016/17 season. Its main function was to provide direct, clean, hygienic and

ventilated warehousing capacity for the parchment produced by the station. Up

until its construction, finished parchment would be kept in a not well ventilated, steel

container, which endures too much temperature swings throughout the season,

negatively impacting parchment quality. The warehouse will initially be built as a

temporary structure made of wood. Well roofed and ventilated to maintain good

conditions for parchment storage. The warehouse will also contain a small office, for

the processing of administration, cherry deliveries, etc.

[Left: Wet House, Right Warehouse]

GOVERNANCE AND MAINTENANCE

The facilities will be owned and governed by the CoE group, most preferably a “Simple

Cooperative” by law. Cameroon Boyo is responsible for making arrangements with

CoE as their marketing partners, and upgrade organizer, and following up on any

agreements.

Maintenance is the responsibility of the CoE group, using the Micro Washing Station.

After 4 years of experience with the Belo Pilot washing station, Cameroon Boyo

now feel confident to replicate the project to a second site, at one of the farming

communities in the EU Program. The Sho community is most suitable because of its

proximity to Belo station and the managing staff there. Also the Sho farmers have a

long and strong relation to several European clients, and thus the market connection

is also already there. The Sho farmers have expressed their willingness to invest in

the station in terms of work and materials and to some extend some financial backing

if necessary. But first and foremost, they will dedicate their entire crop to the station.

To remind you, the farmers delivering coffee to Hilltop always have the choice to

sell for quick cash to other buyers as well, however, once we engage into this joint

venture the benefit and development accompanying it will place the farmers onto a

new professional level. By cooperating in this joint venture the farmers are assured

a normal price for their cherries from the start and according to the eventual quality,

a fitting price for the processed goods. The impact and return of the washing station

program will create a group of farmers which are truly your co-professionals. Hilltop

farmers, purchased a piece of land in the center of Show growing area. This piece of

land will be developed to contain the washing station, and will be managed by the

participant of the Sho CoE. The reason for building on Hilltop property is because we

need the station to have a stable ownership situation. So all farmers are not dependent

on only 1 other farmer. The location is several kilometers from the Belo Station, and

very accessible by road, motorcycle and truck.

IMPLEMENTATION

Implementation is ongoing. In 2016/17 Cameroon Boyo has focused on building

Drying Tables, as low tech, multi village element. Also several table were built in Sho,

to show Cameroon Boyo’s dedication to the farmer, and to assess their willingness to

work with us. Drying tables have the biggest psychological effect on farmers’ positive

perception of and trust in our collaborative chain, for the lowest costs.

Cameroon Boyo and TCQ are actively looking for participants in the project, which

would like to fund this second ‘micro washing station’, and become the CoE’s &

washing station’s business partner, or participate in other ways to our mutual benefit.

COFFEE, PROCESSING, VARIETALS

The farmers in Sho are growing a mixture of Java II and Typica. Currently, the lot

coming from Sho is a Farmer washed blend of these varietals. We are aiming at

developing the following set of dfferent lot variations:

As you can see, there are many different options. The key is:

1) Training the CoE workers in the different processing techniques. (That will be the

responsibility of Hilltop)

2) Communicating to the CoE workers what type of lot you would like in which

quantity. (That all up to you. The Coffee Quest will monitor and facilitate this process)

3) Cupping the various results, and deciding if the experiment is successful. (TCQ

also facilitates)

4) This is the process which leads from a simple village blend, towards creative

specialty lots.

5) The real trick is “Intention” by the roasters, and by the farmers. Communication

between the roasters, TCQ and the producers, and initiative to further our common

cause will make the difference!

MICRO WASHING STATION2nd location: Sho Village

COFFEE QUALITY AND VOLUME

We estimate that our washing station will be able to produce 10MT per season. A

fine amount! Depending on the crop size, and the sales market demand, and the

collaboration between those two, we will be able to do anything between 5MT and

10MT of 1 or multiple qualities of coffee.

Our experience with Cameroon Boyo Coffee has led to the distinction between

different grades of coffee. We have experienced some very well prepped and

processed specialty, like the Alongsi Natural lot #1, currently for sale for € 15, and

already fully booked. We have had great premiums, with very lively flavor notes like

full nutty, very sweet, florals, and bitter sweet chocolate. We have had fine premium

with less complex cups and mainly chocolate, nuts and earthy characteristics, some

with a bit of fruitiness. We have also had coffee with some less attractive elements,

like woodiness and bagginess.

The experience in producing and processing, as well as the guidance from Hilltop

and the involvement from the investors will make the difference in the final outcomes.

Fact is, we don’t know yet which qualities or volumes our washing station will be able

to produce. This is part of the challenge and part of the adventure we make with each

other.

FINANCIALS

The price of the coffee will be determined by The Coffee Quest, in collaboration with

Cameroon Boyo, and will be fixed for the remainder of you payback period. It is our

intention to follow acceptable premium and specialty coffee prices, gradually moving

up in price as quality, brand recognition and volume increase. F.e.

For any commercial investor in the washing station program, we (and the participating

farmers) offer a coffee for money scheme, in which a 2 to 5 year discount on your

coffee purchases will pay back the investment in your business partners’ washing

station. For example if you would invest X, you coffee price for a premium lot would

be:

PROJECT END

The project ends for each individual roasting partner when the payback period is

completed. However, the relations and friendships we will have built together will

stay. The potential of these relations will carry us into the future. A new project? Your

sustainable involved with this washing station, and the coffee lots it will produce?

A cause or project in community you worked with, in a different field. These are all

options we welcome you to develop with us also after the project will be competed.

COLLABORATIVE ROASTER PARTNERS

All of our friends who receive this document have indicated in the past, in certain

manner, that you would be interested in engaging into this project with us. Underneath

you can find a table with all of you involved at this moment. In the budget you can find

the total amount of investment needed, and according to your input we have thought

of the following distribution:

BUDGET

This is the budget for building 1 fully equipped Micro Washing Station, Drying tables

and Wet House. Costs are averages for villages accessible by pick up or similar motor

vehicles. Typically materials will be prepared in the nearest small town with a saw

mill; if electricity is not available, fermentation tank metallic frame will be welded in

the nearest town and transported to installation location. Any lacking budget will be

supplemented by Hilltop farmers and/or The Coffee Quest.TIMELINE AND ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES: THE EXPEDITION

We plan to start building the washing-station starting from August 2017, and we plan

to be operational by October which is the onset of the coffee season.

We plan an expedition to meet our co-professionals of the Sho CoE at the washing

station, hosted by our friends of Cameroon Boyo/Hilltop Farmers somewhere in the

last quarter of 2017. Together we will explore the beautiful country of Cameroon, meet

the farmers, do some picking and processing if the season allows us to and prepare

ourselves for the new coffee to be processed and shipped!

The expedition is open to participation to the partners of The Coffee Quest and

Cameroon Boyo, the participants of the Sho Washing station program, and the

‘adopters’ of 1 of the producing villages. The amount of space is limited, there will

be a small charge to cover costs, and you will have to organize your own transport

down to Cameroon. Once in Cameroon, we will take very good care of you! Please

keep track of our private Facebook event (I WILL INVITE YOU) if you are interested in

joining!

Artist’s rendering of the Sho CoE Washingstation

THE EXPEDITIONtimeline and additional activities

In order to dedicate yourself to this project and join the adventure, please sign

this page of the proposal and send it back to:

Michiel@thecoffeequest.eu; hello@cameroonboyo.com

You will receive instructions on how to proceed with investing thereafter. In

general, we want to make a budget before construction starts in August 2017.

If you have any questions, please engage in conversation with Michiel Lampers

of The Coffee Quest or Matti Foncha of Cameroon Boyo/Hilltop Farmers.

Let’s do this together!we’re already exited!

Michiel Lampers (The Coffee Quest)

Matti Foncha (Hilltop Dynamic General Enterprises)

DEDICATING YOURSELF / SIGNING IN