Gender Equity Lindsey Bolger’s career in the coffee industry has spanned over three decades and touched nearly all aspects of the value chain. Credit: Lindsey Bolger
Coffee has been part of the Rwandan landscape since the early 1900s. In the land of a thousand hills, fertile soil spans six growing regions, each producing coffee with unique flavors and tastes.
During the colonial era, coffee was a major source of rural income. Great heirloom varietals set Rwandan coffee apart. By the 1960s when the country gained its independence, coffee was so important that newly-enacted legislation made it illegal to uproot the trees.
But in the early 90s, an unspeakable tragedy happened; civil war brought the industry to a halt. Nearly one million lives were lost and two million people fled the country. The collective knowledge base was virtually erased, and coffee farms languished.
Root Capital Board Member Lindsey Bolger was part of an international effort to not only breathe life back into this vital industry after the war, but to create hope and a pathway to recovery for the people of Rwanda.
The Challenge
In the early 2000s, Lindsey led the coffee supply chain at Green Mountain Coffee as VP of Coffee Sourcing and Excellence, with a special focus on supporting and developing emerging sources for high quality coffee. She volunteered in Rwanda for the Partnership for Enhancing Agriculture in Rwanda through Linkages (PEARL). Funded by USAID, the goal of PEARL was to help the country rebuild after the genocide by working with rural communities to develop agricultural products and market linkages.
Lindsey helped to create a recruiting process and training program for young people in Rwanda’s key coffee producing regions. Program participants learned the skills required to identify and select coffees of especially high quality that could be sold at a premium, rather than being blended away with lower, “ordinary,” grade coffees. The goal was threefold; rebuild Rwanda’s shattered coffee industry, generate income in rural communities by elevating the quality, demand and market access for Rwandan coffee, and develop a new generation of coffee professionals.
Many of the young people involved in the multi-year program had spent their youth in exile or displaced in refugee camps with little knowledge or exposure to the growing phenomenon of “specialty coffee,” explains Lindsey. “At the time, Rwanda was a tea-drinking nation. Traditionally, much of Rwanda’s coffee had been purchased at the farmgate at very low prices by intermediaries, and then sold for export. The idea that, through careful processing and selection, coffee grown in their very own villages could be sought-after in a global market, and sold at a premium, was truly groundbreaking.”
Throughout the PEARL project, Lindsey and others returned to Rwanda regularly to further establish and improve protocols and processes for producing and identifying high quality coffee, while continuing to train and develop a local team of coffee quality experts. “Together, we made iterative progress with each visit and with each harvest. To see and taste improvements in the coffee was proof that our collective efforts were paying off. It was tremendously motivating for all of us.”
Lindsey with Laetetia Mukandahiro, one of the first graduates from the PEARL training program. Laetitia is now a leading coffee expert in Rwanda. Credit: Lindsey Bolger
Our Collaboration
“It took about five years, working with an ever-increasing number of farmer communities and local coffee washing and processing stations, to reestablish Rwanda as a destination for unique and high-quality coffee,” explains Lindsey. “This was where Root Capital came in. They were there from the very beginning to transform those original two containers of proof-of-concept coffee and scale them into something more.”
Lindsey was the linchpin that brought Root Capital to the scene. Having worked with Root Capital via Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, she appreciated that, “Root Capital was always two steps ahead of our growing demand for high-quality coffee.” She knew we would be good partners.
Root Capital made its first loan in Rwanda (and on the African continent) in 2005. This launched 20 years of Root Capital’s engagement in the country, offering credit and capacity building to fuel the ambitions of a new generation of coffee-growers.
The Impact
“Now the Rwandan coffee industry is led, nurtured and innovated by Rwandans,” says Lindsey. “What was incubated early on with that first generation of trainees has ignited the innate capacity of youth who are now leading the industry in profound and impactful ways.”
Women like Laetetia Mukandahiro, Lucile Usile Halamando, and Angelique Kerakezi were among the first to engage with the PEARL project in 2002 and are now coffee experts leading this next generation.
Angelique, for example, is the Managing Director of the Rwanda Smallholder Specialty Coffee Company (Rwashoscco), a business that represents six coffee cooperatives, marketing their specialty coffees in Europe and beyond. When Lindsey first met Angelique, she said, “It was clear that her capacity to take up knowledge and understand how it could best be applied was extraordinary.” She adds, “She is a global star of the Rwandan coffee movement.” (Read more about Angelique in her Story of Impact).
Since Root Capital’s first loan in Rwanda, we have provided credit and/or capacity building to 122 enterprises across the country.
“Root Capital is as much of an ally as it is a financier and trainer,” Lindsey says. “Root Capital ensures capital is there when needed, helps leaders develop and grow their skills, and helps them access new technologies and practices to weather challenges and storms.”
Today, coffee plays a major role in the national and local economy. It also has been recognized with international awards.
“There is a true bedrock of ability and drive in Rwanda that is deeply rooted in, and demonstrated by, the minds and talents of people we met 20 years ago,” concludes Lindsey.