Does Business Really Help? | A Case Study in Coffee
I have recently visited several of the businesses that Solbon partnered with that are up and running, as well as to ones just starting up in Southeast Asia. It is a difficult thing to do, creating a business here in Asia. Millions of people live in these socioeconomically disadvantaged and disconnected areas because of a multitude of reasons. It may be geographic, cultural, linguistic, or a result of poverty. In these remote and disconnected areas, there are people. People who live their daily lives with little to no hope of dragging themselves out of the life that they are in. Where their family can scarcely earn enough to actually feed their family or provide a roof over their head and a decent place to sleep. It is normal for these people to not know where their next meal is going to come from. Either for today or the next.
So, as I sat at one of our businesses recently, I watched one motorcycle after another bringing coffee cherries to the coffee processing plant and driving off with a pocket full of cash. I felt that we had done something to help. That family now has some income and the economic wheels are starting to turn. Where there was nothing, now there is a growing business.
You see, years ago, this particular area grew opium. It was a major cash crop. It helped people eat and provide for their families. But then the government stepped in to stop the drug trade and burned their crops. They were left with nothing. Eventually, there were coffee trees introduced. Thousands were planted and the farmers switched from opium to coffee production. But there was nowhere to sell the coffee. There was no market, no way to process the raw beans for export or sale. No one had the resources in this area to invest in this industry, to turn this into a profit for the people. And, despite the growing coffee market in Southeast Asia, this area was too distant. Too remote for many businesspeople to even consider investing in.
This is where we come in. We partnered with social entrepreneurs. Individuals who were passionate about business and using it as a tool to provide livelihoods and betterment to hundreds of people. We built connections with coffee buyers in the region and beyond, worked with the entrepreneurs to find and raise the capital needed, and built a coffee processing plant. Soon these farmers were selling their product to buyers in China, the world’s largest market, as well as to North America and beyond through e-commerce. Now, there is development and a growing market. There are millions of people in these same situations. They have potential products, they have the desire, but the economic structure has broken down. The development and growth across the region can’t reach them, and they are the ones who suffer By bridging these gaps with businesses like the coffee processing plants and many other businesses that provide solutions, we bring hope and progress to these communities.
At Solbon International Inc. we feel that business can lift communities to a level that they can begin to thrive. Our goal is to start the economic engine!