Coffee Connect Centre, a Rwandan youth-led start-up transforming the coffee sector through innovation and inclusion, has been named one of the winners of the Imali Agribusiness Challenge. This recognition marks a major milestone for the enterprise, whose growth and strategic direction have been strengthened through its participation in the FAO HASTEN programme. “This success was not achieved in isolation—it was largely shaped by the guidance, mentorship, and capacity-building provided through the HASTEN Business Incubation Programme,” said Felice Karangwa, Managing Director of Coffee Connect Centre. “Before the programme, our vision was strong but broad; through HASTEN, I learned how to structure it, communicate it effectively, and align it with real market and sustainability goals.” Founded in 2023 by Karangwa, Coffee Connect Centre set out to prove that coffee can offer opportunities and impact for the next generation. “The idea behind Coffee Connect Centre started when I realised that Rwanda’s coffee sector, one of our country’s most valuable exports was slowly ageing and declining” Karangwa recounted. “The average farmer is over 50 years old, and many are uprooting their coffee trees due to low profitability. Women and people with disabilities are left out, not because they lack interest, but because they lack access to practical skills and business opportunities in the coffee value chain.” Coffee Connect Centre’s integrated coffee ecosystem now generates a consistent profit margin of 35 to 40 per cent, demonstrating that sustainable and inclusive coffee entrepreneurship is possible. Capacity building under HASTEN: Shifting to a systems driven business HASTEN - Harnessing SDG-based Agrifood System Transformation through the Empowerment of the Next Generation of Agrifood Leadership in Africa – is a FAO initiative funded through the Flexible Voluntary Contribution (FVC) and operating in Lesotho, Rwanda and Sierra Leone. It places youth at the centre of agrifood systems transformation and focuses on building their skills in systems thinking, fostering collaboration between the public, private and academic sectors, and supporting youth agripreneurship and eco-inclusive business models. Karangwa and his team participated in the HASTEN Business Incubation Programme held in Kigali in October, where they received business mentoring from FAO experts and partners. Dedicated sessions on financial planning and coaching helped the enterprise design a scalable growth strategy and clarify revenue streams, which strengthened their pitch for the Imali Challenge. Karangwa was further selected for one-on-one mentoring to enhance the enterprises’ financial readiness and establish a prioritisation of business activities in line with its growth plans. This mentoring also examined the business’s alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Using baseline data, Coffee Connect Centre’s social, environmental and economic impact was mapped using an SDG Impact Monitoring Dashboard and targets were set on future concrete contributions to SDG indicators in line with its growth strategy. The team also joined the HASTEN Study Visit to Ireland. “We learned how Ireland’s agrifood transformation was built through strong collaboration between the public sector, academia, and private enterprises” Karangwa explained. “This approach inspired us to strengthen our own partnerships locally.” The enterprise has done so, expanding its collaboration with national and local institutions such as the National Agricultural Export Development Board, the Rwandan Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Board, the National Union of Disability Organizations, Pro-Femmes / Twese Hamwe, the Rwanda Youth in Agribusiness Forum and the National Youth Council, as well as local cooperatives and other businesses, including Dukunde Kawa Musasa Cooperative and Akagera Coffee Project. Exposure to Irish examples also reinforced Coffee Connect Centre’s commitment to circular innovation. “After HASTEN, we shifted from thinking as a production focused enterprise to a systems driven business,” Karangwa noted. “We restructured our model to integrate circular innovation, ensuring both environmental and economic impact. In short, HASTEN transformed how we think and operate, from seeing coffee as a product to seeing it as a system that connects people, planet and prosperity.” Driving inclusive and circular growth Coffee Connect Centre now manages more than 6,000 organic coffee trees and a nursery producing 10,000 seedlings annually. It roasts and sells premium organic coffee to hotels, cafes, offices and supermarkets, and runs a Rwanda TVET Board certified training centre offering skills development in agronomy, processing and barista techniques. They have provided training to more than 200 young people to date, 61 per cent of whom are women and 22 are persons with disabilities. Many have secured employment (over 75 per cent) and 11 have started their own enterprises. “At Coffee Connect Centre, inclusion is not an afterthought, it is embedded in every layer of our operations” Karangwa explained. “We ensure that youth and people with disabilities participate as learners, trainers, producers and innovators.” “The HASTEN Study Visit to Ireland also encouraged us to place greater emphasis on youth and women’s leadership in agribusiness, something we are now embedding in all our training and outreach programmes.” The HASTEN SDG Impact Monitoring Dashboard shows that Coffee Connect Centre is demonstrating measurable contributions to the following SDGs: Winning the Imali Agribusiness Challenge has positioned Coffee Connect Centre for its next phase of growth. It is preparing to establish a fully equipped coffee processing site and an advanced roastery that will allow it to scale production from 250 to 2,500 kilograms of roasted coffee per month. Further plans beyond this are to expand its organic coffee plantations to one hundred thousand trees by 2030 and to build a dedicated factory for its coffee residue product line, which includes soaps, cosmetics and eco-friendly cleaning products. New training centres are also hoped to be established across the country, with the aim of empowering at least 1,000 young people through training, employment and entrepreneurship opportunities. From its roots in a declining sector to its recognition on a national stage, Coffee Connect Centre’s progress shows that when young agripreneurs receive the skills, guidance and confidence they need, they can turn challenges into pathways for transformation.
