Muthoni Schneidewind, a Kenyan-born German, has gone from being a coffee picker to controlling various businesses in Kenya and elsewhere.
The third-generation coffee farmer used to help her father pick coffee on weekends, which paid for her education expenses from primary to secondary levels.
” It’s coffee that took me to school, I’m from the generation that knows what it is like to be a farmer’s child. Everyone knows that Coffee farmers are poor. I wanted to change the narrative,” she said.
Muthoni who is also a philanthropist and business owner worked in various Kenyan companies before moving to Germany in 2009.
“I worked for Vitacraft, a German company that produces pet food, and later got another role with Coca-Cola,” she said in an interview on Chams Media.
After working for Coca-Cola for a few years, Muthoni founded Chania Coffee in 2013, after finding the exorbitant prices of Kenyan-branded coffee in the European countries.
She established the firm by investigating importation options and partnering with Kenyan coffee farmers to export the product outside of the country.
Muthoni then completed the appropriate documentation in both Germany and Kenya, allowing her to import coffee straight from growers to Germany, without the need for an intermediary.
“I found that there was a law passed in Kenya in 2007, allowing the direct trade of Kenyan coffee to the world,” she said.
In February 2014, Muthoni was able to export her first coffee container from Kenya, airlifting 30 kg in the initial batch.
“It was very expensive, we did not make any money, but at least we proved to our farmers and consumers that it was possible,” she said.
Muthoni’s businesses include Chania Coffee House in Germany, Kenya-Dorf-Volunteers (KEDOVO CBO), and KEDOVO Germany.
