impact

If smallholder women farmers are equipped with the training, capital, and market connections, then, they will drive their communities toward a thriving future.

challenges

cultural barriers

Women in the coffee industry often encounter deep-seated cultural obstacles when they aim for leadership roles, hindering their progress.

Women struggle to access capital, which makes it hard for them to invest in and expand their coffee businesses.

limited access to training

A lack of effective connections to markets limits women's ability to reach wider audiences and maximize their product potential.

lack of market links

Women face a shortage of access to education and training, making it tough for them to secure higher-paying contracts that require certifications and standard practices.

lack of access to capital

our approach

  • Our Resilient Communities Initiative exclusively targets female farmers with a 12-month program covering quality analysis, market readiness, and more.

  • Women-centered programming is designed to dismantle cultural dynamics.

  • Training can only be effective if capital is available to make adaptations and improvements. We provide seed-funding that enables participants to implement the learnings from our trainings.

  • The Women-Powered Coffee Summit centers smallholder female producers in contract negotiations, addressing their underrepresentation.

return on investment

ROI is a standard financial calculation intended to convey the financial outcome of an investment. It calculates this by taking the net profit of an investment and dividing it by the cost of an intervention. 

Here is how we calculate Return on Investment:

$ Farmer Profits After BV - $ Farmer Profits Before BV / $ BV Programming Costs = $ Return on Investment


Interpretation: For every dollar invested in Bean Voyage programming, there is $4.5 USD of increase in farmers’ profits  


thriving business index

The Thriving Business Index captures program impacts that cannot be assigned a monetary value. The index is calculated through an annual impact survey that measures the following elements that form the definition of a thriving business.

    • Job readiness and skills development

    • Access to education

    • Work conditions

    • Knowledge

    • Access to mentorship

    • Curiosity

    • Control of time

    • Decision making

    • Pride

    • Leadership

    • Safety

    • Ownership

    • Fair price

    • Changes in farmer profits

    • Reduction in financial stress

    • Satisfaction

    • Ability to save

    • Nutrition and hunger reduction

Our Voyage So Far

We have grown from a 16-person pilot in 2016 to directly reaching more than 900 women today, and we have plans to significantly grow our impact while decreasing what it costs us to reach each woman.

Impact In Action

1197

number of farmers enrolled

$85,800

distributed in seed funds to support farmer-led projects.

$606,000

generated in farm-gate revenue by farmers at 2x higher prices than fair trade minimums.

4190+

community members reached in Costa Rica and Mexico.

1:4

social return on investment within the first 12 months of receiving a small grant from Bean Voyage.

89%

of participants report feeling greater agency post-program.

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