MD Statement

I was born on March 15, 2000, in Karagwe, a land where the mist curls over emerald hills and the earth itself seems to exhale the aroma of Robusta. Here, in Tanzania’s Kagera region, coffee is not merely a crop; it is the pulse of our history, the rhythm of our rituals, and the quiet witness to generations of Tanzanians who have lived in harmony with the land.

To outsiders, coffee may appear as a beverage, a commodity, or an industry. But to many Tanzanians, especially those who grow it, it has always held a deeper, more spiritual meaning. Long before colonial markets commodified it, coffee was sacred. It was offered as a covenant between leaders, used to forge community bonds, and roasted over fires that marked life’s most meaningful transitions. Even the banana leaves used to wrap coffee cherries, known as ekyansi in some regions, were more than packaging; they symbolized kinship, honor, and continuity.

This is not folklore to me; it is a personal legacy. I remember the wisdom shared by elders in our village as we sorted cherries, stories of how coffee built families, held friendships together, and served as a symbol of resilience. I watched my father, Leonard Kachebonaho, cradle coffee beans in his palm with a reverence that made them feel sacred. His life’s work, building mills and founding the Kaderes Peasant Development Organization (KPD) to uplift smallholder farmers was never just about business. It was a quiet act of resistance. Resistance against the loss of cultural ownership. Resistance against a global system where the value of our beans was decided far from the soil that bore them.

Education and Vision

This inheritance guided my path to the University of Portsmouth, where I pursued a degree in Business and Human Resource Management (Hons). I did not leave Tanzania to escape my roots, I left to strengthen them. I sought the tools to build something lasting and transformative, grounded in ancestral wisdom and equipped for modern markets.

That vision became Emwani Coffee Limited, a company named after the Tanzanian word for coffee in my native Kagera. Emwani is more than a brand, it is a statement. A reclamation of African identity in a global coffee industry that too often forgets the origins of its richness. At Emwani, every bean we roast carries with it the weight of Tanzanian legacy. From Mbinga’s Chioda to Mbozi’s Ingoma, our product lines are rooted in cultural pride just as much as they are defined by quality.

Building for the Future

Yet Emwani is not only grounded in the past, it is focused on the future. Through our roasting operations, drip bag innovations, and our vision for Emwani Cafés, designed as spaces for youth empowerment, we are building a Tanzanian coffee culture that is modern, inclusive, and globally competitive. I believe these cafés can become spaces where young people not only sip coffee but inherit a legacy. Places where coffee is not consumed passively, but experienced fully: as storytelling, employment, community, and economic empowerment.

Company Statement: Emwani Coffee Limited

Emwani Coffee Limited was born out of this personal legacy; a fusion of heritage, vision, and responsibility. It is not a corporate invention but a cultural resurrection. Built on the values of fairness, excellence, and identity, Emwani seeks to reposition Tanzanian coffee not just as a product in global trade but as a medium of history and transformation.

The name “Emwani,” drawn from the Haya language, is deliberate. It reminds us, and tells the world, that this coffee has a home, a name, and a people. Every bean we roast speaks of that origin.

Founded in 2025, Emwani emerged in response to the glaring gap between the global visibility of African coffee and the invisibility of African coffee farmers. For decades, Tanzania has cultivated some of the world’s finest beans, yet the narrative, and most of the value has been claimed by others.

Emwani exists to reclaim that value, return it to the communities who have nurtured this crop for generations, and to assert that Tanzanian coffee belongs on the world stage not only in taste, but in name and leadership.

Company Structure

Our company structure reflects this mission. We operate through two main arms:

Emwani Coffee Roasters is responsible for sourcing, processing, roasting, packaging, and most importantly, branding, marketing, and selling our roasted beans and drip bags to both local and international markets. This arm ensures that our coffee is not only of premium quality but also positioned with authenticity and storytelling that reflects our Tanzanian heritage.

Complementing this is Emwani Café, which serves not only as a retail outlet but also as a strategic platform for marketing, brand visibility, customer engagement, and promoting a vibrant coffee culture. Through these cafés, consumers experience our coffee beyond the cup, they connect with the journey, values, and community behind every bean.

Sourcing and Products

Emwani Coffee Roasters sources directly from farmer groups in Mbinga, Mbozi, and Karagwe. Our engagement is not transactional. We offer training, agronomic support, and long-term relationships rooted in shared value.

Every batch is roasted with care and cultural meaning, from our bold Ingoma variety inspired by the warrior dances of Mbozi, to the smooth Chioda roast named after the harvest dances of Mbinga. Our drip bags, created with urban consumers in mind, provide portable access to this quality without compromise.

Vision for Emwani Café

Meanwhile, our vision for Emwani Café is to establish a network of spaces that are more than coffee shops. They are intended to be culture hubs, learning platforms, and business incubators. By centering youth, we aim to spark a new coffee culture in Tanzania, one that is self-aware, entrepreneurial, and globally attuned.

These cafés will also serve as showrooms for our beans and blends, connecting the consumer experience back to the land and people who make it possible.

Principles and Purpose

At the heart of Emwani lies a set of uncompromising principles: fairness in trade, transparency in sourcing, environmental care in practice, and dignity in branding.

We believe in empowering farmers, not just rewarding them. We believe in creating jobs that are meaningful, not just available. And we believe that coffee, like culture, must be stewarded not exploited.

Mission and Vision

Our mission is to honor Tanzania’s coffee heritage by producing ethically sourced, premium-quality products that reflect both the richness of our soil and the strength of our people.

Our vision is to see Emwani recognized globally as a standard-bearer for African excellence where every product is both an offering and a statement.

Final Word

This is the future we are building. One where the coffee industry no longer sidelines African names, stories, or values. One where Tanzanian coffee is not only bought but understood. One where youth walk into an Emwani Café and know that their history is not behind them, it is in their hands.