Imagine producing something you never get to consume or enjoy? What then is the essence of producing it if it is only enjoyed by others?

That is Stafford Rubagumya’s mission, to make sure that Rwandans get to partake in consuming the coffee they produce themselves, rather than reading about how Rwanda’s coffee performs against global coffees.

Rubagumya is the founder and proprietor of Stafford Coffee, one of the most popular coffee shops in Rwanda today, thanks to the innovative approaches he has deployed to ensure that people enjoy a domestic coffee experience.

Stafford Rubagumya hopes to get more Rwandans to like and take coffee. All photos/Olivier Mugwiza

Having been in the coffee industry for a decade and a half, Rubagumya has earned the experience and know-how to not just drive domestic coffee consumption, but also prove that business ideas can turn into reality if you invest passion in what you do.

"I’ve been in the coffee industry for the last 14 years. My first job was at Bourbon Coffee, in 2007. That’s when I got introduced to coffee and my last job was also in coffee, till last year when I was working for a local coffee exporting company, doing procurement and supply relations management,” says Rubagumya.

In 2019, the 38-year-old then decided to quit and start his own coffee shop, a subsidiary of Stafford and Family Business Company, established in 2018. The idea was born out of the need to promote domestic consumption of coffee.

"Stafford Coffee is a chain of coffee shops established in 2019, starting with a model of coffee kiosks. I call them coffee boxes. It’s a model that I introduced in Rwanda 2019, just to be able to promote the domestic consumption of all locally produced coffee.

A barista serves coffee. 

"So far, we have six coffee kiosks and two coffee houses and there’s another one coming soon in 10 days in Nyanza. It is also going to be a stopover model like this one of Kamonyi, Musambira,” Rubagumywa tells this paper at the popular stopover in the Southern Province district.

In love with coffee

Rubagumya’s first encounter with coffee was not a rosy one. It was during an interview, when a lady who was interviewing him put a cup of coffee before him to see how he appreciated it.

The first sip left a bitter taste in his mouth, which he didn’t like, but as time went by, his appreciation for coffee grew and he took note of how people connected to coffee and how it connected people.

Before he knew it, he was in love. The vibe in a coffee shop is different from that in a restaurant or bar. The love grows deeper when you appreciate the farmers and the production process, different from beer or other beverages.

The burning question

As a player in the coffee industry, Rubagumya often asked himself the burning question - why don’t Rwandans drink coffee?

The more he stayed in the industry, the more he was bothered by the fact that Rwandans were not drinking their own coffee.

"That was in 2018. I was working, of course employed, and because of that passion, because of that love for coffee, because of that binding thing that was really burning inside me, I saved a total of $5,000 to be able to start my first kiosk in 2019.

"The cost includes the coffee kiosk itself and the machines. Actually, the confidence came from the passion. I knew about coffee, I had a holistic understanding of coffee,” says Rubagumwa, explaining how he set out.

Rubagumya had looked around in neighbouring countries including Tanzania and Ethiopia, where natives drink up to 60 per cent of their own coffee and knew that he can make Rwandans drink coffee as well.

The idea was to make it affordable and accessible to as many Rwandans as possible and he knew that if those two questions were answered, Rwandans would drink their own coffee. Today, as they say, the rest is history.

Rubagumya also understood that with improved education and awareness, more citizens will enjoy coffee. Today when you walk into Stafford Coffee, the baristas don’t just serve you coffee, they also tell you the benefits, especially if you are a first-time visitor.

Indeed, consumption numbers have gone up since he started his initiative. Rubagumya says that they started with an average of 50 cups of coffee a day but today they sell over 600 cups daily. In simple terms, domestic consumption has gone up.

The Musambira Coffee house has become a must stop-over for people travelling to and from the Southern Province, some going on to take selfies and post on social media.

The innovations which include having free sanitary pads, pampers and wipes for babies in the washrooms have made it even more popular with travellers. Rubagumya has never been proud, seeing efforts to increase domestic consumption take off.

"It’s possible that we can increase domestic consumption. It’s increasing. We’ve seen it. When I joined Bourbon Coffee in 2007, by then, the percentage of coffee consumed by Rwandans was 0.02 per cent.

"But nowadays, as we speak, it has gone up to three per cent. That means Rwandans drink three per cent of all coffee that we produce,” Rubagumya says, adding that the percentage of Rwandans drinking coffee goes up every day as many coffee houses continue to come up.

Rubagumwa also recognises the role of the government in promoting domestic consumption through the National Agriculture Export Board (NAEB) which runs initiatives to boost local consumption and supporting coffee houses like his.

Coffee is not for the rich

One of the myths that Rubagumya believes have hindered domestic consumption of coffee in the past is the perception that coffee is for the rich, and to this day they are working to break it, through availing affordable options.

"We’re trying to break that perception. The mind-set is changing. People now feel free to go drinking coffee while driving, while walking. Before the mind-set wasn’t there but it is changing.

"We see that the trend is changing, we see that people are happy about what we are doing. So, what drives me about coffee is the impact. Coffee is just a single bean, picked from a tree, washed, roasted and then boiled in the cup but the impact goes back to the community,” he says.

Empowering locals, farmers

The Musambira Coffee Shop, which receives about 300 visitors, employs about 35 local staff, and farmers too are happy because someone is adding value to their produce.

Overall, Stafford Coffee employees 55 people, including young people with disabilities such as hearing impairment, as a way of including them.

"It is part of the SDGs, no one should be left behind,” Rubagumya says.

Rubagumya believes that if Rwandans continue to consume more coffee, the farm gate prices for the farmers will stabilise when local consumption goes up, say to 15 per cent, and that is what gives him hope.

"When I think about all that, it gives me courage and makes me more passionate about coffee because the impact doesn’t end here. It goes back to the community and to the farmer who grows the coffee,” Rubagumwa exerts.

For better impact and results, Stafford Coffee has partnered with local farmers to ensure a garden-to-cup value chain, where Rubagumya provided over 3,000 coffee seedlings as a way of giving them back for growing coffee which has gone on to be appreciated worldwide.

In the next five years, Rubagumya believes there will be more people opting for coffee instead of other beverages.

In 10 years, Rubagumya’s vision is to be employing over 500 people and supporting 600 coffee farmers. He hopes to establish coffee washing stations and dive into the bulk coffee production value chain.

He also believes that he can take Stafford Coffee to other countries where Rwandan coffee is easily appreciated.

Rubagumya dispels negative perceptions that coffee has side effects, including possible addiction, pointing out that if coffee was unhealthy, many people across the world, including Ethiopians, who consume at least five cups a day, would be dead.

He says coffee has immense health benefits which people can find online instead of believing negative perceptions.

"Coffee is good for your health. It fights diseases like dementia, diabetes and other conditions,” he says.

Of course, it hasn’t been an easy journey for Rubagumya as investing in the coffee business requires a lot of capital, a big chunk of which goes into equipment ordered expensively from abroad as well as the challenge of packaging materials.