Interventions across all Partner States

• Apex coffee organisations in the Partner States undergo coaching and capacity building to identify the most harmful barriers to trade and advocate for their removal.

• Analysing the gaps in standards for coffee and identifying the barriers preventing exports to the EU markets (for example pesticide residues and contaminants in ground coffee).

• Supporting the EAC Secretariat to develop new standards for products such as coffee mixtures, flavoured coffee and ready-to-drink coffee. MARKUP will collect and analyse samples of Ochratoxin A in green coffee to determine the levels to be adopted in EAC standards.

• Training of SMEs and Trade and Investment Support Institutions (TISIs) in all MARKUP Partner States in coffee tasting, assessment protocols and grading in collaboration with the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA).

• Finance boot camps for coffee sector SMEs to equip them with the skills to attract and effectively manage funds. Tanzanian SMEs and cooperatives in the sector, for example, have so far secured over USD 1.2 million from banks in the region for investments.

Interventions in  selected MARKUP Partner States

• In Kenya, nine SMEs are receiving technical support and coaching through certified ‘Quality Champions’ aimed at addressing quality related constraints in their respective companies

• In Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda, SMEs in the coffee sector are supported to establish an Internal Management or Control System (IMS/ICS) and to prepare Action Plans for adherence to private voluntary standards and certification, such as Rainforest Alliance, Organic, or Fair Trade.

• 21 SMEs and cooperatives in Uganda have so far received training on coffee trading and risk management. SMEs in Rwanda and other Partner States will follow in due course.

•  Four coffee SMEs in Uganda have been selected to receive matching grants to implement priorities aimed at improving competitiveness.