Nespresso to promote South Sudanese Coffee

South Sudan gained its independence for Sudan in 2011, but for the majority of its brief existence, and indeed in many of the years prior to its formation, the lands that make up the fledgling nation have been locked and ravaged due to internal strife and Civil War.

In December 2013, barely eighteen months after breaking away from Sudan, a political power struggle broke out, which in turn drew accusations of a political and militarily coup d’états. From this, rather predictably, further armed conflicts have broken out.

So, you’d imagine that South Sudan isn’t the most country to invest in. But that’s exactly what Nespresso have been doing and now they’re in a position to sell South Sudanese coffee.

According to chief executive Jean-Marc Duvoisin, this is the first time the independent country* has exported coffee. Hopefully it won’t be the last.

Since the country came into existence Nespresso has been working closely with a non-profit group named TechnoServe, helping to set up mills in the Yei region and train coffee farmers.

The Swiss-based company has said that they will spend some $2.6 million over the next few years to help cement and enhance the blossoming coffee industry there and they, and partners TechnoServe, believe that “[coffee] can become the second-biggest export…after oil.”

“We wanted to help smallholder farmers have a business opportunity around the existing coffee, to switch the thinking from, ‘I’ve got a couple of coffee trees in my yard,’ to, ‘I can really work on this and make a living,” commented William Warshauer, TechnoServe’s chief executive.

Front and centre of the announcement has been George Clooney, the man who is quite literally the face of the Nespresso.

“Coffee farms have a great history of building peaceful pockets in very volatile areas,” Clooney said to Bloomberg in a statement.

“We drank our first cup this summer and it tasted just a little bit better knowing that it was from people who have worked so hard for normalcy and peace.”

The high profile actor has long been involved with the country, so besides his promotion stance his advocacy should come as no surprise.

The coffee itself is entitled Suluja ti South Sudan, a 100% robusta variety described as having “a bold silky texture and intense aromas of dried cereals and subtle woody notes.”

*The last time coffee was exported from the region was some thirty years ago, but in terms of South Sudan as an independent nation this is the first commercial export in its history.

photo: Luca Mascaro (Flickr), used under CC 2.0