“Winning comes naturally to me”

“In 2007, my friends and I pooled [our] resources together to start a coffee washing station. We chose Muyongwe because there are many coffee farmers [there] whom we wanted to support,” explains Antoine Urimubenshi.

Urimubenshi’s washing station, less than a decade old, has already become one of the processing facilities in Rwanda. Over the years it has scooped up numerous awards for the quality of the coffee it helps produce.

In this year’s Cup of Excellence programme two of the top five coffees came from the Muyongwe plant, including Elias Rwiririza’s prize-winning crop which sold for $30.6 per lb.

Success and the Muyongwe washing station have been joined at the hip it seems. But as Urimubenshi is keen to point out, that relationship is down to the hard work of all those involved in the local supply chain, and his rather exacting demands: “Farmers must ensure that that they deliver the harvested cherries to the washing stations right away,” he says, adding: “Delays affect coffee quality.”

“Because of the competition, everyone along the coffee value chain puts in extra efforts to ensure they produce winning coffees. Farmers harvest only ripe cherries and they are careful to take them to the washing stations immediately [after] they are harvested,” he states.

This process is evidently working. Aside from the great results in this year’s Cup of Excellence, crops from his washing station have been in the top ten for the past three years.

Success is shared, which is nice to see – “When our coffee wins, we all celebrate and are motivated because our efforts are rewarded” – but throughout his recent interview with The New Times there’s a knowing tone that flows through the piece, one that hints at expectation. Success breeds success, as the saying goes.

The future is bright, all being well. There are plans in the pipeline to add a modern coffee laboratory to the washing station in a bid to add even more value to the coffee that passes through his facility. However a lack of electricity in the area is a challenge, one that must be overcome. But he’s confident it will: “Winning comes naturally to me because I always put my best in everything I do,” he says.

And so far, you have to agree.