Make you next cup of coffee count
Daniel and Toni Neuhaus began Six8 Coffee as a social enterprise to create a sustainable impact on the child trafficking and sex trade. The coffee they purchase and their supply chain reflects their social justice mission.
They give $1, from every kg of coffee and 10 cents from every cup to organisations that actively work to fight human trafficking and modern slavery. I spoke with Daniel recently.
We were travelling in Brazil and lived in a large favela that has a few coffee trees. I hadn’t seen a coffee tree before or given the source of coffee much thought so I picked some of the beans and tried to roast them –not very successfully.
We then went to Thailand and Cambodia. The scope of poverty, human trafficking and child sex trade was shocking and we both wanted to do something to help, but without money we were unsure how to start. In Thailand we worked with the Tamar Centre, a NFP that offers hope, healing, and a new life to the young bar girls of Pattaya. Then in Cambodia with the Cambodian Slum Ministry.
The experience left us with a strong desire to help in a way that would be sustainable over the long term.
We then spent some time in Vanuatu and came across two social enterprises that were growing coffee and this gave us the idea that business could be used as a force for good.
The name comes from a verse in the bible, Micah 6:8 – Act justly, Love mercy. Walk humbly.
We don’t have the scale to directly import beans, so we use like-minded Australian suppliers. The coffee comes mainly from Columbia and Ethiopia. It is ethically sourced; the farmers receive a fair price and are provided with investment to support ongoing development of farming practices to ensure long-term sustainability.
Both the Tamar Centre in Thailand the Cambodian Slum Ministry given our past association, and also Destiny Australia. They are a global charity that works to rescue children from sexual exploitation and trafficking. So far that have liberated more 8,000 girls.
We got so much. I suppose the most important thing was learning to focus on what we wanted to achieve and put the right language around those things. This enabled us to articulate our purpose in a clean and simple way.