When the war in Yemen broke out in March 2015, the country was plunged into a profound crisis. According to a World Bank report, Yemen's economic output up to 2021 fell to nearly half its level prior to the outbreak of hostilities. United Nations estimates suggest that approximately 58% of the population, numbering about 32.5 million people, now live below the poverty line. World Bank statistics indicate that male unemployment stands at 12.4%, and female unemployment at 26.3% of the total workforce, estimated to be 7,298,663. One unexpected positive side effect of the war, however, is that it has led to a remarkable flourishing of entrepreneurial spirit. After all, Yemen’s young people have had to find ways to secure a future for themselves. In the process, they have rediscovered an ancient trade and one of the main pillars of the national economy – coffee.
Once upon a time, Yemeni coffee enjoyed a reputation for quality and international distribution. For decades, coffee was synonymous with the country's national wealth. From the late 14th century onwards, Yemen presided over the secrets of growing coffee, leading the world in its cultivation and export to international markets from the port of Mokha in western Yemen (from whence the name mocha coffee derives).Since the end of the twentieth century, however, and compared with its competitors, Yemen has forfeited much of its former status. According to statistics issued by the Yemeni Ministry of Industry and Trade, the country ranks 42nd out of 64 coffee-exporting countries worldwide.
Despite this decline, today's young people are working hard to restore the standing of Yemeni coffee in global markets via a host of projects, from production to export, amidst vigorous local efforts and a positive response from Yemeni society as a whole.
The war and the germ of a breakthrough
During the early days of Yemen's civil war, the Small and Micro-Enterprise Promotion Service (SMEPS) led with the hashtag #YemenCoffeeBreak campaign. It turned out to be one of its most effective campaigns, prompting young people to think about trying some creative ideas in the coffee sector. Adnan al-Qasus, in his thirties and head of communication and advocacy at the agency, says: "We thought of a campaign to give hope and to promote Yemeni coffee as a local product capable of revitalising the national economy. So we launched the hashtag #YemenCoffeeBreak campaign, which is in a way the younger generation's attempt to break the monopoly in this market.
Al-Qasus goes on to say that they have done much to provide advice to young people and to nascent projects: "As part of the agency's new strategy, we aim to open foreign markets for Yemeni companies operating in the coffee sector. We are also intensifying efforts to train and get more people qualified in order to restore the status of this important product in global markets, as it represents a vital economic resource."
Effects of the campaign
Like many young people in Yemen, Abdul Latif al-Jaradi, who is in his thirties, lost his job because of the war. He used to be deputy head of a school in Sana'a and had been lined up for the position of school principal, but with the interruption in the payment of salaries from the beginning of the war, he thought of setting up his own business: "I started thinking about a project that would secure my future and that of the next generation, but at that time I had not thought about working in the coffee sector."
The tale of the Mokha Story company
After al-Jaradi attended the #YemenCoffeeBreak event, he began reading and learning about the world of coffee, the internal and external markets, how it is cultivated and produced, the drying and packaging processes, as well as about international specifications and standards. He also came into contact with farmers in different coffee-growing areas in Yemen. In 2016, he and his friend founded Mokha Story.He talks about the early days of the company: "It was a difficult year for us, unfortunately, because we produced coffee, but we couldn’t sell it." Finding customers abroad was fairly tricky, and this made them rethink their approach to foreign markets. "We were only able to overcome this obstacle through a combination of sacrifice and patience. Sometimes we had to send samples abroad before receiving payment in order for the customer to test their quality," al-Jaradi recalls. "We even asked some of our customers to market our company to their friends and to roasters known to them, which helped us a great deal."
Al-Jaradi decided to focus on publishing specialist content about coffee on the company's Instagram account: "I began travelling around coffee plantations, one after the other, with a professional photographer in tow to take pictures and post them on Instagram. The content started to appear in search engines, and people started noticing our presence in the market. The first deal we made was with a customer in America in 2017. We were thrilled at the thought that we could export to America, despite all the difficulties."
Continuing his research and training in the coffee business, in 2018 al-Jaradi attended a specialist course in tasting at the CQI Institute in Malaysia, with support and funding from SMEPS. He says about the training: "I did really well and I was awarded a tasting certificate, which means I am an approved taster and assessor of all types of coffee."
Kamal al-Najmi, quality control officer at Mokha Story, talks about his experience working with al-Jaradi: "The war affected our sources of income, but Abdul Latif’s passion for coffee is what prompted me to work in this sector. It has given us financial independence as well as opening many doors for us."
Local initiatives
A group of young Yemenis involved in coffee, including entrepreneurs, farmers and those active in the supply chain, launched a number of initiatives aimed at restoring coffee to its former glory. These have included putting on exhibitions and festivals with free selling points for young business leaders, to allow them to present their products to consumers, as a marketing opportunity to help them overcome their fear of failure.One of these initiatives is the Yemen Coffee Revolution Festival, which attracted all the main players as well as members of the public. Baker al-Nusairi, Executive Director of the National Yemen Coffee Auction and the man behind the festival, declared: "The festival aims to restore the historical and commercial status of Yemeni coffee. To this end, we seek to bring together all those involved in the sector in Yemen, including farmers, cooperatives and exporters, following the disintegration and disorder of recent years."
Al-Nusairi points out that such initiatives are serving to encourage young people to enter this vital sector, which will improve Yemen’s economy, given the strong demand for coffee in global markets.
Coffee, a sustainable income generator for Yemeni women
A mix of customs and traditions has turned Yemeni women into coffee-growing machines; they cultivate the plants and they harvest the coffee. According to Nabil al-Shara’bi, an economic analyst, "Women bear the main burden of growing, caring for, and even harvesting coffee. When it comes to exports, however, women don’t feature because of the social structures in coffee-growing areas in Yemen, where it is a matter of shame when women to work for someone other than the family. Moreover, the lack of qualified women in the coffee trade, which requires a lot of expertise, has made it the preserve of a limited number of men."Reham Hashim, one of the young coffee entrepreneurs, tells me that she chose to work in sales and exports because she sees young women as a source of strength. She has to believe in herself and not worry about the obstacles ahead.
Of her own experience in the coffee trade two years ago, she says: "The war damaged the economy generally and individual incomes suffered. As a Yemeni, my income was affected. Thus, I thought of going into coffee trading, both because Yemen produces the highest quality of coffees in the world and because so much importance is attached to coffee drinking globally, which naturally opens up many opportunities for traders. So, I started my Brown Crown project, which offers 100% specialist Yemeni coffees, where we control the process from picking to grinding."
Reham acknowledges that working in coffee has given her financial independence. She managed to keep going thanks to the support of the community, overcoming challenges such as the lack of government support and the difficulty in the retail sector of telling customers that the price he or she is paying is good value for money.
Nabil al-Shara’bi adds: "Getting women involved in this field has many benefits, empowering them and enhancing their knowledge of the secrets about Yemeni coffee, its quality, its competitors and the way in which it is traded and exported. It will also give the women a decent income, with handsome financial returns that they would have problems securing in any other field."
A sustainable economy
Coffee projects in Yemen are very popular and it is this popularity which does much to help them to keep going and to expand. According to al-Jaradi: "In recent times, coffee culture has developed remarkably. Coffee projects have enjoyed local support and have been welcomed by people, especially the young. This, in turn, keeps up the momentum for setting up of high-end cafes and offering coffee and coffee beans in innovative ways."Al-Jaradi notes that coffee offers a way to promote the country and will help Yemen, when the war ends, to attract tourists to coffee-growing areas and cafes: "There are so many people around the world who want to visit Yemen, especially coffee-lovers, and so this really is a big thing for the national economy."
According to al-Shara’bi, understanding the importance of coffee in global trading terms, designating a stock market for coffee and its by-products, and putting serious thought and work into reviving coffee cultivation and making it competitive internationally in terms of quality, will all help to improve the outlook in Yemen, socially and economically, both on a micro and a macro level. It will give young people and future generations a degree of financial independence unmatched by other projects.
April 2023