Meleya:

The Story

What started as an adventure has become a solid brand!

The start

In 2005, two entrepreneurs in the Netherlands, Debritu Lusteau, an Ethiopian woman, and Michel Le Roux from France, took the initiative for Meleya. They believe that the best way to support Ethiopia was to stimulate and facilitate the trade of the best Ethiopian products towards Europe. It was planned to have the young generations on both sides become the carriers of this project.

Mutual gains

Early in the year 2007, the two entrepreneurs met with the management of St. Mary’s University College (SMUC) and with that of the New Business School Amsterdam (NBS). They gained their support to link both institutions toward enhancing the exchange of knowledge and skills. Both institutions were interested in a real life project, in which students could develop their business skills and knowledge and become sensitive to responsible business issues in an international environment. The idea was as simple as it was revolutionary: to have two groups of students, one from Amsterdam and one from Addis Ababa, develop a new fair trade coffee brand for the Dutch and Ethiopian markets.

Creation of the brand

A few months later, Wondwosen Tamrat, SMUC President, Tedla Haile, SMUC Academic Dean, and a dozen Ethiopian business students, welcomed the first group of about a dozen marketing students of the NBS, led by Ben Wijering and his colleagues, and both entrepreneurs, Michel and Debritu, for a one-week working- visit to SMUC. The students of both institutions began to create a fair, attractive and qualitative brand to fit the needs of a western young target group. From this visit Meleya, meaning ‘identity’ in Amharic, was born.

Dutch and Ethiopian artists

After the discussions among the students, a Meleya logo was developed and further refined by Dutch designers. They chose a ‘unique embrace’ as their main slogan and invited Ethiopian painters to make their work available for the packaging. Their works of art will be put on sale on the Meleya website. Every season, new artwork will appear on the coffee packages. The first painter whose work appeared on Meleya packages is Worku Goshu.

Launching of Meleya

In September 2007, at the occasion of the Ethiopia Millennium celebrations in the Netherlands, the first packages with Meleya coffee were presented in the main hall of the municipal building in The Hague.

Introducing Meleya coffee on the market

In 2008, the NBS students were assigned to sell and promote Meleya coffee in the Amsterdam region. They approached bars, restaurants, specialized retail-shops and commercial companies. They have also begun to attract sponsors and potential investors to step either into the future Meleya trading company or into the Meleya foundation.

Third trip to Addis Ababa

In March 2009, a third group of Dutch students travelled to Ethiopia to further develop the project with their fellow students. They were given the task to launch Meleya in Addis Ababa, to start with, by creating a coffee corner.

Towards a Partnership

During the third trip, the initial letter of intent between the NBS and St. Mary’s was transformed into a partnership for structural cooperation on educational projects and exchange of staff. So far, the vibe of ‘the unique embrace’ has been constantly present through out the whole journey.

A mysterious history

Worldwide, people drink more than one billion cups of coffee every day. But they rarely wonder where the coffee comes from. Centuries ago, a shepherd in Kaffa, an area in south-western Ethiopia, discovered that his goats became super-active after eating a certain red berry. When he tried the berry himself, he experienced the same. From then on, he and his goats went to the red berry trees every day. The news spread, and monks in a nearby monastery began to investigate the mystery of the berry. Soon they began to take its juice and drank it during the night to stay awake during their holy prayers. That is how our coffee was invented. Nowadays, coffee is grown in a large number of countries, with Brazil as its largest producer. However, Ethiopia keeps having some of the best varieties.