My name is Mustefa Mohammed Ali, and I was born in a fairly well-known area, Botto in the Jimma zone, Wereda (district) of Gomma. After taking over the family farm, I studied in the coffee sector. Today, I own farms and washing stations in the Botto and Gera areas.

I've been working since I sold my first 40 bags of plain coffee to Belco, after obtaining my export license. Last year, I sold 2 and a half containers of natural and honey coffee to Belco.

I built a washing station in Seriti in 2018 after starting to work with Belco, with a capital investment of 3 million birrs (around €50k).

When the harvest and yield are good, the station, which covers one hectare, can process up to 10 containers. The Agaro drying station, built in 2014 CE (2021) with a capital investment of 11 million birr (around €200k), is another major investment.

It's a 4,500 m3 space that can process up to 40 containers of coffee. I have also made an agricultural investment in dairy farming, currently owning 18 cattle.

I've also invested in the construction of over 200 beehives. I would say that it took me a long time to complete these projects, as I was unable to obtain a bank loan for all the investments I made.

I chose to invest in drying and washing stations to increase the quantity of coffee I can process and market. This will enable me to control quality, a source of growth and sustainability in the coffee industry.

Before last year, exporting was good business, but since then, the difference in price and demand between the international market and the local market (the latter being more profitable) makes exporting a little difficult. However, we can obtain a pre-shipment bank loan with fairly low interest rates (9%).

I intend to expand the operations I have today to source more coffee from both plantations and washing stations, for the international and local markets. My aim is to build a complete facility that will enable me to manage the whole process, from sourcing to export, with my own resources.