Coffee is a vital commodity in many coffee producing countries. For example, in Ethiopia, coffee generates 24 percent of the country's total export earnings and supports the livelihoods of a quarter of the population. Coffee provides livelihood for over 30,000,000 small scale shade grown specialty coffee producers globally and is an important climate resilience crop.

 

Small scale coffee women producers face critical challenges faced by the coffee industry today, such as climate change, pricing volatility, supply chain disruptions, low market access, and lack of training in business and financial literacy. To address this, GTM has started the "Women in Coffee Entrepreneurs Microfinance Fund".