An open letter from the Elected Board of the Ethiopian Women in Coffee Alliance

Ethiopia Women in Coffee Alliance (EWiCA), also known as the IWCA Ethiopia Chapter, was legally established in 2016 to benefit women in the coffee value chain by sharing information about the sector, by providing capacity building, training, creating supply chain and a networking environment so that women can share, support and learn from each other. The association has 40 members, all of whom are formidable businesswomen, coming together to support one another and all women across the coffee value chain.

We at EWiCA believe partnership is key to tackle major challenges we are facing in the coffee industry and specifically challenges in regard to our women in coffee. Over the past three years, we have been able to create bigger impacts by working closely with international and local partners.

The association has changed leadership in June 2019. The new board will be serving the association for two years. As part of our two year plan, we are building on our partnership approach by launching the Association's first annual event titled: Strong Women Strong Coffee: Collaborate, Enable & Impact.

For the years 2020 and 2021 the aim of the EWiCA is to achieve our major objectives; i.e. working towards a sustainable livelihoods and increased visibility of women in the coffee value chain while creating the platform to engage our members in capacity building, skills development and networking opportunities. By doing this, we believe we build strong women that can compete globally, encourage and build other women in the sector and impact the coffee industry positively.

We will officially launch our new efforts in a half day event October 4th, 2019 in Addi Ababa. We invite interested stakeholders to join us! While celebrating the International Coffee Day, at this unique and pioneering event we will:

• Create awareness about Ethiopian Women in Coffee Sectoral Association

• Bring on board short term and long term partners to invest in our vision

• Facilitate networking platform for our members and esteemed guests

• Illustrate the untapped potential of Ethiopian coffee, its national brand & women in the Ethiopian coffee industry.
  

The event includes short presentation, testing different coffees of Ethiopia, display & auctioning of coffee & women themed art as well as a cultural music.

We are pleased to invite you to Strong Women Strong Coffee: Collaborate, Enable & Impact at the Skylight Hotel, Addis Ababa on October 4th, 2019. For more information about the EWiCA, the Strong Women Strong Coffee event, or to receive a formal invitation, please contact me directly (email link here).

Together, let us enable Strong Women=Strong Coffee!

Sincerely,

Mesert Desta, EWiCA President