Final AMDP Investment Proposal
TO: Professor Clark Hansen, CEO, AMDP
FROM: Yakira Matisonn
DATE: March 11, 2019
SUBJECT: Investment Recommendation Memo: Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee Co.
As per your request, I have found a company I am optimistic about that I urge you to consider for investment: Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee (LTHC). Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee is a coffee company that grows and cultivates its coffee beans in Kivu, Rwanda. Their handcrafted coffee gives employment to hundreds of Rwandan families and satisfies avid coffee addicts with a delicious brew. In addition, LTHC has an initiative that raises funds to support victims of abuse and provides health care to the Kivu community. Below you will find a reminder of AMDP’standards, and details about LTCH that demonstrate why it fulfills the criteria specified by the fund.
AMDP Standards
Triple Bottom Line:
A Triple Bottom Line (TBL) measures a company’s regard for social and environmental issues while ensuring economic success. The TBL is broken down into the three following categories:
- People: the way in which the company interacts with its customers, employees, suppliers, and the entire business community.
- Planet: the commitment of a company to limiting waste and resource expenditures to minimize its ecological footprint.
- Profit: the effects of businesses showing concern for their environmental and social impact, which results in the willingness of customers to pay a higher price for goods: gains or losses
In today’s business world, many consumers deeply care about the business ethics by which a company will perform their duties. If their personal values align with the company's endeavors, such as having equitable and fair labor agreements and being eco-friendly, they are more inclined to support the company.
Corporate Social Responsibility:
A company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is an approach to business that encourages accountability to the environment, stakeholders, and the rest of society. Having a CSR keeps companies mindful of their social, environmental, and economic impact.
Social Enterprise:
A social enterprise is an organization that finds an issue that it cares about — be it environmental, social, or economic — and builds a business model geared toward fixing this issue.
Carbon Footprint:
A carbon footprint is a total emission of greenhouse gases caused by all of the business’ activities. It is measured in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent quantities by multiplying emissions of the greenhouse gases by its 100-year global warming potential. Being aware of one’s carbon footprint and working to reduce it supports a healthier environment and limits the impact of the greenhouse effect.
Land of a Thousand Hills Coffe Co.
The Company
Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee (LTHC) was founded in 2005 by Jonathan Golden. Its mission statement is “Craft beautiful coffee, Create purposeful work, Cultivate flourishing communities.” This Atlanta-based coffee chain prides itself on providing patrons with the finest handcrafted specialty coffee. Industry experts place their coffee in the top 5% of specialty coffee (“Land of a Thousand Hills”). What sets it apart from other chains is that all of their coffee beans are cultivated exclusively in Kivu, Rwanda.
People
The coffee company emerged after the Rwandan Genocide of 1994 as a means of addressing the effect the genocide had on poverty. “Land of a Thousand Hills employs what they call a collaborative trade model”, which means that they work one-on-one with the Rwandan farmers to improve issues pertaining to their quality of life that extends beyond ensuring that the coffee is produced at fair trade (O’Dea). The employment opportunity given to the Kivu community allows them to “make their living with dignity by earning their wages and improving their lives” (Bennett). Under the LTHC, these Rwandan employees thrive off the income generated from coffee cultivation which helps with covering important costs such as paying for their child’s tuition. Their employees receive above industry standard wages and quality access to education, healthcare, and clean water.
Profit
Land of a Thousand Hills addresses poverty in Rwanda by paying their workers fair wages (O’Dea). Each worker earns $1.86 per pound which is 40 cents more than their previous wages (Cauley). The beans are then sold for $10 in 12-ounce bags, of which $1 is diverted into a microfinancing program “for Rwandan widows to start small home-based businesses” (Cauley). In addition to the five locations in Atlanta, the coffee company has four other shops that are found in Massachusets, Texas, Florida, and Virginia. Just recently, the Bradenton, Florida franchise was bought by a spiritual organization seeking to comfort those visiting loved ones at the neighboring hospital (O’Dea).
Social Responsibility
LTHC also has a non-profit scope to its business model. They realized that the village where their beans are grown is very remote with limited access to health care. In response, LTHC established the“Do Good Initiative” which it raises funds to provide fully-staffed clinics in these villages so that the residents don't have to travel for days to seek medical attention. In addition, LTHC also has the “Nziza Collective” which supports 200 brave victims of abuse, who prepare and cultivate some of their best coffee, by empowering them and teaching them self defense. As stated by Michele Marill in Atlanta Magazine, “through coffee sales and donations to its “Do Good Initiative,” Land of a Thousand Hills funded and built a school, church, sheep farm, houses, and water systems in Rwanda, and bought more than 200 mosquito nets to protect Rwandans from malaria and other diseases” (Marill). They are currently working toward providing clean water through its “Evergreen Water Project” which will prevent residents from trekking for hours along the mountainside to access wells.
Concluding thoughts
Investing in LTHC would not only enable us to dip our toes into some of the best coffee in the industry but will also support hundreds of Rwandan employees and their families, fighting against domestic violence and poverty while providing fair wages and healthcare to thousands of people in these secluded villages.
Work Cited
Wenk, Amy. “Local Coffee Company Bringing HQ to Big Southwest Atlanta Redevelopment.” Bizjournals.com, The
Business Journals, 19 Dec. 2018, www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2018/12/19/land-of-a-thousand-hills-coffee-bringing-hq-to.html.
O'Dea, Janelle. “Drink Coffee, Do Good at Land of a Thousand Hills Cafe.” Bradenton, Bradenton Herald, 1 June 2016,
www.bradenton.com/news/business/article81196102.html.
Marill, Michele Cohen. “Supporting a Good Cause in Atlanta Can Be as Easy as Drinking a Cup of Coffee.” Atlanta
Magazine, 1 May 2017,
Bennett, Ray. “Dignity, Health & Coffee - Land of A Thousand Hills.” A Better World Is Possible!, 18 Nov. 2017,
Cauley, H.m. “The Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee House.” Ajc, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 11 Aug. 2012,
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