Making an impact
IMPCT’s coffee sales serve as a source of profit for the company. Not only do they purchase beans directly from coffee farmers in developing countries, they also buy from other farms willing to give back to their communities. Currently, they are considering adding novice coffee farmers in Pingtung County to their list.
IMPCT put 30% of their revenues from coffee sales toward building kindergartens in impoverished communities and at factories. The team believe that such a model goes beyond fair trade and into “impact trade.”
However, doing good alone is not enough—social enterprises also need to find their own sustainable business model. IMPCT have constantly adapted and adjusted their methods, such as expanding into selling coffee online and at local markets, selling their ideals along with the coffee. In April 2017, they launched a channel for buyers of boxes of coffee to directly support Playcares, and in August they set up a brick-and-mortar location on Yanji Street, Taipei.
Through this innovation in their business model, they have been able to boost cash flow while also increasing their opportunities to do good. During the Mid-Autumn Festival in 2017, for instance, IMPCT worked with the Social Enterprise Revolving Trust (SERT) to sell 5,000 coffee gift boxes, and used the funds raised to build a Playcare in Guatemala. In addition to their direct sales of single-origin beans, IMPCT are also working on developing corporate channels. The ROC government encourages companies to buy from social enterprises, and IMPCT have taken advantage of this opportunity to gain publicity by making the EasyCard Company one of their customers. If a company buys beans worth between US$10,000 and US$70,000 for two years running, says Chen An-nung, then that gets IMPCT enough bricks to build one school.
But this is not the end of the ambitions the four founders hold for IMPCT. J.D. hopes that in five years time, IMPCT will be the socially oriented Starbucks; Escobar hopes to build even more Playcares in El Salvador; Scobbie hopes IMPCT will be on par with American company Blue Bottle Coffee and be the Apple of the coffee world; and Chen hopes to make IMPCT a social enterprise platform—and, she laughs, to “get married.”
Driven by creativity and dreams, these four have been able not only to create a source of income, but also to help others through education and contribute to resolving a social issue. What kind of work could be more appealing than that?
The IMPCT team received their Hult Prize in 2015 from former US president Bill Clinton himself. (courtesy of IMPCT)
IMPCT organizes regular coffee tasting evenings, bringing coffee lovers together to drink and chat.