Meet Hannah, a 21 year old entrepreneur. She is currently studying business and finance at LICSSAL Business College, but that’s not all she does. Hannah is a budding entrepreneur and runs “Coffee Couriers” – selling authentic Sierra Leone coffee.
Like most entrepreneurs, she fell out of adversity and into business. After she completed her Senior Secondary School exams, finance had run dry and she could not afford to continue her education. As fate would have it, her brother worked for a gentleman called Nick Piggot, a Brit who was working in Sierra Leone. After he heard her struggles she says it was Nick who opened up the possibility of business to her as a way of paying for her education. It was suggested that she could supply coffee to businesses; basically, make coffee for people in their offices. Hannah grabbed this opportunity firmly and hasn’t looked back since.
She did this for a while – supplying another local brand – but she says the feedback suggested clients didn’t enjoy that coffee. This is when she thought she should roast and supply her own coffee. She did some research about how to do this and found a blacksmith who created her a basic roasting pot. As with most businesses she has not been unaffected by Ebola. She can no longer go to the offices but now supplies on order. According to her, business is good.
“I now have 6 staff, and they help me supply the coffee to businesses whilst I concentrate on the roasting over the weekend.”
Like all businesses she has encountered challenges. “Sourcing the beans has been difficult. I deal with an agent in the provinces and sometimes he just increases the price”. So she’s looking to source from an alternative location where she can buy direct. “I would also like to improve on the packaging, and financing the operations when I started was tough” but she kept going.
The business is also paying for her education which appears like mission accomplished but it doesn’t sound like she is about to stop anytime soon. What next? She wants to complete her education then proceed to a degree in accounting and applied accounting. She looks forward to the day when she can employ one hundred staff because she spends so much time stirring the coffee she is concerned that this is starting to show on her body. “Look at my muscles!” She laughs.
When asked what she does for fun with her friends, to relax, she said she didn’t have that many friends – sounds like she has mentors. However, I was able to discover a passion for Filipino soap operas. She liked watching series like “When all is gone” and “Tomorrow belongs to me”. While she willingly told me about the plot, I smiled, all the while thinking…yes, I do hope tomorrow belongs to you.
You can order your coffee from COFFEE COURIERS by calling +232 88 263 333