Beyco and DOEN Foundation; shared vision on innovation and impact
The idea to start building Beyco arose from years of experience in the coffee sector; working with producers, traders, roasters, and all sorts of organizations involved. In order to start building the platform, we needed partners that shared our vision and trusted our experience. One of these partners was the DOEN Foundation. Financed by the Dutch Charity Lotteries, their mission is to kickstart innovative initiatives that aim to change the system.
In a conversation with Maarten Derksen, Program manager at the DOEN Foundation, we discussed our 20-year partnership, their belief in Beyco and the dedication to changing the coffee sector for the benefit of the producers.
DOEN kick-starts innovative solutions
Maarten proudly explains that DOEN finances forerunners in different themes and areas. “We look at what is happening in the market and society, and where we can make an impact. Where can we contribute to a greener, more social, more creative, and beautiful society? And then we do this through various programs.” DOEN looks at the bottlenecks in the market and explores opportunities for innovations. They support start-ups and organizations that are trying to do business in a different way, initiatives that tackle a problem from the bottom up.
The conversations with DOEN and Progreso started about 20 years ago. “Of course, I wasn’t working at DOEN 20 years ago, but the problems in the coffee sector; farmers who are not paid enough, who have difficulty in obtaining financing, who are not well organized or don’t have market access, are not new. It was already very clear 20–25 years ago and DOEN wanted to contribute to solutions for these issues.”
A long-term partnership based on necessity and innovation
The long-time partnership with Progreso is unusual for the DOEN Foundation. Generally, they only finance the early stage of an organization, with the aim that the market or other organizations take over and develop it further. And sometimes things don’t work out, that is part of supporting innovative initiatives. “We have always continued with Progreso because it has not yet gotten better for the farmer and the necessity has only increased. Our contribution to Progreso is also relatively larger, which shows how important we have always considered the theme to be and that we are not done yet.”
The focus on sustainable impact is clearly present in the work of the DOEN Foundation and their partnerships. “Progreso has always been able to innovate; from capacity building to a coffee fund, providing loans, professionalizing, measuring impact and strengthening the structured approach of cooperatives. Because of this innovation, it was always enough for us to continue to support.” In 2017, DOEN and Progreso sat down again, discussing whether the two organizations were still making impact together and how to continue. “That was the time that Progreso presented us Beyco. Really something new in the market. Not just in the coffee market, by the way. Suddenly there was the opportunity to scale up, a platform that can be used worldwide.”
Building Beyco
The DOEN Foundation was the first organization to believe in the idea of Beyco and to support Progreso in building an innovative, blockchain-based platform. “Beyco is a robust model and is based on transparency throughout the entire chain. It isn’t marketing driven and I think that is very important. The fact that some coffee brands now say that you drink the coffee from a specific farmer makes you wonder whether that’s truly the case and even if it is, is that going to tackle the big problem? Ultimately, you not only want the specialty lots to be transparent and traceable, but you need to involve the whole coffee market to bring about systemic change.”
In the summer of 2021, Beyco will introduce the trader profile in addition to the seller and buyer profiles on the platform. “In short-chain initiatives, all middlemen are often immediately thrown overboard, but that is not always the best. Beyco and the team look carefully at how they can involve all stakeholders, give everyone a role in changing the system. We are impressed with what the Progreso team has achieved with Beyco. Starting with providing insight into the producer, buyer and seller, and now including traders.”
We look forward to continuing our partnership with the DOEN Foundation. Do you want to know more about DOEN? Visit their website!
