Beyond Coffee Beans and Bamboo – A wake up call for transformative investment in Africa

Like many pensive blog posts this one began as a trip to the supermarket… While searching for a bag of coffee, I stumbled upon a brand which loudly proclaimed that is was giving 50% of its revenues back to the African farmers who grew it. Initially, I thought, “At last, a fair trade initiative which is actually ‘fair.’” I managed to suppress my LSE-instilled scepticism of the ethical imagery of smiling Ugandan farmers and walked away with the makings of a great cup of coffee.