The success of the Duromina cooperative and Kata Muduga, the Cooperative Union it’s part of, is a model case for how strategic investment in aid can lead to lasting economic impact and incredible-tasting coffee. Before 2010, coffee grown in Ethiopia’s Jimma district was considered to be among the lowest quality in the country. Despite ideal growing conditions and a wealth of unique, delicious varieties, coffee from this area was sold to the commercial market at low prices. This left no incentive to focus on quality, and little means to invest in better infrastructure, perpetuating a cycle of low quality and prices. 

In 2010, Technoserve, an international non-profit focusing on business development, set out to break this cycle. The project united groups of farmers around Jimma who organized into cooperatives. Technoserve supported the growth of these groups through technical assistance, business consulting, and access to finance. Through the project, Duromina bolstered its infrastructure to process high-quality coffee at a central washing facility equipped with state-of-the-art equipment. In doing so, they revealed the incredible quality of Jimma coffee to the world. In the years that followed the project, coffees from groups aligned with Technoserve in Ethiopia became darlings of the specialty coffee world, and coffee from Duromina became a staple of many roasters' and cafes' single-origin menus.

By 2016, the cooperatives around Jimma formed a farmer-owned cooperative union called Kata Muduga to facilitate the export of their coffees. When the Technoserve project officially ended, the Kata Muduga union stepped in to provide ongoing support to these groups and has expanded the services offered to farmers over time. 

While the purchase of processing equipment revealed the region’s untapped potential for high-quality coffee…it’s the tenacity, business acumen, and commitment to excellence of groups like Duromina that have truly driven their lasting success.