Meet Scarlette Zerón: Coffee innovator in Honduras

^{Brewing up Café de Mujeres Brisas coffee in Honduras.}

The Café de Mujeres Brisas brand is the culmination of an entrepreneurial exploration led by PROEXO, a social economy enterprise. Over 245 women smallholders received technical support from Scarlette Zerón, who was once a project manager at PROEXO, and established the exclusive women's coffee brand for the collective.

The creation of Café de Mujeres Brisas took shape after an exchange programme brought together Honduran women working in coffee with their counterparts in Colombia.

The exchange was developed by Solidaridad with support from the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and the Honduran Coffee Institute (IHCAFE). In Colombia, the Honduran women met with the members of AMUCC, a women's smallholder coffee association, and the organization TECNICAFE, who provided assistance in the exchange.

During their trip to Colombia, the Hondurans visited various coffee farms and processing facilities where they attended cupping sessions, and observed different methods of coffee selection, mechanization of processing, pulping, and drying and storage methods.

Additionally, the women from Honduras and Colombia shared their experiences on organizational models, new innovations in the coffee sector, and the financial considerations that go into a coffee business, such as the use of revolving funds, effective negotiation and sustainable growth.

Women's leadership makes an idea a reality

For Scarlette, the exchange allowed her to observe and learn. "The smallholders of AMUCC began with the bulk coffee collection, and with their technical ally, they began to acquire knowledge of certifications, manage their own resources, and learn good farming practices to improve their processes and quality control," she says.

^{Women coffee growers from AMUCC shared their strengthening processes. Thanks to their leadership and a revolving fund, they produce organic coffee that they are selling for a better price.}

Inspired by what she observed in Colombia, Scarlette applied these newfound concepts to her work with PROEXO in Honduras. She shared her experience in a workshop entitled, Women's Business Empowerment Day.

At the workshop a group of women from PROEXO discussed topics such as empowerment, certification under a women-produced seal, digital traceability and blockchain technology. To conclude the workshop, the attendees worked to create their own women's coffee brand, Café de Mujeres Brisas.

Scarlette describes how the women worked together to find creative packaging solutions that would allow the brand to stand out.

"What we did was to create three groups so that they could select from several examples of the type of packaging and labels they liked most, using the packaging of AMUCC coffee as a reference. One thing all the smallholders agreed on was that they wanted their information to appear on the packaging, but they also wanted [to share more] in the form of a QR code."

After the workshop participants presented their ideas for the packaging and Scarlette says that, "We passed these ideas on to the GIZ designer who created packaging incorporating all the elements they wanted."

Partnerships contribute to achieving objectives

As a followup, GIZ supported the Honduran smallholders with a market study for the workshopped brand. After combing through the findings and taking on suggestions from the study, the Café de Mujeres Brisas brand was launched in October of 2023.

"We (PROEXO) launched the brand with them because, for us, they (the smallholders) are the protagonists. The brand for us is a women's empowerment platform that is created with the vision to be a support for women smallholders, and in this way, they can find allies to create their own company in the future perhaps," Scarlette comments.

Now, PROEXO is seeking funding to continue the work with partners and promote entrepreneurship within PROEXO via a revolving fund model similar to the one they saw in Colombia.

^{The Proexo smallholders were present at the launch of their coffee brand, Café de Mujeres Brisas.}

"A contract was already signed with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to provide them with coffee for a year, and that is a great achievement for us. Our next step is to establish sales points in supermarkets and donor partners. In addition, we seek to obtain a competitive resale price, which will give the smallholders extra income from the sale of their coffee," says Scarlette.

One more step for Honduran coffee

Scarlette Zerón believes that one of the best strategies for a Honduran coffee grower is that they organize as a group of coffee smallholders to share objectives, values, and life philosophy in an effort to support each other personally and in business development and coffee production.

For Scarlette, being part of an association often provides greater opportunities for training, field advisories, access to revolving funds and micro-financing, which can lead to an increase in entrepreneurship. Organized smallholders may find it easier to access fairer markets that value inclusion. A group can also more easily find specialized markets that make added-value payments to smallholders who follow good practices and produce high quality coffee.

Scarlette notes that the new Café de Mujeres Brisas brand has managed to position itself as a social project that supports women in the coffee value chain. It uses digital technology to provide final consumers and commercial partners with a traceable product and a unique origin story that are designed to establish stable and long-term relationships. The new coffee brand promises to become a platform that brings growth and increased incomes to women, their families, and their communities.

The launch of the Café de Mujeres Brisas coffee brand became possible thanks to the collaboration of Solidaridad, INATrace from GIZ, Rainforest Alliance, and the Coffee Chain project of Heifer International. These organizations support women smallholders, and aim to increase incomes, while encouraging traceability and improving coffee sustainability.

This article was originally published in Spanish in November 2023. Scarlette Zerón has recently taken on a new role as a Gender and Social Inclusion Specialist at Solidaridad. Her expertise, honed through creating the Café de Mujeres Brisas coffee brand, uniquely positions her to identify and address gender disparities within the coffee industry and lead initiatives that make a real difference in the lives of women producers. At Solidaridad, we are committed to empowering women coffee farmers and enhancing their market standing.

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