Doing my part for society by developing a feedback app for Fairshare coffee brand GUZO
Every month , we at INNOV8iON organize an innovation day. During these “INNOV8iON Days,” we dive into the latest technologies and explore, in a fun and interactive way, how we can apply these techniques in our day-to-day work with clients.
This INNOV8iON Day focused on Corporate Social Responsibility, and we built a coffee feedback app free of charge for the coffee brand GUZO.
“The idea came up during Friday afternoon drinks,” says Julian Kuipers, Technology Expert. “We share the building with our sister company, iQibt. We heard that they were supporting an initiative by GUZO Coffee and that the very first batch of beans would be delivered soon. Since these are the very first beans and they’ve just gotten started, we figured GUZO would want to test the flavor of the first batches. We checked with them to see if that was the case, and the rest is history.”
“That’s right,” adds Gerard van der Wal, founder of GUZO. “As it happens, we were already discussing internally how to gather feedback to further develop the flavors. Then INNOV8iON reached out with the proposal. It’s great how things sometimes just fall into place.”
From Packaging to Coffee
Who is GUZO? GUZO is a coffee brand that was founded with the goal of making the world a little more just. And that’s not entirely new to Gerard van de Wal. Together with his wife, Baukje van der Wal, he started a packaging factory in Ethiopia in 2010: CROWN Packaging & Plastics. Their focus wasn’t on making a profit, but on creating jobs. “By building a packaging factory in Ethiopia, we hoped to stimulate the Ethiopian economy and thereby contribute to a better future for the Ethiopian people,” says van der Wal. “And it worked. We now have seventy people on our payroll, who not only receive a salary, but whose families have also gained access to healthcare, clean drinking water, and electricity.” And van der Wal is now applying this formula for success in the form of GUZO coffee.
Fairshare: Redistributing the Value Chain
Van der Wal: “As in many supply chains, most of the profit is made during the processing and packaging of the product. “99.5% of the coffee beans—for which many people in Ethiopia have toiled—are processed and packaged in the West by advanced machines and robots, with the result that people in Ethiopia remain poor. That’s not a crime, but it’s not fair either. With GUZO, we’re redistributing that value chain by not exporting green coffee beans, but instead processing and packaging the beans in Ethiopia. This way, most of the work is done by the people there, giving them the prospect of a steady job for the first time. With that steady job, they no longer have to worry about whether they’ll have food tomorrow or whether they can send their children back to school next month. In other words, GUZO ensures that people can live rather than just survive.”
What was INNOV8iON Day like?
The day began, of course, with a cup of Ethiopian coffee, followed by a presentation by founder Gerard van de Wal. It was an inspiring story that only increased our motivation to get started with the feedback app.
After that, we started a Design Thinking session to identify all the necessary requirements and functionalities. We quickly concluded that a Fiori UI5 app on SAP BTP was a step too far for now and decided on a WordPress plugin as the solution, which we will program to meet GUZO’s requirements.
After that, it was time for an Ethiopian dinner—to really get into the spirit of things. Finally, we continued with some further development and used a demo to show the reasoning behind the solution. Of course, we wrapped things up with drinks.
It was a fantastic day and evening. And it was really nice to do our part in this way. The next step, therefore, is for us to actually continue developing the solution so that when the first beans are delivered early this year, GUZO can gather feedback and continue refining the different flavors.
By the way, if you ever run into challenges and are interested in the possibilities of a Design Thinking session, please contact us and feel free to ask about the various options, with no obligation.
