We first met Maria Palacio, a 5th generation Columbian coffee farmer, in December 2022 at the Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco. Maria founded and leads Progeny Coffee, LLC, a wholesale coffee company that actually works exclusively with Columbian coffee farmers. Columbia is symbolic of coffee, but because farmers you will find using 100-year-old commercialization methods, they’re barely receiving payment and also have no control over the cost.
The company's mission is to serve as a distribution platform to empower coffee farmers and help them lift themselves out of poverty. Historically, coffee farmers have priced their goods in line with the volatile stock exchange. Progeny Coffee has a unique approach that allows them to certify a set price, doubling the farmer's income while still getting an incredibly competitive price to the end consumer. They partner with an association founded by passionate and successful farmers that provides training, a processing center, and export services; Progeny focuses on distribution.
Maria couldn't “hire” enough hours in the shared roaster she had used to maintain the growing demand for her business. She desired to open her very own roasting and retail facility, but needed money to purchase inventory, hire employees as well as for working capital. A $100,000 loan from PCV solved the problem!
We matched Maria having a volunteer Google advisor, Poorvaja Kamalapuri. Poorvaja is really a Strategic Partnership Associate at Google and focuses on identifying growth opportunities and the ways to scale Google products – exactly the kind of experiences Maria needs as she grows her business.
