MECAHC, one of our partners in Uganda, has secured a substantial loan of USD 200,000 from Root Capital. This critical financial boost allows them to strengthen their business, expand their reach, and maintain their independence. It’s a milestone that reflects MECAHC’s growing capacity and resilience in the competitive coffee market, and it highlights how Progreso’s support can open doors to larger financing opportunities. 

In September 2024, Progreso Foundation, Rabo Foundation, and Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC) visited Koperasi Kopi Lintong Humbang Hasundutan in North Sumatra to monitor the cooperative's progress. The team included representatives from Progreso, Rabo Foundation, and LDC, including program managers and agronomists.

Earlier this month, a key visit took place to three coffee cooperatives in Eastern Uganda—MEACCE, MECAHC, and Bushika—by Anne Rappoldt (Program Manager Africa at Rabo Foundation), Imke Straaten (Program Manager Africa at Progreso Foundation), and Janet Maate (Project Manager Uganda at Progreso Foundation). These cooperatives are great examples of how targeted support and collaboration can significantly boost the coffee sector in Uganda.

From September 8th to 21st, Progreso’s Federica Marra - Senior Product Owner at Beyco - and Natan Yao - Progreso’s Project Manager for Cote d’ Ivoire - travelled from west to east across Cote d’ Ivoire, exploring cocoa plantations and meeting dedicated producers and innovative technologies along the way. 

Progreso está contratando un Asesor Comercial – Nicaragua.  Tienes sólidas habilidades para el análisis comercial y financiero de organizaciones de productores; demostraste capacidad técnica para el desarrollo de proyectos; te apasionan las iniciativas con productores de café y cacao, microfinanzas, agroforestería y conservación. ¡Este puesto es para ti! Como parte del equipo, usted reportará al Country Manager Nicaragua y al Coordinador de Programa en Latinoamérica. El candidato/a seleccionado será un punto de referencia para las operaciones en el país y punto de contacto para nuestros equipos y socios, ayudará en la mejora de los diseños de proyectos y la gestión del equipo.  Para la descripción completa, por favor dirígense aquí

Over the past months and as a part of their Final Master Thesis students from the Master in Big Data & Analytics at EAE Business School Barcelona have collaborated with the Netherland-based NGO, Progreso and Beyco, a blockchain coffee trading platform, to conduct and analysis of the overlaps between Progreso´s Colombian coffee plots and deforestation areas under the EU Regulations. The research project examines the overlap between Progreso-supported coffee farming regions and deforestation areas, particularly in Colombia, in response to the EU Regulation on deforestation-free products (EUDR). As part of their research, the students have developed a geospatial data analysis framework to identify these overlaps. Colombia was chosen due to its significant data availability on deforestation and coffee farming, provided by Progreso. This enables thorough analysis and robust conclusions. The framework aims for scalability, helping Progreso proactively assess environmental risks across its network using satellite imagery and geospatial data. According

Please see the Beyco website at www.beyco.nl We are excited to announce a major update to the Beyco Farmer App, packed with new features designed to revolutionize the cocoa trade. Here’s a detailed look at what you can expect with this week’s release. Cocoa sellers can now access loans directly through our platform, providing crucial financial support to help them grow and manage their operations more effectively. Our loan module has been updated to cater to coffee and cocoa sellers, ensuring that all our users can benefit from financial assistance tailored to their needs. Traders and buyers can now request cocoa samples through the platform, simplifying the process of evaluating and purchasing cocoa products, fostering better decision-making and smoother transactions. Cocoa deliveries can now be grouped within the BFA Dashboard, offering a more organized and streamlined approach to managing multiple deliveries, and enhancing overall efficiency. Additionally, you can publish cocoa

We're excited to welcome Andrea Miguel de Priego to our team as the new Project Manager for Peru.

From March 4th until 8th, Beyco collaborated with the Design Thinkers Academy in their Design Thinking Bootcamp. Through a specific challenge, the Bootcamp actively engages the participants in solving an actual challenge for an existing organization, all of this while learning Design Thinking techniques.

In today´s digital world, for smallholder farmer groups to trade smoothly they must have real-time and direct access to their supply chain data. It is therefore that Progreso offers them capacity-building so that they do not need to go through any third party to have access to their data. However, since the amount of small-holder farmer groups that need to be supported in high-quality data management is too large for Progreso, as a sole small-scale NGO, to handle, Progreso has initiated a partnership with Solidaridad East and Central Africa (Solidaridad ECA).