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Sept. 28, 2006
Contact: Bob Adams
(425) 564-3081
badams@bcc.ctc.edu
Students’ business venture
targets campus coffee cravings for
humanitarian, environmental, educational ends
BELLEVUE, WASH.– Using skills and strategies learned in class, student entrepreneurs at BCC are tapping the campus craving for coffee to fund third-world humanitarian projects and create new opportunities to learn about international sustainable commerce.
Students in the college’s International Business Exploration Club (IBEC) opened the Pura Vida Café Sept. 18 in the lobby of the college’s N Building, selling a large menu of coffee drinks made solely with Pura Vida Coffee.
Seattle-based Pura Vida supplies coffee made exclusively with organically grown beans that are cultivated in forest shade by farmers who are paid a living wage. The firm reinvests its profits in third-world activities to improve the lives of the coffee farmers and their families and protect the environment in coffee regions.
“Yes, you can still get your daily latte or cappuccino at our stand, and it’ll taste awesome. But there will be one big difference. This time you’ll be helping to change the world,” said Chris Jones, of Kent, one of IBEC’s founding members and a participant in the Pura Vida Café project.
Through their coffee sales the students will help fund a number of humanitarian, civic and environmental goals:
- Improving the lives of poverty-stricken coffee farmers and their families in third-world nations.
- Increasing the demand for shade-grown coffee, thus reducing the need to cut down forests.
- Encouraging consumers and business people to support socially-responsible companies.
- Educating future business leaders in the value of socially-responsible capitalism through an internship in international sustainable commerce for students at BCC.
“Pura Vida’s known for having great flavor because of their hand-roasting, but on top of that, you get extra enjoyment because you know you’re helping others,” says Jacob Peltier, of Bellevue, a past president of IBEC and one of the driving forces behind the Pura Vida Café. “The coffee’s competitively priced,” he adds, “but you’re getting a lot more for your money.”
In August Peltier, Jones and seven other BCC students traveled with Pura Vida and BCC staff members to the Guatemala coffee region where they experienced the realities of life for third-world coffee farmers and saw the good that Pura Vida accomplishes through such activities as building schools, starting food kitchens and helping girls get an education beyond the fifth grade (which in Guatemala has traditionally been the stopping point for girls).
Peltier estimates that BCC students and employees buy at least 100,000 cups of coffee on campus each year.
“If we can capture even a small share of that market, we can help a lot of people,” said Peltier.
BCC’s International Business Exploration Club creates opportunities for students – even those with limited resources – to get real-world, hands-on experience in international business. Students in the club work to understand other cultures while also doing service projects and networking with business professionals.
Business Instructor Andrew Johnson, who is faculty advisor for IBEC, notes the exceptional educational value provided by club projects such as the Pura Vida Café: “Every student involved in this project says that this has been a transformational experience. They now understand the impact a simple decision like ordering a cup of coffee can have.”
Further information about IBEC is available online at www.IBEConline.com.
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