LBS Incubator Taste of Kenya wins MassChallenge Switzerland
London Business School Incubator business, Taste of Kenya has won two awards at the MassChallenge Switzerland Awards Ceremony receiving 50,000 CHF (41,374 GBP) in prize money.
The MassChallenge Switzerland Gold award and High Impact Idea award were collected by the business at a ceremony in Switzerland last week 2nd November.
The awards were granted to the most impactful and high potential projects from 70 start-ups entering.
Zipporah Gatiti, founder and CEO (Executive MBA 2014) said: "Winning both the MassChallenge Switzerland 2016 Gold Award and the MassChallenge Switzerland 2016 Highest Impact idea was an amazing achievement that proves the trust in the impact of the business. We want to use this platform to raise awareness of the issues coffee growers are facing in light of the coffee boom, not just in Kenya but globally.
“This award was an important validation of our impact and the funds will be used to support a pilot shipment from Kenya to Europe that will directly impact 30 coffee farmers. In future we are looking to scale this model to support the 700,000 impacted small-holder farmers."
MassChallenge Switzerland is an accelerator in Switzerland that is connected with other global hubs in Boston, London, Israel and Mexico. It aims to dramatically expand the open innovation, collaboration and entrepreneurial ecosystem in Switzerland.
Zipporah founded Taste of Kenya to simplify the coffee supply chain. By linking coffee farmers in Kenya to coffee buyers in Switzerland and Europe through direct trade they ensure that coffee farmers get five times their profit margins and they get paid on time.
