Ethiopia Shakisso DECAF CO2

Behind this excellent decaf is Haile Gebre, who moved with his family to the Guji area in 2001. There, he inherited a portion of land on which he established his first coffee farm and a processing station—supplying cherries from more than 320 neighboring growers.

However, this fulfilled dream was preceded by several key turning points in Haile’s life. When he was 10 years old, feudal lords took away his family’s land where they had grown coffee, forcing them to move away. He felt so betrayed that his goal became to enter politics and improve opportunities for farmers who want to grow coffee.

After three months at university, he enlisted in the navy, where his superiors described him as highly talented and intelligent, and he advanced to a strategic navigation department. For Haile, however, it was not the challenge he was looking for, so he returned to university.

Thanks to his military background and his activity at university, Haile had the opportunity to work between 1973–1976 at the Ministry of Land Reform and at the Cooperative Institute in Awassa. Unfortunately, due to his strong opinions, he ended up spending three years in prison.

After completing his sentence, he moved to Moscow, where he studied business management. Five years later, he returned to Addis Ababa in 1984, began teaching the subject at university, later became the governor of the Oromia region, and founded the Oromia Cooperative Union bank, with a specific focus on coffee cooperatives.