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The last day. Today was deep! And far reaching…
Participation levels were high and contributions impressive.

Work focussed on all the activities, challenges and investment that lie ahead, now that Ethiopia is a BRAND OWNER with an image to develop, enhance and protect in the long-term interest of all stakeholders in the fine coffee sector here. I say work, because the atmosphere of training had gone! We were all suddenly a Working Group of the Trademarking and Licensing Initiative critically discussing plans and approaches!

It still seems hard for many to believe that you can really make a difference to your revenue and commercial prospects when you take care of your image and your brands. After all the notion of a brand – a label, a name, a logo and all - is elusive in some ways. Most especially when seen from the perspective of the physical hard work involved in the whole origin end of the coffee chain and the enormous day to day challenges. Few have ever glimpsed the retail packaging of Harar, Sidamo and Yirgacheffe coffees.

But brands are super-valuable items on corporate balance sheets now. Branding is clearly the way of the post-modern, brand-conscious world economy and nobody was doubting this. We touched on many of the commercial and cultural possibilities; for example, the exciting opportunity to develop ideas for projecting a taste of Ethiopia’s uniqueness through its unique coffees. There was much enthusiasm to share these thoughts and assess their potential impact with the new partners in the network of licensed distributors.

In Ethiopia the whole Initiative is being driven by a newly emerging grouping involving all types of fine coffee stakeholders. It was extraordinary that the workshop participants definitely felt the responsibilities: and started pulling together around prioritising and assessing the nature of the tasks on the table. Already, consensus built on the need to move fast and widely to share knowledge locally – more activities are planned for June. And given the group’s newfound sense of the challenges, there was active naming and proposing of more colleagues and Ethiopian experts to bring into the Initiative, including the most knowledgeable and coffee-wise people in the country – ‘the fathers of coffee’. (And yes, we did ask, there are no ‘mothers of coffee’ in the country apparently!)

Planning ahead involved things directly in front of the group like the exhibition at the SCAA in Long Beach, California and the SCAE in Antwerp Belgium, and a coffee reception at the Embassy in London. Plus more elements for the website dedicated to this Initiative, http://www.ethiopiancoffeenetwork.com.

In an exercise determining priorities, the participants highlighted awareness raising, debating, brainstorming and the capacity building locally that is now needed to prepare for dialogue and a new relationship with coffee companies worldwide. Finally, there was a humble but profoundly expressed hope that within the purely commercial considerations and legalities of the licensing stage ahead, relationships can indeed be forged that permit Ethiopia to engage companies sufficiently with the heart of the affair: changing the harsh realities of millions of farmers and their families. And one of the original questions raised still remains to be answered: in addition to the sound business reasons for joining the network of licensed distributors, do coffee companies really care about coffee farmers?

Watch this space. We’re about to find out…

[We know some do. A new signee announced during the workshop, Dean’s Beans, raised loud applause.]

By late 2006 Ethiopia efforts to secure Harar, Sidamo and Yirgacheffe trademarks in many developed countries had started to pay off and the Initiative moved into a new phase: licensing and fostering a network of supportive companies prepared to enter into a partnership with Ethiopia. Everyone present agreed this is about selling and outreach, advocacy and relationships. And the time to start really building the network of licensed distributors is NOW with the upcoming SCAA and other opportunities around the corner.

But to kick off this topic today, participants in the Trademarking and Licensing Workshop first considered what in fact Ethiopia is actually trying to sell. Intellectual property is that confusing sometimes … So, if the task is to ‘sell’, what’s on offer?
A product? A service? Or membership of a club? (Think: gym or Rotary Club).
“The use of our brands”, suggested one participant.
“A chance to invest in a new joint venture”, said another.

But the topic came alive when, after reviewing classic sales, marketing and advocacy techniques, all the participants broke into groups and took on the roles of either of buyers or sellers. The sellers - exporters, coops, licensing managers at the EIPO, Embassy and government officials - were tasked with convincing and winning over the buyers in front of them. Like this, and with buyers adopting a range of attitudes and poses in character – from open minded to downright hostile – all sorts of ways of explaining the purpose and goals of the initiative, and of convincing buyers emerged.

“This looks like a way to make supply and quality of these fine coffees consistent and more reliable. Especially if it ensures that farmers learn more about their markets and get more money in their pockets,” concluded “Wolfgang”, a large German importer and roaster.

“We like the status quo. But we can see Ethiopia is patient and has a vision for the long term. We are a long term business,” commented one broker after hearing the case.

“It’s commendable to have secured the TMs you have. We’d heard it wasn’t feasible or legal. We’re a serious company and will now spend the time on your proposed agreement,” said one major importer and trading house, representing a considerable move from a very reluctant and condescending opening position.

“It’s a royalty free deal. The government isn’t involved in the trading. A nice surprise. We will pay more but we prefer it to go to small farmers and our trading partners with whom we have been working with for more than 15 years satisfactorily.”

“We sympathise with the farmers, and would love to come on a coffee safari! If we really can see the benefits going to poor farmers of course we will consider switching our restaurant chain contract to a licensed distributor,” gushed the CEO of a Hotel Chain, eyeing up the opportunities for warm and fuzzy PR.

So, when the real thing meets the real thing in Long Beach Califonia in two weeks and Antwerp, Belgium later in May, BEWARE! These folks have been practising and are really fired up!

Today Ethiopian coffee coops, exporters and coffee experts and policy makers got right down to the business!

Since deciding to seek Trademarks for three of Ethiopia’s finest coffees in 2004, many of these are now secured. The embossed certificates were paraded for all to see: an objective testament and acknowledgement of Ethiopia’s rights and ownership of the reputation and the intrinsic value of these coffee marks.

But what in fact is a trademark? To be honest the concept is all bit abstract if you are toiling to grow, collect, process, grade and sell green beans to the export market — and survive while doing it! So today we started with some of the nuts and bolts in sessions titled ‘Trademarking and Licensing Powers’ and ‘Structure of a Licensing Agreement’.

What came out? A trademark certificate is basically a kind of short cut. A code even!
It’s a stand-and-deliver tool for businesses developed over several centuries, in legal systems all over the world. A trademark certificate issued by a national Trademark Office is saying: we are independent. We have looked at this named product e.g. Yirgacheffe and we deem it to represent something developed by the owners to whom we are granting this certificate. And it’s a warning to other companies not to exploit it to make money for themselves, unless the creator and owners say they can. The little tiny letters ‘TM’ above the brand name on a product is the coded alarm bell.

And trademarks are forever! It’s almost like they were invented for Ethiopian fine coffees… Looking back, Ethiopia is the birthplace of all coffee we drink today. And the reputations of specific, special coffees like Harar, Sidamo and Yirgacheffe are the fruit of generations of care, were handed down over the centuries, family to family and marketed internationally over many decades. And as the participants today looked forward, the protections and powers conferred by these trademarks made the future look safer … protected from the threat of coffee smugglers, counterfeiters and copycats. A Trademark means nobody can retail Harar, Sidamo and Yirgacheffe coffee at $15/lb – a tempting price for sure - if it isn’t the real thing!

Of course Ethiopian farmers, coops and exporters don’t want to stop people buying Sidamo, Harar and Yirgacheffe. Quite the reverse! So the licensing agreement – the giving-your-explicit-permission part of the rights a TM confers on its owners – was covered in great, great detail.

Participants paired up and debated and then shared their views on what Ethiopia proposes to give free of charge to its overseas fine coffee distributors – technically called ‘the terms’ - and also what it wants in return … ’the conditions’. Companies who are already joining Ethiopia’s network of licensed distributors and are signing the licensing agreement fully accept this notion of quid pro quo. This is at the heart of every licensing deal in every industry. Ethiopia is not reinventing the wheel here. Just joining in!

There are a lot of coffee companies to talk to around the world, and licensing has just begun. But the reportbacks given to participants from early negotiations (fascinated) and heartened all present.

Tomorrow everyone gets to learn how to convince buyers and sign up new partners and build Ethiopia’s network of licensed distributors…

More than forty people from Ethiopia’s fine coffee sector gathered today in Addis to learn about trademarking, licensing and managing Ethiopia’s finest and most renowned coffee brands: Sidamo, Yirgacheffe and Harar. State Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, H.E. Ato Yakob Yala called this gathering “a pivotal event in the long history of Ethiopian coffee production and export”. While managing coffee brands is common enough in the developed world, this is just unprecedented here in Ethiopia. And participants from coops, private exporters and relevant government institutions came with sacks of questions and deep expectations for the week ahead.

They asked: As our trademarks are now secured [note: Ethiopia has now secured TMs in 28 key export markets] what are the current marketing plans and what are the next steps? How long will it take to see results? What are other developing countries’ experiences and what can we learn from them? What is the best way to convince our buyers of the benefits trademarks and licensing will bring? Can we really begin to end the uncertainties, and the ups and downs of the coffee market? Do buyers really care about poor Ethiopian farmers? Do consumers really think our coffees are special? And so many more…

And so we, the training team set off … to cover the incredible new sense of the POSSIBLE which the initiative, which started in 2004, has evoked among Ethiopian stakeholders, and also the coffee companies in the USA which have already said they share and will work with Ethiopia on their vision. [More background on the Initiative and the thinking behind it can be checked out on a new dedicated website: http://www.ethiopiancoffeenetwork.com]

Naturally, the workshop is not tackling all the questions and issues at once. We are using a building block approach. Today the group set out by mulling over the very worst impacts of the traditional commodity trading model – which means the prices paid for some of the finest coffees in the world are referenced, casino-like, to the most standard coffees in the world. And we considered a new vision for Ethiopia’s fine coffee supply chain, based on strategies others have pursued to enhance the value of their products. A diverse and eclectic set of examples were mentioned: Sunkist (USA), Toyota (Japan), Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee (Jamaica) and others.

Thanks to the support of the Film Producers Nick and Mark Francis, the group contemplated the dramatic testimonies from their movie Black Gold, of farmers of Harar coffee caught in a terrible poverty trap and on the verge of swapping coffee production for chat (a narcotic) simply to get more cash into the family budget. [For more information visit http://www.blackgoldmovie.com]

The excerpts pressed home to all: This is tragic. And totally unnecessary! Ethiopian farmers know nothing of the true value of their coffee and what their ancestors and their own skills have created! We need to get a move on here. Once uprooted and abandoned, a coffee tree and a real asset is lost for all, not just Ethiopians but consumers too [coffee trees take many years to grow to maturity].

Ethiopian coffees are special: the testimonies of major companies already joining Ethiopia’s network and from Black Gold were all there for the participants to see today.

So the disconnect between consumer and farmer, the unsustainable disconnect was palpable today. But by the end of the day a sense of the way this initiative is re-forging the chain and reconnecting people started to appear. How do we know? Smiles, nodding heads, new marketing ideas popping up.

Glad to have you join us. More tomorrow…

Next week in Addis Ababa, Light Years IP will lead a training for key stakeholders of Ethiopian fine coffees such as exporters, cooperative managers, famers and management of the Ethiopian Coffee Trademarking and Licensing Initiative.

Stay tuned for posts beginning on April 17th, with real-time updates from the Light Years Team and participants.

For now, take a look at the Ethiopian Coffee Initiative’s new website, http://www.ethiopiancoffeenetwork.com, where you can find answers to questions you might have and information on how you can get involved.