A project of Passion

Intango (pronounced “Inango”) is a small washing station on the edge of Lake Kivu. Once part of a cooperative that won the 2014 Rwanda Cup of Excellence, it became run down as the cooperative dissolved. That is until our friend Gilbert Gatali took it over. Grown up in Canada but Rwandan by roots, Gilbert came back to his African roots as a coffee importer. He then continued to help hundreds of farmers improve their quality as manager of Rwanda's first farmer-owned specialty coffee export company. Finally, after 13 years of managing coffee quality indirectly, he and his best friend Gervais are fulfilling their dreams of running their own specialty coffee washing station and making a direct impact on the surrounding farmers.

We weren’t looking for a third supplier in Rwanda but it was Gilbert and Gervais who won our hearts with their vision for the station, and Intango has become so much more than a supplier since 2017. With Gilbert as a heavyweight in the upper echelons of the coffee world (currently chairman of AFCA) and Gervais as the hands and heart on the ground, they have achieved a lot as a small team. Their aim is to make income standardised in a digital way for coffee producers, including a reliable second payment for quality that producers can expect early on in the season. It is when local experience, passion, partnership and a good heart come together that we know projects like these actually have a chance of success, and we do all we can to support it.

 

THIS SIDE UP VALUE CHAIN

Roots Inc is Gilbert’s export licensed company that handles everything in origin but the dry milling. Intango washing station buys wet cherry from unassociated farmers in the region, but gathers their data so they can digitally reimburse a second payment when the total income of the harvest becomes known, in effect combining the cooperative and private mill model.

 

Traceability

You can find all the signed contracts and shipping documents that we made with Intango since 2021 below (Google Drive).

 

KEY ACHIEVEMENTS

2018: Washing station established in its current form: Imported first lots to Europe and established direct trade connections.

2019: Started natural trials, imported both naturals and washed coffees. Lennart visits Intango for the first time.

2020: first year we imported the lower grades from Intango as well, the A3 quality.

2021: Intango comes to rely partly on our A3 imports because it allows for scale efficiencies in their operations. Our order is substantially increased.

2022: Lennart and Maarten visit Intango and meet Gilbert, Gervais and the rest of the team and see the coffee store and other upgrades that have been made since 2019.

2023: Intango pilots a digital payment system in cooperation with Stean’s Beans in the Netherlands.We integrate Intango in our public tender portfolio and stabilise the order quantity.

CULTIVARS

Arabica Bourbon types: French Mission, Jackson, Mbirizi

ELEVATION

1.500 - 1.900 meters

NOTABLE

Independent washing station enhanced to create only specialty coffee production. All 400 farmers recipient of Intango’s environmental sustainability program. Forerunner in the area of payment digitisation in the country.

PROCESSING

Fully washed: all coffee is hand picked, disc pulped, wet fermented overnight, washed and soaked with mountain water, then sun dried on raised beds.

Naturals: the naturals are shade dried, then sun dried and consistently turned to achieve the lowest possible amount of defects.

 

  • The price you pay for both the Intango village lot washed and natural p/kg. We agreed on this price directly with Intango, disregarding the volatile US Coffee C price.

  • The price Intango washing station pays farmers for their cherries as p/kg of green (milled) coffee. Intango uses the national cherry prices set by the Rwandan government as the baseline to purchase cherries. Farm gate in this case constitutes almost 50% of the FOT paid to Intango.

  • The cooperative costs incurred by Intango include cherry purchase, parchment processing, jute/grainpro bags, farmer training, management, certification and exporter fee.

  • Covoya was the third party service used this year to facilitate the shipping from Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania to Rotterdam, Netherlands. Intango, was responsible for organizing the shipment from Kigali to Dar Es Salaam. Covoya was also responsible for customs, insurance, storage of the coffees.

  • Average financing cost owed to (mostly social) lenders. This ensures immediate payment to the farmers when the coffee leaves the farm or port. This year due to the involvement of Covoya, This Side Up borrowed less to cover for the Rwandan coffees.

  • A standard TSU premium on all coffees designated exclusively to accelerate farmers’ own regenerative agriculture projects.

  • This Side Up compensation for spending time and resources importing this coffee. Our work includes year-round contact with producers, managing export, shipping, import, warehousing, grading, sampling, finding and keeping roasting partners for Intango. € 1,55 is This Side Up’s Model 1 markup. For a full overview of our modular margin construction, see the Trade Models page.

OUR QC’S FLAVOUR
IMPRESSIONS

The cleanness of the A1 washed Intango coffees is up to the highest East African standard and naturals can cup with some very surprising results. The A3 is a staple that many of our customers have come to rely on - but which needs some work in quality stabilisation next year!

Intango - washed 2023

ROASTING ADVICE

After some try outs we came to conclusion that our broad profile - Washed and Natural Africa run like a clockwork for the most of our (what a surprise!) African coffees. Its broad, but yet very efficient profiles that meant to highlight terroir and juiciness of our lots. Feel free to adjust length or temperature for more sweetness!

PHOTO GALLERY

You may use these images freely to promote Intango among your customers.

CONTACT INTANGO

Gilbert is the manager of Roots Inc, the exporting company that also owns Intango washing station. His high school friend Gervais runs the day-to-day operations of the washing station but only speaks French.

 

GENERAL MANAGER : Gilbert Gatali

EMAIL : gilbert@rootsimizi.com

TEL : +250 788 301 122

 
 

Intango CWS, Karongi District - Western Province, Rwanda