Café Africa relies on a pool of internationally recognized staff and consultants with expertise in the field of coffee production, processing, marketing, overall project management, and food security related issues who engage stakeholders across sector.

Our team is dedicated to building relationships, sharing knowledge and facilitating systemic change in national African coffee sectors. We aim to employ people from the places we work, capitalizing on local knowledge while building resilience, knowledge and capacity into the local population.

Executive Director, Café Africa:  John Schluter

After working with Cooper Brothers & Co and qualifying as a certified accountant, John spent nearly 40 years working in the coffee industry. The first 15 were in East Africa, including time in Uganda, Kenya, D R Congo, Tanzania and Ethiopia. From the early 1980’s he directed the family company’s main trading office, first in London and from 1990 in Switzerland, continuing to work mainly with African origin producers and exporters, and with associated offices in up to 6 producing countries.

After handing the family company to the next generation in 2003, he founded Café Africa in 2006, in order to address the potential for Africa’s coffee sector to provide a sustainable way of reducing poverty in many rural African economies and to meet growing world demand.

Kisumba joined as Executive Director of Café Africa R.D.C. in early 2017.  He had previously worked with his family coffee export business in Eastern Congo and Kinshasa, as well as directing an import business based in Kinshasa.  Kisumba was educated in Eastern Congo, then did his Masters Degree in Coffee Economics and Science at the University of Trieste (Italy).  He has an extensive knowledge of the production and marketing of coffee, and of the different production regions across the Congo.

Kamungele has over 10 years of experience in coffee procurement , processing, and exporting from the D.R. Congo. He has been involved in a variety of initiatives aiming to promote and revitalize the DR Congo Coffee Sector. His private sector experience and public policy acquaintance enabled him to be a catalyst in the formation of the national exporters’ association. Before this, he was a board member of AFCA and CARDC.

By joining Café Africa, Mr. Kamungele objective is to contribute to the development of the sector in order to witness the positive transformational impact of coffee to stakeholders along the value chain.

Project Manager, Karawa Coffee Project, Café Africa DRC:  Pascal Luzonzo Dopa

Pascal is a development and project management expert. With twenty years experience in Cameroon and DRC, he gained an in-depth understanding of West African issues.

Before he joined Café Africa in early 2010, he worked as a strategy consultant for a UNICEF-UNHCR joint project and had extensive experience supporting the Pan African Institute for Development. Throughout his career, in both the private and public sector, Pascal has been committed to the defense of social rights and poverty alleviation. He is now based at Karawa, Ubangui Province, where he is coordinator of a coffee rehabilitation project in partnership with CEUM and PCP.

Operations Manager, Café Africa Tanzania:  Ms Dafrosa Sanga

Dafrosa joined café Africa Tanzania 2016, as Programme Officer engaged with coffee stakeholders along coffee value chain platform, working with women in coffee, coordinating coffee field days and mainly context of the National Sustainability Curriculum on agronomy training with extension staff from private and public sector, her qualification is bachelor degree in Geography and Environmental studies.  she has been in the coffee sector since 2010 worked with different organization in various projects.

Finance and Administration Officer, Café Africa Tanzania: Ms Leticia Nshange

Leticia’s joined Café Africa Tanzania in 2015 after qualify with a Bachelors Degree in Accountancy. Leticia plans shortly to be taking her C.P.A. (Tanzania) exams. She handles all the finance and administration for Café Africa Tanzania.

Executive Director (part-time), Café Uganda: Reint Bakema

Reint Bakema joined Café Africa in October 2017 as Executive Director. He has over 30 years’ professional experience in development economics and agriculture, among others. He holds a Masters’ Degree in Tropical crop science and development economics from Wageningen University. As part time Executive Director, Reint is charged with the managerial oversight and quality assurance to the Café Africa Uganda team as well as supporting the outreach of the organisation towards the coffee sector in Uganda, both public sector institutions and private sector stakeholders.

Operations Manager, Café Uganda: Samson Emong

Samson Emong joined Café Africa in February 2015. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Development Studies and a Masters’ degree in Business Administration both from The Uganda Christian University. He is the Operations Manager and provides leadership within Café Africa Uganda in the management of operations and helps in maintaining good working relations with key actors of the national coffee sector. Samson is highly commended for his networking skills.

Finance Manager, Café Uganda: Simon Kaggwa

Simon Kaggwa joined Café Africa in 2017 as Finance Manager. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from Makerere University and is a member of the Certified Public Accountants of Uganda – CPA (U), the professional accounting body of Uganda. He is in charge of planning and coordinating all Café Africa Uganda financial and accounting procedures and management reporting as well as making recommendations towards improvement in performance and efficiency of Café Africa Uganda practices.

Senior Field Officer, Café Uganda: Andrew Magombe

Andrew Magombe joined Café Africa in August 2014. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree (BSc) in Agriculture from Makerere University, 3 Post graduate diplomas in Project Planning & Management, Monitoring & Evaluation as well as Public Administration & Management all from The Uganda Management Institute (UMI). He is the Senior Field Officer and takes lead on the District Coffee Extension Project. He has a well-blended experience from both the private and public sector.

Finance and Administration Officer, Café Uganda: Evelyn Kanagwa

Evelyn Kanagwa joined Café Africa in October 2007. She works as the Finance and Administration Officer and assists the Finance Manager in handling the finances of the organisation and also assists in the secretariat function of the National Coffee Steering Committee. Evelyn has a financial background and has undertaken part of the ACCA professional accounting course.

Field & Logistics Officer, Café Uganda: Moses Mugume

Moses Mugume joined Café Africa in January 2010 and worked as a Driver and later Field & Logistics Officer a position he currently holds. He is responsible for organising coffee shows in the coffee growing districts. Moses holds a Diploma in Business Administration (majoring in Marketing) from Makerere University Business School. He is a good mobiliser especially at the districts.

M. & E. Officer, Café Uganda: Scovia Namusobya

Scovia Namusobya joined Café Africa in June 2014 as a Field Intern after completing her Bachelor’s Degree in Agriculture and Rural Innovation from Makerere University in 2013. She now works with the field team in monitoring and evaluation of all our activities and in assessing and measuring their impact. She also holds a Post graduate diploma in Monitoring and Evaluation from The Uganda Management Institute (UMI).

Click here to learn more about our team’s vision!