Next month we are launching an American coffeehouse with a built-in leadership training program for youth. Name: "Kokërr e Ëmbël," or "Sweet Bean." While it will be registered and run as a for-profit, it will give employees/trainees a practical understanding of how businesses are started and operated, specifically in Kosovo. The Kokërr e Ëmbël program is intended to demystify the business-creation process for young Kosovars, empowering them to launch (preferably value-creating) ventures of their own.
Banner translation: Coming in January 2010. Sweet Bean: American Coffeehouse for entrepreneurship training
The Specifics
Each semester we will hire new students to staff the coffeehouse part-time. As employees they will have significant responsibility for management, accounting, marketing, and daily operations in the café; as trainees they will also receive about 20 hours of explanation and training in business from the Yoders and others. As each semester ends we’ll hire new staff and start over!
The Strategy
Like Qendra Qiriazi (where we also work), the mission of the coffeehouse is to enable local young people to tackle challenges in their society. Qiriazi has the capacity to train large numbers of students but the coffeehouse aims to deeply influence 5-8 students per semester. The coffeehouse's goal of empowerment focuses narrowly on honest entrepreneurship skills. We are facing near-50% unemployment and corrupt hiring and admissions practices. (College graduates spend an average of 10 years between school and full-time employment.)
If successful, the bakery will grow in the next year into an “entrepreneurship laboratory” that funds itself and possibly even other organizations. Some call this double-bottom-line business or social entrepreneurship. We call it a wild ride!
The planning stage truly ended, and the start-up was born in early October. Since then we have:
- Contracted to rent the property (pictured below)
- Obtained the services of a lawyer, secured a business license and tax ID number
- Coordinated with friends who can contribute a lot with design and product development
- Distributed 30 of 60 applications with schools and individuals
- Researched and started to formulate a "training-through-work" curriculum for employees
- Recruited people from the community to teach some employee training sessions
- Shopped (many hours!) for all kinds of supplies; made a host of contacts
Storefront with banners.
We hope to serve you here at Kokërr e Ëmbël in the not-so-distant future.
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