Ayala Land Inc.’s, (ALI’s) Abreeza Mall and Coffee for Peace have joined hands to help local coffee farmers including IPs (indigenous people) to market their coffee by opening the first mall-based Coffee for Peace outlet at Abreeza Mall.
Joji B. Pantoja, chief executive officer of Coffee For Peace, Inc., said in an email interview that they are now on their final work with their partnership with Abreeza Mall.
“This will be the first mall -based Coffee for Peace outlet. But rather than having just Coffee for Peace, I invited the Davao Coffee Council Region 11, which I chair as their president, and involved the five provinces and one city to work together to promote the coffee industry in Davao Region by supporting local coffee farmers and drinking local coffee,” Pantoja said.
Pantoja said most of these provinces have a community of IP groups that are farming coffee and are looking for ways to market their coffee.
“The offer at Abreeza Mall came from the management itself. The Ayala’s are very much involved with social entrepreneurs and very much supportive of groups supporting social causes, especially with IPs. Ana Lopez of AVIDA called me and was looking for social entrepreneurs because Ayala wanted to partner with them and that started the idea of making it an educational platform for consumers who want to do home brewing, and use our local coffee,” she said.
Pantoja also said through this, Dabawenyos can have a pick-up area for coffee that are freshly roasted, provide a meeting hub for clients and suppliers, help baristas that lost their jobs because of some coffee shop’s closure and can get an exposure and practice talking about the coffee of Region 11.
“Farmers who have championed their coffee will be featured with their coffee,” she added.
Pantoja said the partnership has a year contract and is eyeing to start operation on July 1, 2021.
“We offered a space for them with free rent under Alagang Ayalaland Program in support to local social enterprise,” said Shimea Caro, associate manager of Abreeza Mall.
Meanwhile, ALI’s “Alagang AyalaLand” program aims to provide selling opportunities for local small businesses. Among these is the Street Brews at Abreeza Mall that help displaced baristas gained a place where they can earn income at a high-traffic location that attracts a significant number of shoppers, bikers, and commuters daily.
Through this initiative, Abreeza hopes to help segments of the community hard-hit by the pandemic to rebuild their livelihood and empower themselves to grow their businesses even further.
