When Hannah Nunn visited Uganda as part of her nurse training in 2002, she had no idea of the impact it would have on her life – and the lives of many others in the community.
Nineteen years later, after a successful nursing career, she is planning to leave her job as a ward manager so she can devote more time to her own non-profit coffee business.
Hannah started Kickstart Coffee to support The Early Learning School and the surrounding community in Entebbe. The company imports the beans from a group of farmers they work with in Eastern Uganda. All profits go back to the school and the company also invests in tree planting in Uganda to offset emissions.
Hannah says: “Right from the beginning it’s been a joint venture with the school and community – their needs are what drives everything, and the decisions are made by the community itself.”
Hannah first connected with the school’s director Agnes during her nursing placement after suffering a bad bout of food poisoning.
“I ended up moving in with Agnes because I was so unwell,” she says, “That’s when I first visited the school, and instantly fell in love with the children, and saw Agnes’s heart and desire to help.
“At that point there weren’t that many orphans or disadvantaged children there. But as the years went on more and more children started arriving at the school.”
Hannah left Uganda to finish her training but returned in 2007 with her soon-to-be husband Phil. They married in 2008 and then spent three months in Entebbe.
Ruth and Hannah
“I was at the school most of the time,” Hannah says, “And that's where I met a girl called Ruth. She had been really badly treated. She didn’t smile, she was withdrawn and so unhappy.
“I spent a lot of time with her, we went swimming and she started talking when she hadn’t before.
“When I left she was this bright and bubbly little girl, and I realised if that was the impact you can have on one child, I couldn’t just walk away from this school when I could have an impact on hundreds of children. So that's when we started fundraising.”
Ruth, the little girl Hannah helped is now 17 and will shortly begin her training to be a nurse.
In 2019, after several years of raising money to support the school, Hannah had a lightbulb moment while walking around a craft market in Uganda.
“I saw a coffee bag,” she says, “and I thought ‘I could set up a coffee company!’
“So, I went back to the hotel, told my husband and it went from there.”
Through contacts Hannah got in touch with a coffee farmer on Mount Elgon: “So I called him up and said, ‘Could I have 20 kilos of coffee?’
“Two days later it arrived on a motorbike. I brought that back to the UK, and it sold within three weeks.
“Covid hit, which obviously being a nurse, it delayed me starting the company properly. But then in May 2020, I ordered the first green beans from the farmer that were shipped and delivered in August.”
The profits have been sent straight back to the school to pay for food, teachers’ salaries and secondary school fees.
“The children are the priority, and due to the coffee we’ve been able to pay for a heart operation for one boy.”
Most of the Kickstart Coffee team are Ugandan, including the graphic designer who has created the company branding.
“The decision for me to leave a full-time job has been a big deal,” Hannah says, “But I can see the need and the impact we’ve had so far.
“It’s all about learning and connecting with new people and supplying a really great product that does good and makes a real impact on the lives of the children in Uganda.”
To find out more about Kickstart Coffee visit Kickstart coffee, Hannah Nunn (@kickstart.coffee) or (1) Kickstart Coffee | Facebook.
