Monkaaba was founded in 2020 by Esnaider Ortega Gomez and Didier Ortega. Esnaider formerly worked for a larger exporter, but could see that a greater level of transparency, fairness and commitment was possible in the supply chain. In collaboration with Brendan Adams of Semilla, now Monkaaba’s import partner, they set about building their vision. San Agustin Esnaider grew up in a household that valued support, community and collaboration. Monkaaba has been built on these values from the start. His father has always been a coffee producer, but instead of seeing others as competition, he has sought to build a community around coffee production, even helping some of his former pickers with loans to purchase their first land. Esnaider and Didier started together with a small group of 6 families, basing their operation out of the family home outside of San Agustin, in Southern Huila. Since then, Monkaaba has grown steadily; for the 2025 harvest they worked together with 80 families around San Agustin, and moved into their own bodega in town. By producers, for producers Transparency is a key element of Monkaaba. Producers, even those who don’t work with the project, can bring their coffee, cup it blind with the team, and get feedback on how they could improve. Those who work in the bodega are producers themselves, controlling each stage of the process from farm to export, and ensuring everything remains accessible for members of the project. As producers themselves, the Monkaaba team understands the issues and day to day challenges of this work, and aim to support in any way they can.
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