Maura Oerding is on a mission: the specialty coffee Angelique's Finest is set to continue its growth. The Managing Director reveals what makes this coffee bean so successful.
Jan Rübel is author at Zeitenspiegel Reportagen, a columnist at Yahoo and writes for national newspapers and magazines. He studied History and Middle Eastern Studies.
Maura Oerding is the CEO of the Coffee Cooperative, which promotes the independence of coffee farmers in Rwanda. She advocates for sustainable business practices and female empowerment. Maura is also active as a speaker and workshop leader, sharing her experiences and insights to motivate and inspire others.
Uncle Udo always had a saying: “Do, don't talk,” quotes Maura Oerding on her LinkedIn account. This principle explains why she is hard to pin down. She should be somewhere here, at Berlin's Green Week, Hall 7.2c. A line forms in front of a booth where visitors sample Angelique's Finest, one of the many coffees at the world’s leading food and agriculture trade fair. “Chocolatey”, says a man in his mid-sixties, nodding in approval. “We'll take a pound,” his wife says, reaching for her wallet.
A woman in a white shirt and jacket hurries by, chats briefly with politicians, checks a coffee machine, and meanwhile, Maura Oerding serves coffee from a jug at two white plastic tables. This is part of her role as Co-Managing Director of Kaffeekoop GmbH, a social business start-up—or as she calls it, an “extended sales arm” for over 2,000 female coffee experts. Their coffee infuses the Berlin exhibition hall with its subtle roasted aroma.
This is what making the world a better place looks like – Oerding’s declared mission. Taking a brief break, she tucks her smartphone back into her bag. “We are a German-African company,” she says. Angelique's Finest is a private label produced by female coffee farmers from Rwanda and Uganda. These women don’t just pick the cherries; they oversee processing through to the final product. This “Strong Women – Strong Coffee” concept sets a powerful counterpoint to traditional practices.
“When I first examined the global coffee trade structure,” Oerding recalls, “the spoon dropped from my hand.” Since September 2024, she has co-led Kaffeekoop alongside Xaver Kitzinger. Their goal: accelerate growth after a successful market launch in 2018. “I want Angelique's Finest to expand so we can buy the entire harvest from our partner cooperatives.” Long-term vision?
“Our cooperative should be a leader in gender equality, social justice, and sustainability in the coffee industry.”
It’s an ambitious goal in a multi-billion-dollar industry. In Germany alone, each person drinks an average of 164 liters of coffee annually. Germany is also the largest exporter of processed coffee products. Yet, coffee plants don’t grow along Berlin’s Spree River. They thrive along the equator, supporting millions with their caffeine yield. But do these farmers truly thrive? “I don’t know if coffee and sugar are necessary for happiness in Europe,” the 18th-century philosopher Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre once wrote, “but I know that these products cause misery in two vast parts of the world.” He meant Africa and America, over 200 years ago. “It shocks me how little has changed since colonial times,” says Oerding. “In some cases, you could swap the word ‘colonial power’ with ‘corporate giant’ and see little difference.”
She aims to change that. With a degree in business administration, Oerding specializes in corporate and marketing strategy – not coffee. But she brings experience. Born in Leipzig and raised in Berlin, she filed her first patent as a student. “I stumbled on the issue of swallowing difficulties and found no simple solution for people who couldn’t tilt their heads to drink.” She tinkered, partnered with a patent attorney, and created a specialized drinking bottle. Other inventions followed. “I realized that the inventor world, like Duckburg’s Gyro Gearloose, was mostly male. Women held only 7% of patents in Germany.” Her solo inventor journey taught her resilience.
“In 2024, women made up 18% of German start-ups. Yet only 2% of European venture capital goes to women.”
Perseverance mattered as it does for the women behind Angelique's Finest. Her father spotted a LinkedIn job ad from Kaffeekoop. “I called right away. We spoke for an hour. There was a spark. I fell in love with the company.”
Coffee is a top global commodity. Beyond its taste and aroma, caffeine blocks adenosine, which signals rest, and amplifies dopamine, the “happiness hormone.” Coffee will remain popular, though climate change makes it pricier: lower yields, extreme weather, and unstable supply chains. At the chain’s start are often women and children—underpaid laborers picking cherries. Big profits go elsewhere. Many suffer, even starve—the bitter side of coffee enjoyment. Angelique's Finest flips the script. These women control production, roasting, packaging, and sales. “In 2023, this increased their income by up to 90%,” says Oerding. She values female networks—having built her own as a student—which ultimately led her to this venture. And now?
“Do, don’t talk,” she recalls Uncle Udo. “I want to open new markets and forge partnerships.”
Quality and traceability remain paramount. “We’re ready for real change.”
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A report by T. S. Jayne, A. Adelaja and R. Mkandawire
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A contribution by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
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A Campaign of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development
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A Contribution by Initiative für nachhaltige Agrarlieferketten (INA)
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A Contribution by Dr. Fatima Olanike Kareem and Dr. Olayinka Idowu Kareem
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New insights on trade and value addition in the rice sector in West Africa
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Organic cotton is extremely popular – but farmers still find it difficult to change their conventional cultivation methods. A new project addresses this dilemma: Bundesliga football teams in Germany are promoting the switch to organic cotton in India. And thereby setting an example.
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The consequences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine have enabled many countries to open up new export markets for their agricultural goods. However, smallholder farms have been largely left out. Drawing on his experience in India, our author gives a brief overview of how this can be changed.
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Allan Mubiru was standing in front of a shelf in Kigali, Rwanda, and discovered a local type of coffee. He took it, tasted it and was thrilled. A story about a grocery shopping trip that became the beginning of a successful business idea.
The Nyayo Tea Zones Development Corporation is committed to the preservation of forests in Kenya: The establishment of so-called buffer zones counteracts deforestation by planting trees and tea. In addition to the production of environmentally friendly tea, the project benefits the resources of the forests and the livelihoods of the communities living near the forests, says project manager Wallace Gichunge.
The demand for fair-trade cocoa is growing – but how is the industry responding? In an interview, Claudia Brück, Executive Board Member of Fairtrade Germany, and Dr. Torben Erbrath, Managing Director of the Federal Association of the German Confectionery Industry, discuss progress as well as challenges, and why real change can only be achieved through long-term commitment along the entire supply chain.
From January 9 to 11, 2025, heads of state and government of the African Union met in Kampala, Uganda. With a clear vision and concrete measures, the Kampala Agenda aims to make the continent's agricultural and food systems climate-resilient, fair and future-proof by 2035.
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