Esther-Hope Gibbs
At 14 years old, Esther secured her first job in a local café. Surrounded by the sights, sounds, and smells of arabica, robusta and liberica, she’s been hooked on coffee ever since.
Over the course of her 15-year career, she’s worked full-time in coffee shops, in management positions and as a director and head of coffee at Manumit Coffee Roastery.
It was in this latest role where she began to develop a special relationship with Cardiff Business School.
As Esther recalls: “We first met Rachel Ashworth and Jean Jenkins in 2017 when they came to visit our roastery to find out more about our business.
“Since then, we’ve had a strong connection both in a business and an ethical sense.”
Dignity and hope
Manumit Coffee is a social business that offers dignity and hope to survivors of modern slavery through training and employment.
Their coffee is roasted by men and women who have suffered horrendous exploitation at the hands of traffickers and modern slave traders but are now rebuilding their lives.
At their Cardiff-based roastery they produce excellent coffee that combats modern slavery on 3 levels:
- Sourcing speciality coffee beans from ethical, slavery free suppliers.
- Training and employing survivors of modern slavery as coffee roasters.
- Investing all profits in local and international anti-slavery projects.
2019 saw Esther embark on a new venture - Hope Espresso. Deploying her skills as an AST trainer, a licensed Q Grader and SCA certified barista, in brewing, roasting, and sensory coffee skills, Esther’s social enterprise aims to connect people through the coffee industry, from crop to cup. She works to curate transparent supply chains, connecting multiple businesses to coffee growers directly, facilitating over 1000 tonnes of ethical coffee into people’s cups.
“Coffee should be a product that empowers people all the way through the supply chain and no-one is exploited, it should be given that farmers are paid enough to not only cover costs and living costs, but make a profit too, this gives me a unique and anthropological perspective on coffee training and business growth.”
Activities with Cardiff Business School
Esther has put her professional and academic expertise into practice by running workshops and giving talks on modern slavery, social enterprises, the colonial history of coffee trade and supply chains in the School.
Working closely with Dr Carolyn Strong, she challenged undergraduates in the BSc Business Management (Marketing) programme to create a sample pack for coffee shops and office spaces with information about Manumit. Manumit has since implemented some of the strategies developed by the students.
Esther has mentored students on the Hodge Foundation Responsible Enterprise Programme. She has also been a mentor on the Help to Grow programme at Cardiff Business School, supporting senior managers of small and medium-sized businesses to enhance their performance, resilience, and long-term growth.
Esther has also partaken in research for various PHD’s regarding sustainability, social enterprise and human trafficking.
