John Chaklader ’03 and Michael Tringali ’04 will be at The Barge Canal Coffee Co. on Thursday to talk about their new enterprise, the Shapna Project.
Shapna’s mission is to “eradicate poverty one village at a time at home and abroad” using sustainable practices in the sale of tea and coffee.
The project is an equity-based model that sells tea grown in Bangladesh and coffee grown in Uganda by farmers who have partnered with Shapna in hopes of improving their economic status.
In addition to paying fair trade prices, the company reinvests 40 percent of its profits back into projects that promote sustainable community empowerment.
“Twenty percent gets reinvested into the villages that are growing the produce, and twenty percent gets reinvested into the communities in which it’s consumed,” Chaklader explained.
As CEO of Shapna, Chaklader has assembled a team of almost 30 people, including Tringali, who signed on as sales coordinator.
Shapna coffee and tea is currently being sold at The Barge by the cup or by the bag. Twenty percent of each sale will be reinvested in Hamilton with the other 20 percent invested abroad.
Earthman Embassy and several other musicians will provide music during Thursday’s kick-off event, which runs from 5 to 8 p.m. Shapna coffee and tea will be served free to those in attendance.
Some current students are looking to expand Shapna’s presence on campus by bringing Shapna tea and coffee to the university dining halls.
Look for a profile of the two Colgate alumni in the spring edition of The Colgate Scene. You also can learn more about their project here.