cof-fee

coffee: (n) a beverage consisting of a decoction or infusion of the roasted ground or crushed seeds (coffee beans) of the two-seeded fruit (coffee berry) of certain coffee trees.

Last summer I spent 3 months living and working in La Union, Lempira, Honduras. This is a very small village in the mountains of Honduras. I worked as part of the 2009 Honduras Research Team. The research we did is now being applied to microfinance. Microfinance: a means of extending credit, usually in the form of small loans with no collateral, to nontraditional borrowers such as the poor in rural or undeveloped areas. 4 of the members of our team are now leaders and founders of Union MicroFinanza, a microfinance non-profit organization that serves the La Union municipality.

Some of the money for these loans is being raised through coffee. Why coffee? A large percentage of the residents of La Union are coffee farmers and depend on the sale of their coffee for income, however small. Union MicroFinanza also serves these farmers with loans so that farmers may buy fertilizer, land or seed to increase their yield. How it works: UMF buys coffee from the farmers, the coffee is sold in the US for a profit, all profit made is redistributed as loans to the farmers.

Patrick, director of operations, has written a guest blog post here about Micro Loan Coffee.
http://healthnut-em.blogspot.com/2010/03/guest-post-coffee-revolution-giveaway.html
You can also visit their website for more information.
http://www.unionmicrofinanza.com/umf/