1. When did you realise your passion for entering into the world of coffee?

I realised my love for our locally grown coffee ever since I was introduced to it by my late grandmother almost 25 years ago. Seven years ago I decided to venture into the Coffee business by starting a small café using locally grown coffee, initially I started from my own farm and then from neighbouring villages. I started with traditional pan roasting and got a small commercial coffee grinder and sold it in my café. The name of the café back then was Black & White Coffee Shop.

2. What helped you to get a strong foothold in this business?

The support from my family, husband, parents are the reason I took this step. Good feedbacks and reviews from friends helped me a lot in this journey.

3. Struggles/setbacks and how your persevered in it?

There are many things that I had to do to be able to prove myself to start up this business. I was working in SBI (State Bank of India) when I started this business and had to convince my family that I wanted to pursue my dream of going full time in Coffee business.

4. Things you like most about your profession?

I get to be creative, innovative and also get to work with coffee growers(farmers) from different villages across Meghalaya.

5. Major achievement and significant moment.

My most significant moment was the day I got to launch the first Coffee product and got positive feedback and support from friends and relatives.

6. Your belief about what it takes to be successful in any field.

Honesty in this field is very important, especially in any business.

7. Any advice for young entrepreneurs?

Don’t be scared to pursue your dreams. And when you think of finance, we have the PMEGP which is a loan from KVIC, India and also there are many crowdfunding websites. Write a good project and approach them.

-Dasumarline Majaw