Guest Profile
David Gaines
As head of La Terza Coffee, I have firsthand experience testing and exploring the vast possibilities of Social Enterprise. On a global scale, coffee is one of the worst industries for workers, many of whom are paid unfairly, or are forced to work without wages. The team and I at La Terza have made a concentrated effort to reject this system by buying coffee through sources that guarantee a living wage for their employees. What I’ve come to realize is changing the working conditions of your average coffee farmer is only the first step towards fixing some of the negative narratives that plague our current economic system.
If we can improve the working conditions of coffee growers around the world, how can we do this in other industries? I see a new type of business model where we can not only better the lives of people we source from, but also the lives of our employees, customers, and even our competition.