Original Story Published by: Laurie Schreiber, www.mainebiz.biz
Photo Source: Courtesy Mbingo Mountain Coffee
Central Maine Growth Council and KV Connect recently presented their 2023 "Emerging Leader of the Year" award to Churchill Elangwe-Preston, founder of Mbingo Mountain Coffee, a micro roasting company in Waterville.
Founded in 2022, Mbingo Mountain Coffee roasts and supplies freshly roasted ground and whole coffee beans, wholesale and retail. Its beans are sustainably and ethically sourced from 22 "smallholder" coffee growers in Ethiopia, Rwanda and Uganda. Most of its growers have fewer than 300 coffee trees.
Elangwe-Preston is an electrical engineer who wanted to connect his current community with his community and farming background in Cameroon.
His approach “not only bolsters Waterville's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem but also forges connections between Maine and coffee-growing regions across the globe,” said Sabrina Jandreau, the council’s development coordinator and KV Connect chair.
Said Elangwe-Preston, “It's not just about the beans; it's about the stories, the livelihoods and the shared love for this incredible beverage.”
Elangwe-Preston moved to Maine from West Africa 20 years ago and earned an engineering degree. As a quality assurance manager for a local company, he emphasized the importance of creating a product consistently of high quality, a standard he extends to his coffee roasting business.
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