FRAN CLEMENS
Daniel Kemdeng Djoumessi was one of our very first 10 George Street residents and now, three years later, is the exclusive coffee provider for Vertus. Let’s take a look back at his inspiring story…
Daniel was born and raised in a small village called Njindoun, in the rural west of Cameroon where his parents were farmers. Beginning his work on the farm when he was five years old, Daniel also studied at the local school, his father being an advocate in the community for education. He would say “education is one of the best weapons against poverty”, setting an example of sending his children to school in an area with very little access to education.
In 2001, Daniel benefited from his community’s solidarity pipeline, a local program where families came together every few years to help sponsor a child in the community who showed academic promise and leadership qualities needed to later contribute to the development of the community. This program ultimately helped Daniel get sponsored for a visa to France to study, later graduating with a Master of Science in Engineering and an MBA in Finance.
When Daniel’s father passed away in 2012, he decided to continue his legacy and fighting against poverty became his purpose in life. Daniel began by providing scholarships to the best performing students in his community, supporting local hospitals by providing equipment and setting up new projects to help reduce poverty in the area.
Then in 2017, Daniel began the business of coffee. In 2017 he started renewing coffee trees in his family farms and supporting local farmers by helping them develop their own small farms and setup a factory within the community to process the coffee they produced. This has helped to ensure better revenues for women and men in the community, creating a great social and environmental impact.
Daniel has since set-up the AFRICA COFFEE TRADING LTD and coffee brand Amero producing specialty coffee (100% arabica, organic) from the farms in Cameroon. The green coffee beans are then roasted in London and will were made available to all Vertus residents in the on-site coffee machines across 10 George Street, 8 Water Street and Newfoundland for the Vertus+ launch weekend (Friday 26th May to Sunday 28th May) onwards.