Fitsum Bekere is a seasoned coffee professional with deep experience across Ethiopia’s coffee value chain, from advising international organizations to hands-on production, processing, and export. Together with his wife, Lensa Gari, he founded Sweet Plus Coffee with a clear mission to prioritize quality, traceability, sustainability, and direct relationships between producers and international roasters.
Lensa Gari Station works with approximately 200 smallholder farmers in the Guji region, providing them with reliable market access and a transparent pricing structure through direct trade. By maintaining control over processing and export, Fitsum and Lensa ensure that quality premiums translate into better incomes for farming families. Farmers benefit from close collaboration, clear feedback, and long-term relationships that go beyond single harvests. This model strengthens local livelihoods while enabling producers to participate more equitably in the specialty coffee market.