Suke Quto

Tesfaye Bekele founded Suke Quto in 2000 in the aftermath of a series of wildfires in the forests of Guji, Ethiopia. At the time, he was working for Ethiopia's national forestry service. Witnessing residents of the area replanting razed forestland with monoculture crops like corn and teff, he began campaigning for coffee as an alternative—a native species that could be cultivated as a cash crop but still grown under semi-forested conditions. (The name "Suke Quto" refers to two species of indigenous trees still found on the farm.) 

Initially Tesfaye's efforts were met with reluctance. Guji, historically, was known for its mineral resources and its livestock but it was not a recognized coffee origin, and given that newly planted coffee requires several years to become productive, it was not seen as a well-proven investment. Seeing this he started a demonstration farm, a plant nursery, and ultimately two washing stations both to encourage farmers in the area to adopt coffee agroforestry and to support them in bringing their coffees to market.