Netsanet Sori has traded the highlands of Ethiopia for the windswept islands of Shetland, but she has not left her coffee behind. The former Addis Ababa resident now runs a venture from her new Scottish home, importing Ethiopian beans to an archipelago where the beverage has traditionally meant instant granules and loyalty to strong black brews. Her move, completed over recent months, signals a growing pattern of diaspora entrepreneurs using personal connections to source markets far from their origin countries.
The Journey from Ethiopia to Scotland's Edge
Sori arrived in Shetland with no background in international trade. She spent three years working in the hospitality sector in Addis Ababa, where she developed an appreciation for the coffee culture that defines daily life in the Ethiopian capital. "The way people here drink coffee is different," she told local reporters in Lerwick. "Back home, it is a ceremony. Here, I think people are ready to learn what that means."
Shetland, a chain of more than 100 islands north of mainland Scotland, has historically imported most of its consumer goods through supply chains that bypass direct producer relationships. Specialty coffee has been slow to arrive. A single café in Lerwick had previously stocked Ethiopian beans, but the stock sold out within weeks and was never replenished.
The isolation that defines Shetland's geography has always created logistical challenges for importers. Getting goods from the UK mainland requires ferry crossings that can be disrupted by North Sea weather. For perishable products like coffee, this adds a layer of complexity that many suppliers are reluctant to manage.
What the Numbers Show
Ethiopia exported approximately 280,000 metric tonnes of coffee in the most recent trading year, making it Africa's largest coffee producer and one of the top three exporters globally. The United Kingdom imported around 95,000 tonnes of coffee annually, with specialty and single-origin products representing a growing segment of that volume.
UK consumers spent roughly £1.2 billion on coffee from retail outlets last year, and that figure does not include the café market, which adds another substantial layer. The specialty segment has expanded by an estimated 8 percent annually over the past five years, driven by younger consumers who seek information about origin, processing method, and farmer relationships.
Sori is targeting that segment. She sources directly from a cooperative in the Yirgacheffe region, cutting out intermediary traders that typically handle Ethiopian exports. The cooperative, which comprises 34 smallholder farmers, receives a price that exceeds the commodity market benchmark by 15 to 20 percent, a premium that funds infrastructure improvements in their community.
The Economics of Direct Trade
Direct trade arrangements like the one Sori has established challenge the traditional model where coffee passes through multiple hands before reaching a consumer. A typical shipment moves from farmer to washing station, then to an exporter, then to an importer, then to a roaster, and finally to a retailer. Each step adds margin.
Sori's model compresses that chain. She works with the cooperative to arrange shipping through Djibouti, across the Indian Ocean to Felixstowe, and then north to Lerwick. The freight cost adds roughly 22 percent to the landed price compared with standard supply routes, but eliminating intermediary margins keeps her retail price competitive with supermarket alternatives.
The approach is not without risk. Currency fluctuations between the Ethiopian birr and sterling can erode margins quickly. She hedges some exposure by pricing in sterling and requiring payment before shipment, but she acknowledges that a sharp birr appreciation would force her to either absorb the cost or pass it to customers.
The Shetland Market Opportunity
Shetland's population of approximately 23,000 people is small by any standard, but it includes a disproportionate number of professionals, educators, and public sector workers who have lived abroad and developed cosmopolitan tastes. The islands receive around 50,000 tourists each summer, a figure that Swire Restaurants, which operates several hospitality venues in Lerwick, has identified as a key market for premium offerings.
Three independent cafés have expressed interest in stocking Sori's beans. The largest, a family-run operation established in 2008, currently purchases from a distributor based in Edinburgh. The owner said switching would require a minimum order of 15 kilograms, a commitment that felt significant before Sori offered a trial consignment of five kilograms with flexible restocking terms.
The initial trial runs until the end of February. If sales meet targets, the agreement converts to a standing order. That deadline is what Sori calls her "first real test."
What This Means for Ethiopian Exporters
Ethiopia's coffee sector has long relied on commodity buyers and auction systems that limit producer visibility into final markets. Sori's model, while modest in scale, demonstrates how direct relationships can work even for small-volume buyers located far from traditional trade routes.
The Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority has encouraged diversification of export destinations in recent years, with officials pointing to the United Kingdom as an underserved market where premium positioning could yield better returns than the bulk commodity channels that dominate sales to Germany, Japan, and the United States.
Three other Ethiopian entrepreneurs have launched similar ventures in the past 18 months, targeting markets in the Netherlands, Canada, and New Zealand. None operate at scale, but collectively they represent an emerging pattern that trade analysts are watching.
What Comes Next
Sori has applied for a licence to export directly from Ethiopia, a designation that would allow her to handle customs documentation herself rather than relying on a freight forwarder. The application is under review at the ministry responsible for trade facilitation. If approved, she estimates her per-kilogram costs would fall by 8 percent, enough to offer volume discounts without sacrificing margins.
She is also in discussions with a supplier in Aberdeen about establishing a mainland distribution point, which would solve the weather-related ferry reliability problem that has deterred other Shetland-based importers from pursuing specialty goods. That conversation has a deadline of March.
The next four weeks will determine whether this venture survives its first real market test. The outcome will be watched not just in Lerwick, but by cooperatives in Yirgacheffe who are counting on regular orders to sustain the infrastructure investments they have made.
See Also
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