The following is a story from our On Location Fall/Winter edition. Read the full newsletter.

We can get a family out of poverty in six years.
All it takes is coffee.

IM Global Consultant Mike Mann spent his childhood tagging along after his dad, an American Baptist missionary who helped the tribal people of northern Thailand replace opium crops with coffee farms in the 1960s and 70s.

Confident he would follow in his father’s footsteps, Mike earned degrees in agronomy and international agriculture. For seven years, Mike asked the church to put him to work. Every year, the answer was the same: We don’t have the money.

Finally, having graduated with his master’s degree in plant pathology, Mike got a letter from the Dole Corporation. Would he serve as their plant pathologist on the coast in southern Thailand?

Mike’s heart was still with the hill tribes, but how could he argue with the luxuries of a corporate job at the beach? The morning after the company’s offer, the church called at 6:00 a.m. The Swedish Baptists would support Mike in the Thai hill country if he would develop clean water projects.

And that’s how you start coffee:
With water.

Mike began overseeing gravity-fed water solutions. Before long, the village leaders asked for help with education, so construction started on schools. Then, they asked for health care, so Mike began erecting clinics.

Every time the village leaders brought a new problem, Mike said, “We don’t have the funding for it, but if people give, we’ll do it.” Money started trickling in from churches and caring individuals. By faith, each project moved from vision to reality.

With a foundation of clean water, education, and healthcare, the villagers now needed a source of income.

COULD COFFEE BE THE ANSWER?

THAI COFFEE HAD NO GLOBAL MARKET.

Mike knew that if you couldn’t find a solution, you had to build one. So he and our mission partners at the Integrated Tribal Development Foundation created Lanna Coffee. This retail company could buy coffee from the hill tribe farmers for a generous price and deliver it straight to your doorstep in the U.S. or Canada.

It was an ambitious project, but God had even grander plans for His people in northern Thailand.

Starbucks opened its first store in Thailand in 2003.
“They need to buy Thai coffee,” Mike thought, “but their general manager won’t give me the time of day.”

What if the general manager had a Thai secretary? Wouldn’t she be proud if Starbucks sold Thai coffee?

Mike approached the young woman in the outer office and shared his idea. “The general manager will give you five minutes,” she told him.

“You know what percentage of coffee Starbucks accepts?” the executive asked Mike after hearing his plan. “One. One percent. But if you want, I’ll forward your coffee to Seattle.”

MIKE SENT 10 SAMPLES. STARBUCKS PASSED THREE OF THEM.

Inspired by the story, Andrew Nathan, then Starbucks Thailand Managing Director, wanted to know more.

“Why don’t you see one of our coffee farms for yourself?” Mike asked and was floored when Nathan agreed. Mike drove up dirt roads and through pouring rain until the mud trapped them on the mountainside. “Andrew, I’m sorry,” Mike said, “you can either drive or drag the winch up the hill to the tree.”

Andrew Nathan promptly hopped out of the truck.

“I have lost this deal forever,” Mike thought as he watched the Managing Director of one of the world’s largest companies drag a winch up the muddy hill.

But once they were safely in the village, clean and dry, Andrew said, “This has been the best trip of my life. We’re going to buy your coffee.”

Two years later, Starbucks’ customers were drinking Thai coffee. They call it Muan Jai, which means “wholehearted happiness” in the northern Thai dialect. Starbucks also donates some of its profits to the Integrated Tribal Development Foundation.

As a result, they have built Christian schools and family farms that help keep young tribal people from being snared by the lure of quick money through sex trafficking.

People often ask Mike how to solve global poverty in an innovative and sustainable way. He says…

Real sustainability comes from knowing Jesus Christ and having faith in Him.
And good coffee never hurts.