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Changing Lives One Coffee Bean at a Time

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Red Band Barista Academy, head-quartered in Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape, has recently received one of the highest measures of success in the coffee industry in South Africa.

The academy was announced the winner in the “Dedication to Education” category of the national Coffee Magazine Awards.

Selected out of over 1 200 nominations received by the Coffee Magazine Awards organisers from across South Africa, Red Band Barista Academy was initially shortlisted for the Dedication to Education category earlier this year. This was followed by a judging process where a panel of industry professionals and past winners decided on the winners of the 18 categories of the prestigious South African coffee awards.

Red Band Barista Academy Co-Founder Shaun Aupiais said winning the award was a wonderful surprise and a great affirmation of the work that they do in training baristas across South Africa and Uganda.

“We are very proud to be part of the bigger national coffee family. Our focus is the people – the love of the people and the fact that coffee can restore hope, bring people together, help people find their livelihood and what they want to do with their lives. In many cases, we find the barista training we offer to be a steppingstone to something even bigger for the baristas, and their families,” said Aupiais.

The Red Band Barista Academy, which was started in 2014, has an employment rate of over 90% of their barista graduates. “We have had amazing success from course-to-course, with almost everyone being employed. Sometimes their barista training skills open up other doors because a barista needs to have a certain personality. We have seen them flourish in many different roles – from entrepreneurship to sales and marketing in various industries such as retail and hospitality,” said Aupiais.

The successful placement of baristas by the Red Band Academy is partly because of the exceptional training they receive, and partly because of the strong industry partnerships and networks the academy has built up over the years.

The Red Band Barista Academy is a project of the Leva Foundation, a social upliftment not-for-profit organisation based in Gqeberha. Leva Foundation CEO, Ryan le Roux, said collaboration has been key in growing the academy – not only in South Africa, but also spreading to the rest of the continent.

“We have trained over 400 baristas across our academies, and in total we have five academies in South Africa and one in Uganda. We are looking for further opportunities all the time, and this award will definitely motivate us to do even more,” said Le Roux.

Creating work opportunities through coffee is an important focus of the academy, and in Cape Town the academy has been involved with barista training as part of a prison rehabilitation programme.

The academy also spread its wings to Uganda in 2018, with these barista graduates making a name for themselves in the region and becoming increasingly sought-after employees in Kuwait and Abu Dhabi.

“Training baristas is an incredibly rich and rewarding experience since it restores, revitalises and refreshes people’s lives by helping them find their purpose and passion. It is amazing to see the impact of coffee on the employment sector – that is why we have this saying: ‘a coffee bean changed my life’,” said Aupiais.

In August this year the Red Band Roasting Academy was established, to train unemployed youth in the art of coffee roasting. Already recognised by the national coffee industry, they were announced as one of the Top 10 winners of the Coffee Magazine’s national roasting competition, A Shot in the Dark.

Red Band Cafe
Shaun Aupiais (left) and Ryan le Roux from Red Band Barista Academy are excited about the national coffee award they received.

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Alan Straton

Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth. Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." See more articles by Alan.