Bringing great coffee to independent businesses
University of Strathclyde alumni Javier Gutiérrez Abril, MSc Finance, blended his engineering and finance knowledge with his passion for great coffee. On December 2017, Javier registered Caribbean Goods Ltd. – a Scotland-based importer and distributor of green coffee from Guatemala.
Because green coffee importers are often found in big cities and sell coffee in large units, independent coffee roasters in remote areas have difficulty affording and selecting the coffee beans for roasting. By being based in the north of the UK, Caribbean Goods lowers shipping costs for northern coffee roasters. The company also provides coffee beans in quantities that are half the size of the standard industry unit, and they source an exotic and unique selection of green coffee. These slight but important modifications help small and medium-sized coffee roasters access high-quality green coffee from Guatemala – one of the top specialty coffee-producing countries in the world.
The University of Strathclyde helped Javier navigate the process of setting up a company in a foreign country – including guidance on international trade and the sale of goods, and requirements of the food industries in the United Kingdom and Guatemala – as well as supporting Javier with an entrepreneurship visa one month before his graduation.
Javier’s goal is to become the UK’s most prominent importer of green coffee from the Caribbean Region – and to continue to bring great coffee to small and medium-sized businesses in Glasgow and the rest of Scotland.
