Will Google And Other Silicon Valley Companies Sustain The Latino Startup That Has Supplied Them With Coffee?

Intuit responded first to help Progeny Coffee through the Pandemic, but other Silicon Valley companies can also lend a big hand

Not long ago, Maria Palacio, CEO and co-founder of Palo Alto-based Progeny Coffee, a company that sources coffee from her native country Colombia, was enjoying the fruits of her labor. She has also gone into labor, giving birth her daughter Sky, the second child in her progeny. On the business front, she had contracts with a growing cadre of companies in Silicon Valley and San Francisco, bringing thousands of employees at Google, Salesforce, Microsoft, Stripe, and Intuit the brew that kept them alert and happy. She had scaled her business with a B2B model that seemed unstoppable, and had begun leveraging the connections she made as a student at the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative (SLEI).

The immediate challenges

Then the bean hit the fan. Since March 19, the day California announced shelter-in-place, sales at Progeny plummeted 97%. It’s consistent with the numbers compiled by SLEI, a collaboration between the non-profit Latino Business Action Network (LBAN) and the Stanford Graduate School of Business. LBAN has a portal that it has been using to mobilize and inform its 584 SLEI-Ed alumni. Just days ago, it released a brief study of how Latino business owners (LBOs) are faring during the pandemic. The most alarming statistic: 86% of SLEI alumni reported “immediate negative effects of COVID-19, including loss of revenue, complete closure, loss of clients and client engagement, layoffs (including contractors and employee furloughs), and project delays or postponement.” Of greater concern: the “majority of respondents (65%) report they will not be able to operate past six months if current restrictions persist.”

And then there’s the challenge of getting government support from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), not because of language barriers, but because of deficiencies and lack of transparency in the PPP, a reality that has hit LBOs especially hard, according to Mark Madrid, CEO of LBAN. And when it comes to customers of LBOs, many have simply stopped paying their bills.

“An alarm bell that needs to be sounded is many of our certified Latino entrepreneurs have receivables with Fortune 500 corporate America,” said Madrid. “They have not been paid. This is a problem and a huge disappointment. We are looking for the bright spots, which have been few and far between. We will be championing those who honor their payables, especially during a time when our small businesses are fighting for their lives and the jobs of their employees.”

An immodest proposal: help employees buy directly from Progeny

When I spoke with Palacio yesterday, she had especially kind words for one of her customers: Intuit, which recently helped Progeny launch a campaign to raise money to support the farmers that grow the coffee beans in Colombia.

“Progeny is more than just coffee, it’s a movement. Their mission is to bring Colombian coffee farmers out of poverty and improve lives one bean at a time” said a representative for Intuit QuickBooks on a community page in Facebook. Two things came to mind as I spoke with Palacio. First, it makes sense that Intuit would be lending support to Progeny, a small business, as well as its farmers, which are also small businesses. Intuit’s global market comprises millions of small-business customers throughout the world, helping them professionalize their operations and making them more competitive. But they are not alone: Google, Salesforce, Microsoft, and Stripe — Progeny customers — all trade on the brand promise of leveling the playing field for the many small businesses that power modern civilization. They too could get involved.

The question is how. What I really find interesting about the Intuit Facebook quote is the use of the word “movement.” Any good marketer will tell you: a movement is not possible without a community that has a compelling common purpose, and that is supported by a system that can scale engagement.

Let’s think about this: the compelling common purpose is to continue supporting important business partners — Progeny and its farmers — that served you in better days. The system for scale: a light but coordinated effort to enable employees to buy their coffee directly from Progeny. Go to the Progeny Web site: there you will find assortment of specialty coffee beans, fruity and naturally sweetened blends that have become popular in Silicon Valley cafeterias. Rodrigo Alberto Pelaez’s “El Natural,” with touches of maple syrup, honey, and grape. Elmer Restrepo’s “Jefe” (chocolate, caramel, and cloves). Julio Arboleda’s “Bondad” (herbs, vanilla, and caramel). And what if these and other items were listed in a menu for a virtual cafeteria, serving all employees at Silicon Valley companies who will continue working from home after the pandemic subsides. That, amigo, would be a movement, and one that I could get behind.