Nawal Al-Maghafi

Award-winning BBC Correspondent Nawal Al-Maghafi has been reporting on the Middle East since 2012. Over the past three years, she has been one of the few journalists conducting firsthand reporting of the ongoing conflict in Yemen; travelling extensively throughout the country, both in areas under Houthi and government control. Her reporting has documented the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Yemen, including the bombing, starvation and spread of disease across Yemen and she has been filming the impact COVID-19 has had on a country already battling the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Dr. Christophe Montagnon

Dr. Christophe Montagnon stands at the crossroads of various pathways; he works with both Research and Development projects, basic and applied science, with both the public and private sectors does so in both northern and southern countries. Dr Christophe Montagnon is a tropical crop expert combining recognized scientific skills together with long-term experience in research management and public private partnership. He founded ‘RD2 Vision’, a company connecting people for impactful R&D and Technology Transfer in tropical crops, for the benefit of growers and the whole value chain. As part of Qima’s R&D program, Dr. Montagnon has under took a vast project to map out Yemen’s genetic landscape.

Ahmad Al Muallim

The Director General of the National Centre for Coffee Research Improvement (NCCRI) in Yemen. Ahmad’s journey in the agricultural sector started 15 years ago when he travelled to Sudan to pursue studies in agronomy. Since then, he has been involved in multiple major projects and researches with many of the world’s biggest organisations such as The World Bank and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Ahmed is a plant breeding specialist and a national expert in genetic improvement and value chains of coffee. He has played vital roles in numerous coffee and climate change missions. Ahmed also plays an active part in development programmes aiming to develop the livelihoods of the rural Yemeni communities.

Jonathan Morris

Known as 'The Coffee Historian', Jonathan Morris is Research Professor in Modern European History at the University of Hertfordshire (UH). A historian of contemporary consumer society with a particular expertise in the history of coffee and modern Italy. Author of the book Coffee. A Global History, the European editor and contributor to the volume Coffee. A Comprehensive Guide to the Bean, the Beverage and the Industry, and directed the Cappuccino Conquests project on transnational history of Italian coffee.

Jonathan Morris is also a co-founder and leads the Heritage for Business (H4B) strand of the Heritage Hub, the Vice President of the Royal Historical Society and Chair of the RHS Research Committee.

Geoff Watts 

Geoff is a co-owner of Intelligentsia coffee and has spent most of the last 25 years devoted to coffee quality development at its primary source, working in close partnership with coffee producers around the world to establish lasting relations and engineer systems for uplifting quality.  His work has led to the introduction of concepts such as direct trade, seasonality and micro-lots to the specialty coffee vocabulary. He designed Intelligentsia’s rigorous standards for sourcing and quality control and his innovations in coffee sourcing and promotion have catalyzed advancement in coffee’s value and transparency standards globally. 

Watts is a graduate of the University of California Berkeley where he studied philosophy and music. He’s been an official judge in over 30 international coffee competitions and served as Board Chairman for both the Roasters Guild of America and The Alliance for Coffee Excellence. Over the past two decades he has volunteered hundreds of hours assisting coffee development programs in East Africa and South America. Currently he resides in Bogotá, Colombia. He loves coffee in all its forms almost as much as he loves music, which is to say:  wholeheartedly and without bounds.  

Ahmed Alshaiba

Ahmed is a musician born and raised in Yemen, living in New York. Completely self-taught he plays a mix of eastern and western-style music. He dazzles listeners with surprising and innovative covers of the most western and popular of musicians.⁠⁠

His first performance with the oud was in 2007. After playing on Woman’s National Day in 2009, he began getting invited to perform for numerous events in Yemen. His fame grew quickly, performing before audiences that included Hillary Clinton, the President of Turkey as well as the President of Yemen.⁠

He is on a mission to help the world appreciate one of the oldest and most beautiful musical instruments ever conceived.⁠

Fekri Al Muafa

Fekri Al Muafa is a national coordinator with the UNDP Yemen and works as a value chain expert in the private sector. He is certified by the International Value Link Association IVLA in Germany as an expert and trainer. Fekri has a wide range of experiences with 12 years in the agri and non agri business sectors. He is a coffee enthusiast and has participated in various coffee value chain studies in, and outside of, Yemen. His work in the coffee value chain started in 2009. Since then he has developed and supervised several coffee projects across multiple coffee regions in Yemen - linking different donors with international speciality markets.

Faris Sheibani

Born and raised in the UK, Faris frequently visited Yemen growing up, developing a strong connection to the country. Seeing the massive economic and social challenges Yemen faced, Faris gradually developed the ambition to improve the lives of his native Yemeni people.

After completing an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London and a Masters in Engineering and Management at the University of Cambridge, Faris worked in the Oil and gas sector for several years gaining experience in process engineering, business development and commodity trading. Faris planned to use his experience to develop Yemen’s energy infrastructure and offer basic power services to the country. In 2015, civil war broke out in Yemen and forced Faris to seek alternative ways to support Yemen. The search led Faris to working in Yemeni coffee, which he views as a fundamental part of Yemen's history, and a critical part of its post-conflict socioeconomic recovery. In 2016 Faris established Qima Coffee with the aim of generating sustainable livelihoods for Yemen's smallholder coffee producers through reestablishing Yemen as a renowned specialty coffee origin.

Darrin Daniel

Darrin Daniel serves as the Executive Director for both non-profits, the Alliance for Coffee Excellence and Cup of Excellence. Daniel’s began his career in specialty coffee in the ’80s working as a barista and later as a roaster’s assistant for the Eugene, Oregon roaster/retailer Coffee Corner, Ltd. His early work with illycaffè began his interest and growth into coffee education and training. Daniel’s was the Head Green Coffee Buyer for Stumptown Coffee Roasters and Director of Sourcing for Allegro Coffee/Whole Foods Market. He has served on the Sustainability Council for the SCA and the Executive Council for the Roasters Guild of America. He currently serves on the advisory board for Roast Magazine. Brandon Loper’s 2014 Documentary A Film About Coffee features Daniel’s travels to Rwanda as Head Coffee Buyer for Stumptown Coffee Roasters. His writings have appeared in Roast Magazine, SCA’s Magazine 25, Barista Magazine and Standart Magazine. Daniel’s previously served as a judge on 9 Cup of Excellence juries, beginning with his first in Honduras in 2005. In 2015 he was awarded Imbibe Magazine’s Coffee Person of the Year.