LISC LA Celebrates National Small Business Week: Terry Montgomery on Creating Community Through Coffee

5.07.2021 — LISC StoriesEconomic Development

Not many small businesses in Los Angeles give back to international communities as well as local ones.

Terry Montgomery, the founder and CEO of Royal Buna Coffee, has managed to do just that.

Royal Buna Coffee provides a coffee experience with beans that are directly sourced from Ethiopia. Buna is the original word for coffee bean in Ethiopian, and Terry says his experience on a mission trip made him realize that the best way to have a lasting positive impact is through a sustainable business model. This was formative in inspiring his community investment “Profit for Purpose” business model.

“Another interesting thing that really got me motivated was the fact that, while Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee and the fifth largest coffee producing country in the world, they only have three percent of the market share,” said Terry. “I saw it as a challenge and as an opportunity, so I decided to name it Royal Buna.”

When the pandemic began, Terry realized that in order to continue investing in communities locally and abroad, Royal Buna would need some temporary support. At the recommendation of Frank Stokes, founder of Business Entrepreneurial Stewardship Training, Terry turned to Kiva, a microlending platform dedicated to connecting small businesses to investor networks. Terry, who had invested in other small businesses through Kiva prior to 2020, saw an opportunity to find the necessary funding to sustain Royal Buna during the economic difficulties posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Shortly after, LISC LA doubled Terry’s initial loan through our Kiva Accelerator Fund, a $1 to $1 matching program in partnership with Kiva that works to serve small businesses across Los Angeles.

“We were able to use that $6,500 to continue buying our product, our inventory, packaging, and just really keep the business going,” he said. “The Kiva loan helped us sustain, it helped us grow, it helped us modify our marketing, and now we're in a position to go to phase two which is opening up coffee shops.”

This week is National Small Business Week, and LISC LA is proud to celebrate the work of businesses like Terry’s – businesses that bring meaning to the contributions of Kiva and its network of lenders by reinvesting those loans in communities near and far.

Now that Royal Buna Coffee has weathered the pandemic and things are looking up financially, Terry is thrilled to begin expansion. As of this month, his products are now available on Amazon Prime, and he is working to launch a flagship coffee shop franchise converted from shipping containers in Houston, Texas, all while remaining committed to the origins of his company and creating jobs and business opportunities for people of color.

“We are looking at launching our first coffee shop, which is called Kaffa Crema Roastery – Kaffa is the village where coffee was discovered in Ethiopia,” Terry said. “So I’m making sure, as the brand grows, that it is synonymous with Ethiopia.”

As Royal Buna continues to grow, the positive impact is tangible in the villages where the idea was born – Terry and his partners are committed to dealing directly with coffee farmers in Ethiopia in order to give them a market value for their product. Beyond this direct investment, he remains committed to community development work abroad, and is funding a home for women and girls experiencing homelessness in the local village where he made his first trip.

“We believe in social impact, so not only are we providing jobs and hiring consultants in the community who are also small businesses, but we are also going to be able to invest and create jobs in communities here and in Africa,” he said.

LISC LA is thankful for Terry’s commitment to the local and international community, and is proud to support small businesses like his through our Kiva Accelerator program.

“We go to our local coffee shops, and we purchase it and we drink it, but there's a tremendous story behind each cup that you drink,” he said. “I wanted to establish a brand that was synonymous with the story and the elegance of how coffee got started in the first place.”

To learn more or support Terry’s small business, visit Royal Buna Coffee here.

LISC LA Celebrates National Small Business Week: Terry Montgomery on Creating Community Through Coffee

Related Stories