Varsha

I grew up in India and later moved to Nepal, with a hope of a brighter future and a return to my homeland. Before starting BKC I was working as a teaching assistant with lovely colleagues, who were Godly people. Starting Black Kite Coffee was quite a mix of emotions: I was full of energy but also felt lots of nervousness and made many mistakes trying to successfully create something. I am a natural introvert but am slowly adapting to being a ‘front of house’ person and main point of contact, although I wouldn’t call myself an extrovert yet!

In our first year, I started to realize that starting a business was not easy. We (me and my husband) would start roasting early morning around 2 or 3am and then continue running the cafe till 7 pm. This was fine for a few months until one neighbor complained about the noise; we then had to change the roasting time to between 6 - 7am.

Meanwhile, as part of our team, Chris has been doing some of the accounting and ‘behind the scenes’ organising. He always comes up with great marketing ideas which we choose and then try out.

It has been great to meet new customers and get to know our regulars who love BKC coffee; my husband and I often have good conversations with them (often about coffee of course but also about other aspects of our lives!).

Coffee entrepreneurship is dominated mostly by men in Nepal. We are looking to change that and to improve the lives of Nepali women who might be struggling. Since opening in November 2024, we have provided one woman with barista training and had three interns; we now also have a young woman from our church who often helps us: She has been kind and supportive towards us and so we hope to support her as well. The BKC community is growing!

We have also faced one major challenge so far. The price of green beans has not been stable over the last year and so we are now planning to do ‘crop to cup.’ This involves buying beans directly from our own farmers and doing all the processing ourselves i.e., cutting out the middleman. Passion Ventures are helping us achieve this dream.

In the coming years, our plan is to see more woman working for and benefiting from BKC. Our desire is to be able to help marginalised women in Nepal: to train, encourage and possibly to have employment with us.

Chris

My early childhood was often spent in the fields and woods of the English countryside. Many years later, I now find myself in the troubled but beautiful country of Nepal. Having worked as a teacher and then as an environmental restoration manager in the UK, I am now in the privileged position to be supported by several UK churches to serve my fellow Christians here in Nepal.

Black Kite Coffee was dreamt up on a trek into the Annapurna Mountain range in 2021 and has become a reality thanks to Passion Ventures. We opened for business in November 2024 and so far, we’ve had encouraging sales and interest for customers, mainly in Pokhara and Kathmandu but also from many churches in the UK.

When in Nepal, my role is to support Varsha and her husband with the day-to-day running of the business: that could involve going to buy ingredients, serving customers or delivering orders. I also bring project management experience to bare and will therefore often think strategically about how we might progress as a business, as well as helping to set up systems, like our accounts.

More about Black Kite Coffee

There have been many highlights in our first year. As a team, we can see each other developing as business owners, each with their own particular strengths, whether it be chatting with new customers, working alongside our trainees or making our coffee in the best possible way. It has been a stressful but also incredible experience seeing all our ideas become a reality: finalizing a striking new brand, figuring out how to roast great coffee and turning a pink, empty shop space into a contemporary cafe space that our customers love. We have learned a huge amount in the process! Our dream now is that BKC becomes a fully successful family business in 2026 and helps many Nepali women and farming communities to move from the margins into dignifying work.