Arthur Karuletwa

Arthur Karuletwa

Global Director of Traceability, Starbucks, Seattle


Preserving Identity Through Coffee Traceability

Arthur Karuletwa is a native of Rwanda, but lived as a refugee in Uganda and Kenya in the 1990’s. Today, he sees coffee as a source of healing and empowerment, and has developed a program to trace coffee beans from the point of origin through the supply chain.

In surviving the horrific genocide of his people and murder of his family, Karuletwa was stripped of his identity. As an immigrant in America, he has dedicated his life to preserving the identity of others. Waging a war on poverty through agriculture and traceability, Karuletwa points to our food and drink as a reflection of our identity and culture, something we must understand to better act as agents of global development.

 

To stay up to date on everything MAD, follow us on Instagram and sign up for our newsletter below.



Related videos

Why Is What You Do Important?

Vincent Hendricks

Vincent Hendricks is a professor of Formal Philosophy at the University of Copenhagen. On stage at the sixth MAD Symposium, Hendricks argues that restaurants need to harness their power and take on responsibility beyond serving food.

Jay Fai's Famous Crab Omelet

Jay Fai

Jay Fai, with her signature oversized goggles that protect her from grease, opened the stage of the sixth MAD Symposium, demonstrating live how to make her famous crab omelet.

Conducting the Kitchen

Randi Beier-Holgersen, Ture Larsen

At the sixth MAD Symposium, composer Ture Larsen and surgeon Randi Beier-Holgersen introduce their research on utilizing the non-verbal communication skills of conductors as an educative tool for leaders in other fields.