The Koperasi Pedagang Kopi Ketiara is a women-run cooperative that has over 890 grower-members who cultivate coffee on more than 830 hectares of land. The Ketiara Cooperative was started in 2008 by Ibu Rahmah, the current chairwoman, who had operated and managed her family’s coffee business for 20 years--purchasing cherries, processing the green, and selling to local traders. The passionate commitment of the co-op’s women managers to have all members working together in support of coffee production has enabled Ketiara to expand and become an important supplier to larger coffee traders in Medan, the capital of North Sumatra.

After much discussion, the cooperative members voted to become organic and Fairtrade certified in 2012, making a commitment to use these proceeds to create programs for health, education, and public infrastructure projects that will benefit all co-op members.