Café au Light
  • Home
  • About us
  • img

    CAFÉ AU LIGHT

    We are a group of passionate people aiming to bring sustainable development to Africa, improving common people lives.

Our mission

Our mission is to provide clean, affordable and convenient energy, water and internet access to people in Africa. This access to energy shall contribute to a rapid and effective social and economical development to the communities where we operate.

Why coffee?

Coffee is an agricultural product very common in Guinea and we have customers in Europe that can buy in large quantities.

Why Guinea?

Guinea is a country plenty of potential, stable and with very well educated people. Udecom university is our pillar here.

Why Electricity?

Rural areas lack electricity. Even in cities quality is not good. Clean, affordable and convenient supply is desired by population.

Why Develop?

We aim to make a business with reasonable profit, helping rural communities to improve their quality of life.

We are unique

Our business model is creating a new paradigm for social and economical development in Africa

Agribusiness

We trade with agricultural products from Africa and selling directly in Europe, optimizing the supply chain and avoiding waste.

Direct contact to farmers

We have signed agreements with individual farmers and helping them to constitute agricultural cooperatives.

Coffee factory

To enable exporting product quality in large volume, we have a coffee processing factory with 1 ton/hour processing capacity.

Electrification

Part of the revenue generated from coffee trading will be reinvested in minigrids to provide electricity to rural population.

Our team

We are a group of passionate professionals in the field of renewable energy, agriculture and rural development

img

Dr. Malo is responsible for CALIG as Managing Director of the Guinean Company. Dr. Malo is a researcher, professor and holder since 1985 of a Ph.D. from Lomonosov University of the former USSR. He has personally contributed to the fight against Ebola by organizing on his own funds, a series of trans-African conferences in 8 countries of West Africa around the danger represented by viruses at the root of emerging diseases. He is a member of the Academy of Sciences of New York and was a member of the ethnopharmacological society of France. He was the founder of the Canadian Institute of Tropical Natural Products (ICAPRONAT) at the University of Ottawa from 1998 to 2006. Founding member of the Network of Francophone Laboratories (FRANCOLAB) specialized in research and quality control of food and agricultural products, he is the founder of the Laboratory of Natural Compounds of Guinea in 1985 , and the founding President of the Canadian Phytomedicine Company. He is Founding President and Chancellor of the University for Community Development of Guinea UDECOM and the IFPT Training Institute of N'Zérékoré. He is the inventor of the first Guinean palm oil extraction machine. He created for 5 years, ``Laboratoires d'Alicament - Malo Canada Inc., of which he is the president. He is a member of Chefaide, an international self-help organization. He initiated the Project Café au Light, aiming to develop small farmers local production to improve quality of life in rural areas.

Dr. Nianga Maló Partner
img

Antonio is responsible for CALE as Managing Director of the Spanish Company.<br />Antonio holds a PhD in Mining Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Madrid, Executive Master in Sales and Marketing from Instituto de Empresa and an Executive Master in Engineering Management from The University of Manchester. Prior to founding Café au Light, Antonio founded Cleanergetic in 2012. Cleanergetic is an independent engineering consulting firm specialized in photovoltaic energy. Cleanergetic provides a complete package of technical advisory and project management services for Owners, Investors, Lenders and Developers. Before Cleanergetic, Antonio worked in BP Solar for 15 years with different technical positions: Global Engineering, O&M and Service Quality Director, European Engineering Manager and Product Manager among others. During his Global roles, Antonio took responsibility of Engineering operations in BP Solar with teams in India, Australia, Germany, the US, etc., totaling 40 engineers. His more than 25 years of professional experience allowed him to held positions at different companies in the world of energy such as Iberdrola and Powertec, with specialization in Electrical Energy, Energy Storage in different technologies, Energy Efficiency, Smart Grids, Cogeneration and Heat Pumps.

Antonio Bautista Partner
img

Carlos is responsible for CALIG & CALE Capital raising (Debt or Equity).<br />Carlos holds a BA in Economics with MA in Development Economics at Univ. Autonoma of Madrid. MA in International Trade & Investments by the Madrid Chamber of Industry and Commerce.<br />Prior to founding Aurea, Carlos held different managerial positions at Triodos Bank NV Group as member of the management committee of Triodos Bank in Spain from 2005 until 2009, when he was appointed Deputy Managing Director of Triodos Investment Management responsible for the investments and portfolio management in Spain, France and Italy, responsible of a total equity investment portfolio of EUR 170 million with an enterprise value of EUR 1.0bn.<br />Before Triodos Group, Carlos was Country Manager for Spain, Portugal and Romania at the Council of Europe Development Bank in Paris, where he managed a loan portfolio of EUR 1.5 bn in infrastructure sectors, lending to governments and banks. <br />His more than 25 years of professional experience allowed him to held positions at PWC Corporate Finance, European Commission in Brussels, Idom Engineering and Consulting and the United Nations, advising Governments and private investors in Central & Eastern Europe, former CIS and Latin-American countries.

Carlos Bendito Partner from Aurea Capital Partners
img

Mr. Thea graduated from the Faculté des lettres et Sciences Humaines á l'Université Gamal in Conakry obtaining a Master’s degree in Territory Planning. Mr. Thea was elected in 2018 Mayor of the Rural Commune of Samoé where CALIG factory is based. That community includes 40 villages where CALIG starts operations procuring dry cherries for processing into Green Coffee Beans for export. In parallel he is part of UDECOM’s University as Director of the Support Center for the Promotion of Entrepreneurship (CAPE). From 2016 to 2018 Mr. Thea was President of the Special Delegation to lead the activities of the rural municipality of Samoé. Previously from Mr. Thea had several positions in the “Societé Civile” organization, in the NGO “Pride Guinée”, Chairman of the village committee of the Ebola response in the Samoé sub-prefecture, Researcher on behalf of INSUCO for the socio-economic study in the villages around Mount Yönö and the villages located in the area of the railway (Guinea-Liberia), Researcher for food security targeting the villages in the Préfecturede N'Zérékoré, Secretary of the Joint Committee between the Italian Caritas and the Diocese of N'Zérékoré and responsible of the projects of the forest area within the Fuoguired (Italian Guinean Fund for the Conversion of the Debt)

Daniel Thea Advisory Board - Relationship with local communities
img

Mr. Maniga is coordinating the factory operations in NZerekore. He is an electrical engineer with wide experience in construction, installation and coffee manufacturing. Mr. Maniga has an excellent understanding of electrical and electronical systems, and good understanding of mechanical systems. He is a resonsible person able to learn and work and lead teams. He has previous experience in UDECOM, EDG, SOGUIPAH.

Moïse Maniga Manufacturing Coordinator
img

Mr. Saoulomou is coordinating logistics and export operations in Café au Light Guinée. Mr. Richard has been responsible of the civil work team during the construction of our factory in NZerekore. He is electronics engineer and has perfect understanding of computing tools, databases, and office tools.

Richard Saoulomou Operations Coordinator
img

Mr. Loua is the procurement coordinator in Café au Light, responsible to get product in cuantity and quality to the factory. He has also responsability to develop best practices among farmers to get the right incoming quality and negotiating price and conditions with farmers. In general he manages farmers relationship. Mr. Loua is Technical Agent in Agriculture from Macenta's national agricultural school, and he has been administrative secreatry of the Association of coffee and cacao farmers in NZerekoré.

Théophile Loua Procurement Coordinator
img

Mr. Loua is responsible for farmers development and training. Mr. Loua holds a Master’s degree in Agricultural Engineering from UDECOM. He has complementary training in topography and cartography, Agricultural Economy, Rural Sociology and Soil Pedology. During CALIG assignment, Mr. Loua is responsible for compliance with coffee processing standards and assisting coffee producers in the process of maintaining coffee plantations in pilot villages. Previously he was team leader for a Palm Tree company in the Ivory Coast oil plant nursery facilities, Team Leader in the Agronomy Research Center in Côte d'Ivoire, Team Leader at the Institute of Technology and agricultural research ITRA Cote D'ivoire, Counselor of the Student Coordination and Head of Class Department of Agroforestry and Environment Branch Agriculture at UDECOM-Guinea and member of the National Confederation of Organizations of Peasants of Guinea. His skills are: Perfect knowledge of the agricultural production sector; Strong experience in rural resource management and cooperative living; Sense of responsibility, ability to take initiative and work with a minimum of resources in a national, international and multi-agricultural environment

Roberto Loua Agricultural engineer – Café au Light
img

Mr. Carabe is in the origin of the project, supporting all activities and providing advice and technical and strategic insights.<br />Mr. Carabe is General Secretary of Ciemat. With 1326 employees, 55,4% graduated, CIEMAT has a wide presence in both national and international scientific and technical forums.<br />CIEMAT is a Spanish Public Research Institute. Since its founding in 1951, it has developed and led R&D projects in the fields of Energy, Environment and Technology, placing the institution at the forefront of science and technology. <br />Julio Cárabe, PhD Physics, has over 30-year research experience on semiconductor materials and optoelectronic devices. He has participated so far in 26 national and international R&D projects. In the period 2001-2004 he was the co-ordinator of the European Network on Amorphous-Silicon-Device Technology (aSiNet). He has participated in the scientific committees of a number of the most relevant international conferences on photovoltaics, having been Topic Organiser in 14 editions of the European Photovoltaic Solar-Energy Conference, Programme Vice-Chair in the 6th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, member of the FP7 Energy Committee from march 2010 to December 2013, member of the ESFRI Energy Strategic Working Group on behalf of Spain since November 2017 and Personal Representative on behalf of CIEMAT at the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA). He has published more than 100 scientific papers and speaks Spanish (mother tongue), English, French, Italian and German.

Julio Cárabe Advisory Board
img

Mr. Loua is in the origin in the project, supporting all activities and providing advice, Guinean knowledge and strategic insights.<br />Mr. Loua is Lead Counsel in the Guinean Embassy in Madrid and candidate for the 2020 Guinean Presidential Elections.<br />He has a degree in Physics from the University of Conakry and a degree in Moral Theology from the Comillas Pontifical University. In addition, he holds a diploma of advanced studies in Philosophy of Technology from the Complutense University of Madrid. Currently, he is finalizing the writing of a doctoral thesis that bears the title "Science, Technology and Black-African Societies", in the latter university.<br />He has been participating in Spanish social organizations, talking about the socio-political and religious reality of Africa. He is member of the theater group AIB (Intercultural Association Bwato). Mathieu Loua is also the General Secretary of COMRADE (Committee for the Defense of Refugees, Asylum and Immigrants in the Spanish State). He is also the representative in Spain of the “Rassemblement du Peuple de Guinée (RPG)”, the largest political formation in Guinea Conakry, which has been fighting for years for the establishment of democracy in this West African country. In his political activities, among us, one of his main objectives is a greater rapprochement between his country and the Kingdom of Spain. And finally, he is the Secretary General of the Coordination of Guinean associations in Spain (COAGUINES).

Matthieu Loua Advisory Board
LEGAL NOTICE: Cafe au Light Group. Registered in Spain and Guinea. Privacy policy: We will do everything in our power to ensure that your right to privacy is maintained and protected. This Website is not directed at children under 13 years of age. Information Collection We may request or collect personal information from online users in a variety of ways where users are invited to volunteer such information Though every effort is made to preserve your privacy, we may need to disclose personal information when required to by law. This Website may contain links to other sites. You are encouraged to read the privacy statements of each and every Web site that collects personally identifiable information.