Ambassa's History

In the beginning: Ambassa Enterprises PLC was established by Mr. Geoffrey Wetherell and his wife, Georgette, in 1973.  Mrs. Wetherell was born in Dire Dawa (Harrar), a very important centre for coffee in Ethiopia, while Mr. Wetherell had been connected with coffee for 25 years prior to forming Ambassa.  Both knew the importance of coffee to Ethiopia, so when they thought of getting into business it seemed natural that their endeavour should centre on coffee.

Starting out: Mr. and Mrs. Wetherell in Ambassa's processing factory during the early days.

A brief company history:  2 years after Ambassa was formed a new Government in Ethiopia implemented policies to create a command economy.  The Government Coffee Corporation began to assume most of the responsibility for Ethiopia's coffee exports.  In 1991 a change in government resulted in more liberal economic policies.  As a result Ambassa, along with other private exporters, began to assume more market share.  We now export around 750 000 bags of coffee per year to customers all over the globe.  Our customer base includes companies in Japan, Asia, the Middle East, USA, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.  Contact us as we would be delighted to also be of service to your company!

Ambassa's management team: Ambassa remains a family business.  Many of our management personnel have been with the company since its inception and Ambassa adopts a policy of promotion from within wherever possible.  Our Chairman, Mr. Geoffrey Wetherell, remains active in the business and his leadership is as welcome today as it was at the company's birth.  Our General Manager, Mr. Degu Assefa, looks after the bulk of our marketing and trading work, and was also long ago trained as an expert liquorer.  While all our management team are proficient liquorers, you will find Mr. Assefa, Mr. Wetherell, and Mrs. Mami Melka, who runs our liquoring unit, cupping daily to ensure our strict quality standards are maintained.   

When it comes time to securing a sale, Mr. Wetherell and Mr. Assefa both maintain strong business links with our customers.  In particular, Mr. Assefa ensures he travels extensively to maintain personal contact with valued customers.  You will regularly find him at SCAA meetings or in the offices of our customers' worldwide. Ambassa's philosophy has long been that while emails, faxes and phones are all important mediums of communication, nothing makes up for contact at a personal level.   

Assisting Mr. Wetherell and Mr. Assefa in their marketing and sales task are Mrs. Legessu Solomon who manages all documentation issues, Mr. Asrat Tegegne who buys coffee for Ambassa at the Addis auction, and Mr. Adem Abubkr, who co-ordinates with customs and transit. 

Ambassa's management team work together to ensure that our customers are shipped the best coffees Ethiopia offers! Contact us to discuss how we can better serve you!

TOP OF PAGE