where you're located, the name of your business,
and then we'll get further into our definite
podcast and what we'd like to talk about. Thank
you for having me, Jovinka. I'm Bob Bush, the
CEO of Mutombo Coffee. The location question
is always an interesting one because we're located
everywhere. We source our coffee and cocoa from
eight African countries and three Latin American
countries. and we sell globally into everywhere
from the middle east to asia into the united
states and so i am constantly either working
on the side of supply or working on the side
of demand in the united states we have a roast
a roast three network that starts uh in las vegas
that runs across the united states and ends in
new orleans We have a fulfillment center in Memphis,
Tennessee, et cetera. So literally when you ask
me where I'm located, if you're asking about
me, the joke is, well, where is Bob today, right?
Today I am in Orlando at the Four Seasons. I
will be on a plane shortly thereafter on my way
to Atlanta and then Denver and some other places.
So I am... right outside about 30 minutes from
the airport, I think, and that can change day
to day. Our business is about social impact.
My partner, Dikembe Mutombo, I've known for several
decades. He was a global humanitarian, an NBA
Hall of Famer. Unfortunately, he passed about
six months ago. And our vision is to be the most
socially impactful coffee company in the world.
And our mission is to do that through great conversations
where it's not just about the coffee, it's about
how coffee can be used to create community and
collaborations and productivity. But what inspired
you to be a part of this journey? Well, I was
inspired by the 30 years of work that Dikembe
had already done through his foundation. And
so he's a very passionate person and had a personal
reason why he was so passionate about the Congo.
He came to the United States as a teenager to
go to Georgetown. He was blessed with seven foot
two height, but did not play basketball in his
first year. at Georgetown. He was a very studious
person, a smart young man with ambitions and
he was considering becoming a medical doctor.
He was on a state department scholarship, not
a basketball scholarship when he went to Georgetown.
And so watching his career progression as he
moved from being just a basketball player to
a W humanitarian was truly inspirational. Now
I had known him since we were both teenagers.
But I had taken a more of a commercial business
investment banking path. I went to Wall Street.
And when we were together about five years ago,
I was working for the government of Dubai, an
advisor to the prime minister. And he was sitting
on the Special Olympics Committee. And so over
lunch and dinner, we started talking about ways
in which we collaborate. And it became apparent
that his passion and my sense of purpose. So,
you know, I'd like to say that he's clearly he's
the face of the brand. We put his name on the
10, so to speak. And my job was to make sure
that those trains ran on time. And so his passion
and my purpose were this, you know, very complimentary
partnership. And we were looking for a product
that would allow us to be supportive. of African
commerce. So the foundation is about charity,
but as a social enterprise, this is about commerce
over charity. This is about teaching farmers
how to make their own money, not giving them
grants, et cetera. And we're intentional about
that. We like to identify farms and cooperatives
where women play a significant role because the
women are the glue in their communities. They
carry what we call a double burden. which is
not only are they harvesting the beans, but their
mothers and their sisters and their caretakers,
all of that combined. So they have very long
days. And so we're intentional about looking
for a great coffee. First, the coffee's got to
be great. And now we know we have a great cause
because we know that the demand that we're creating,
the work that we're doing is going to be very
impactful in these villages. And then with my
partners. celebrity status, we knew that we could
bring attention to it. He had a wonderful career
and he's got a lot of friends. One of the benefits
of being old is that we both have a lot of friends.
We have a very good social network. And so his
combination of being able to go on ESPN and get
the Charles Barclays and the Shaquille O 'Neal's
of the world to interview and the world that
I come from, which is on the commercial and financial
side. we were able to really get the company
launched. Now, you got to be careful though,
because we decided to do this and six months
later, the world stopped COVID. And it's tough
to do international trade. One, it's tough to
do international trade in Africa. Two, it's really,
really tough to do African trade in Africa doing
COVID because the whole world shut down. And
then unfortunately, a couple of years into building
the business, Mr. Mutombo was struck with cancer.
So we had COVID and cancer that have impacted
our business. But we're still going strong. We
are continuously adding new suppliers and adding
more demand. And so the business is, it's been
challenging, but it's been flourishing. because
we are true to our mission, true to our cause,
and true to your podcast, true to the vision
that we set out five years ago. Yeah. It's interesting
when people talk about COVID and the pandemic
and how I've always said that when you had a
business or if you had a business during that
time, it could make or break you, right? Because
if you were someone like yourself, having to
go to Africa or having to travel in order to
get the business out there or to meet and greet
individuals that you'd had. you'd like to partner
with, that was a challenge. So you guys stepping
over that and then, you know, God rest his soul,
Matambo, you know, coming in and now having some
health issues. What's keeping you going? Well,
what keeps you going, which is why I was happy
to come on your show, is you have to have a vision.
And that vision is we know where we're going.
We know why we're getting there. And there are
some very, you know, there's some very practical
things that have to happen to get there. So,
you know, we are very intentional and we have
processes and we have systems. And in a very
odd way, COVID, you know, actually helped us
be very refined in our thinking and our steps
because we didn't have the luxury of sort of
easing into this. And as an entrepreneur and
as an investor. Whether it's COVID or cancer
or issues with routine or slow adaptability with
your customers or what have you, just know that
they're going to be shocks, right? Building a
resilient business, building a business where
you are thoughtful and intentional, this is the
true capital. You know, a lot of small businesses
are concerned about having enough money and obviously
money is an accelerant. But if you don't have
the right kind of alignment and if you don't
have the right kind of strategy, if you don't
have the right kind of why, it doesn't matter
how much money you have in the world. That business
long term is not likely to be successful. Or
if it is successful for a minute, it's not sustainable
in its success. And so what keeps us going is
that there was a meeting of the minds. There
was a meeting of the spirit. And then we put
a plan together and that plan baked into it very
early on. the requirement, the necessity of having
contingencies and having resilience and leveraging
financial capital and social capital and spiritual
capital and emotional capital. All of those elements
went into our business model. What parts did
you two play in actually getting this pushed
off immediately and so quickly? Yeah, I think
there's a lot to unpack in what you're saying,
Jovinka. Every business needs to be able to distinguish
itself. It doesn't matter if that distinction
comes because you have a famous partner. It doesn't
matter if that distinction comes because you
have a truly innovative product. But you've got
to have an edge. The world is competitive. So
what is your advantage? And yes, we had the advantage
of both being in our 50s. Experience matters.
We had the advantage of him being able to be
the face and 35, 40 years of authentic work and
reputation, as did I, right? We had the advantage
of being able to, even despite COVID, one of
the blessings for us is that when a lot of the
coffee companies, coffee shops and roasters.
were not doing any business if they were really
really business busy they would not have actually
uh been able to take our calls we use the fact
that things are in a standstill to negotiate
with manufacturers opportunities to work with
us because they were more interested who are
these crazy people calling talking about coffee
when there's nobody in the office right um to
to uh to consume it you know we our initial interest
was to put the coffee in the arenas around the
NBA. Well, guess what? Everything went to Orlando.
It was in a bubble, right? So there's always
going to be advantages if you're smart about
it. There's always going to be disadvantages.
There's no perfect time. There's no perfect brand
ambassador. There's no perfect situation. The
challenges are going to come. And so absolutely
it was an advantage that my partner had put in,
40 years of authenticity and work but ask him
if if that was overnight now right um you mentioned
sort of the the leg up right so you still have
to have all of these other elements that need
to come together for something to be successful
and so And we all have those things. We may not
realize that we do. Maybe the platform that I'm
able to speak on and he's able to speak on, I
was able to speak on, might be greater in some
sense. But in your community, are you the person
at your school or in your office or in your neighborhood?
We all have these advantages and edges. Some
have bigger platforms than others, but I can
assure you, before we could go out. and try to
conquer the world of coffee first try to conquer
your own neighborhood first try to conquer your
city first try to conquer your state right and
so you build up this the these capabilities you
build up this experience and that none of that
comes uh easily that that is work and we are
still pulling in the work Absolutely. And I tell
you, I can only imagine. I mean, you're all over
in different countries. I can only imagine the
work that you have to do in order to be sustainable
and still have that vision and passion. As far
as being like an unexpected impact, how has Mutombo
Coffee impacted you beyond the business? Thank
you for that. You always have to have a learner's
mindset. right so i have look i i brought i brought
a learner's mind a mindset of learning into the
business as did my partners as did my uh mr rotombo
and then there's the skill set right and so we
the combination with the mindset a skill set
and a good community that wants to support what
you're doing we're pretty good um the unexpected
impact that is expect the unexpected just expect
it so how does it personally affected me the
in many ways but i've seen the movie before i'm
led by the vision i just assume that their the
currents are going to wax and wane and things
are going to happen and so fortunately my team
is built for it my investors are built for it
we're hoping that our customers and our partners
are also built for it And so once you have the
mindset that even if it's unexpected, it's just
another problem to solve. I know that I don't
want to take up too much of your time, but I
always have a favorite question of my visionaries,
such as yourself, of my leaders. And I'm going
to pop it on the screen. What are the greatest
joys of what you do? Thank you for that. I haven't
had that question yet. I have had the question
about happiness, and I think there's truly a
difference between happiness and joy. And the
distinction is happiness requires happenings.
You're always needing something to happen. And
if you have your happiness from happenings, you're
going to be chasing things all the time. And
so now joy is different. And joy cometh in the
morning for those readers that know what I'm
talking about. I think you might as well. And
so there's an inner purpose that when your calling
matches your mission and your mission is in alignment
with your vision and there's an alignment between
who you are as a spiritual being. who you are
as a thinking being, how you put your hands to
work, how do you put your heart into things.
When those things are connected, I think that
then you can truly find joy because the joy is
going to lead you to, you know, you have all
these different visionaries that come on in your
show. But I'm convinced that all visions lead
to the same. destination. And that destination
is ultimately to glorify God. And so when you
are able to recognize that it's not about the
happenings, it's about the connection, literally
from head to toe, and having that aligned, and
recognize that all of this is ultimately around
the fact that we are spiritual beings in human
form, I believe you can find joy. Thank you for
being here today. I'm really happy that you tuned
in to Vision Pros Live. I'm looking forward to
seeing your reactions as these episodes continue
to move forward. This is going to get more and
more fun. We'll have more and more engagement
as well. We'll invite people to participate in
the show. And thank you for giving us your time
and attention. Have an excellent time building
out your vision and becoming a vision pro yourself.