The students of Koen Women’s Academy Junior and Senior High School have been participating in the activities of the international NGO Seibo since January 2023 under the theme “Let’s try participating in the activities of the international NGO Seibo!”

Starting in April 2024, a new group of about 40 middle and high school students has gone through various learning experiences.

–The significance of lunch support in Malawi and the business related to coffee
–SDGs from a corporate perspective and the role of NGOs
–Creating activity ideas through collaboration with university students
–Sharing corporate efforts from guest speakers

Through these learning experiences, preparations were made from September to November 2024 for the friendly gathering, and all grades collaborated on the sale of coffee from Malawi.
As a result, we achieved a sales total of 436,400 yen, which was donated to Malawi.

Below, students who were involved in these activities have summarized their experiences leading up to the friendly gathering, and we would like to share this with you here.

Event Preparation
In preparation for the 2024 friendly gathering, we set the prices for the products for sale. The prices for coffee beans, ground coffee, drip bags, and hot coffee are as follows:

Sales Products

-Coffee beans/ground coffee: 1,700 yen (final decided price: 1,500 yen)
-Drip bags: 200 yen
-Hot coffee (with sleeve): 300 yen
The price of hot coffee has been set at three times last year’s price, drip bags at twice, and coffee beans at 1.5 times. The reason for the pricing revision was to make “1,500 yen equals 100 meals for 15 yen each” an appealing tagline.

Preparations included designing posters and stickers, creating explanatory materials, and making promotional signs for mobile sales, incorporating information about Malawi and the activities of NPO Seibo.

Sales Day
On the day of the friendly gathering, we divided roles into three departments: sales, explanation, and coffee preparation for the morning and afternoon activities.

Sales began at 9:30, and by around 10:30, the coffee beans and ground coffee were sold out, with hot coffee selling out by around 11:30. In the afternoon, we only sold drip coffee, making sure to convey information during sales.

We also collected customer feedback through surveys to gather improvement points for future sales. Customers suggested “preparing milk and sugar,” “reviewing sleeve sizes,” and “finding ways to repeat explanations,” while also praising us for how “very delicious” the coffee was and “the explanations were easy to understand.”

Looking Forward
This year, our sales were more than double last year’s, achieving a total of 436,400 yen. However, we identified several challenges during sales, particularly related to the management of hot coffee shortages and crowd control.

For future events, we are considering the following improvement points:

Increasing the speed of hot coffee preparation
Raising the inventory of sale items to ensure products are available during afternoon sales
Reviewing the sales flow to make it easier for participants to operate
Providing milk and sugar to cater to all tastes
These activities have also been introduced during school orientation events. Please see more details here.

Through these improvements, we hope to further promote the activities of NPO Seibo. We appreciate your continued support!