Lass Malo, Eastern Highlands

In the Eastern Highlands of PNG, wife and husband team Maureen Ken and Ken Dumudi built a coffee factory. Its location was marked by a solitary tree, the last of its kind. Lass Malo - Last Tree - was born. Local-led, supporting accessibility and quality, with the prosperity of the remote farming community at heart: Lass Malo Coffee provides a bridge for smallholder producers to sell their coffee at a sustainable price.

The abundant river systems and lush rainforest valleys of the Eastern Highlands of PNG provide incredible potential for high-quality coffee. The difficult terrain has long made access to equipment and sorting facilities unattainable for local farmers.

Enter Maureen Ken, a local businesswoman with a mission to help rural farmers and their communities realise their harvest’s true potential. In 2015 she established Lass Malo Coffee with her husband Ken Dumudi, investing in much-needed quality systems and infrastructure. Building long-term relationships with local producers, they now employ 8 full-time staff, with around 20-30 local women hand-sorting the graded beans.