A Coffee Partnership that Fuels Change: Nespresso announces its partnership with Change Please, an award-winning social enterprise which aims to end homelessness and change lives through the power of coffee.
The partnership will see Nespresso support the Change Please Foundation with its mission of empowering individuals who are experiencing homelessness through a commitment of over €1 Million in its first year. Nespresso’s €1 Million+ commitment will go towards empowering those who are experiencing homelessness with barista training, a living wage job, life admin support including securing housing and opening a bank account, mental health support and onward employment opportunities.
In Ireland, half of the initial money (€500,000+) will pay for a long-term plan and support at least 50 trainees. This will allow Change Please to begin its impact work in Ireland, including the employment of a Regional Programme Manager and the set-up of a coffee training programme to build on the successful business model in the UK.
A further quarter of the donation (€250,000) will cover the set up a new Irish retail site/café in a key city where Change Please is delivering training to support the onward employment journey of Graduates. Change Please has a presence in the Irish market and their coffee is available in David Lloyd, We Work, Google HQ and Compass Ireland. Change Please is in discussions with some of the fantastic organisations already in Ireland, supporting people experiencing homelessness, such as Focus Ireland and Daisy House. Change Please hopes to complement their work and help strengthen their impact.
The rest of the money will expand and upgrade the Change Please business to ensure longevity and improve support for trainees.
From June 2024, coffee lovers will be able to purchase Nespresso for Change Please coffee blends across Nespresso’s Original, Vertuo and Professional systems. Further profits made from accessories and events will also be given to support Change Please in 2025.
Cemal Ezel, CEO and Founder of Change Please says: “We are extremely proud to launch this incredible partnership with Nespresso. We have seen the amazing work Nespresso does in coffee growing regions. This partnership goes beyond simply selling great coffee, it’s about using the power of business to drive social change and improve the lives of those most in need in Ireland and the UK. Through this collaboration, we are joining forces to demonstrate how companies can come together to make real change and to do good. We hope to inspire others on the transformative potential of corporate social responsibility.”
Anna Lundstrom, CEO for Nespresso UKI said; “By harnessing the positive force of coffee for over twenty years, Nespresso has reestablished and uplifted farming communities around the world through our AAA programme. Today, we are proud to extend this ethos through our partnership with Change Please, supporting its education and employment-first model to empower individuals experiencing homelessness through the transformative potential of a simple cup of coffee. Together we can enrich the lives of both our farmers and the communities in the UK and Republic of Ireland.”
About Change Please
Founded in 2015, Change Please is an award-winning social enterprise which aims to end homelessness through the power of employment and great tasting coffee. Change Please helps people experiencing homelessness by training them to become baristas, supporting them with everything they need to turn their lives around – a living wage job, support with housing, therapy, bank account and onward employment opportunities. We do this through giving 100% of profits to the Change Please Foundation. These profits, along with other donations to the Change Please Foundation go towards our mission of fighting homelessness. Change Please believes you shouldn’t have to sacrifice taste to help give back and its coffee has won multiple awards, including nine highly coveted ‘Great Taste Awards’. Change Please has signed up to One Carbon World to measure, monitor, report and offset CO2 emissions to work towards net zero. Change Please are also progressing through the process of B-Corp certification.
We started our impact in London with a single cart in Covent Garden, followed by the opening of our Speciality Coffee Association Accredited Training Academy. Today we operate 10 retail sites across London. We have expanded our Impact Programme to Manchester in 2022. We have plans to expand the programme to Birmingham, Dublin and Glasgow by 2025. Change Please has also launched in France, in the USA and Australia – with plans to expand internationally.
“If we can just get a small proportion of coffee drinkers to simply change where they buy their coffee, we could really change the world,” Cemal Ezel, Founder of Change Please.
About Cemal Ezel – How Change Please was born
Cemal began his career working in commodities. However, while travelling across Vietnam in his twenties, he was inspired by the words of a fellow traveller who – when he explained he was disillusioned with life – told him: “fast forward life and ask yourself three questions – have you made any positive impact on society? What will your legacy be? And how will your friends and family remember you?” Later in the trip, after visiting a silent tea house run by deaf and mute ladies, the idea of setting up a social enterprise took root. “I thought, wow, you can do business and good at the same time” Cemal says. “Social enterprise has come a long way since then, but in 2013, it was pretty alien.” On his return to London, Cemal was struck by the number of homeless people. One man held up a poster which read, “Change Please.” These words motivated Cemal to hand in his notice at work and sign up to attend The School for Social Entrepreneurs, where he worked on his business idea to get homeless people off the streets and into work.
Nespresso
Nespresso is passionate about supporting communities in the markets in which it operates and has chosen to partner with Change Please for its important work in using coffee as a force for good. Nestlé Nespresso SA is the pioneer and reference for highest-quality portioned coffee. The company works with more than 140,000 farmers in 18 countries through its AAA Sustainable Quality™ Program to embed sustainability practices on farms and the surrounding landscapes. Launched in 2003 in collaboration with the NGO Rainforest Alliance, the program helps to improve the yield and quality of harvests, ensuring a sustainable supply of high-quality coffee and improving livelihoods of farmers and their communities. In 2022, Nespresso achieved B Corp™ certification – joining an international movement of over 6,500 purpose-led businesses that meet B Corp’s high standards of social and environmental responsibility and transparency.
Headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland, Nespresso operates in 74 markets and has over 13,000 employees. In 2022, it operated a global retail network of 791 boutiques. For more information, visit the Nespresso corporate website: www.nestle-nespresso.com.
