What Coffee Afrik CIC does

Coffee Afrik CIC is a UK Community Interest Company that operates as a lived-experience-led community organization serving women and young people from Black and Global Majority communities in East London. The organization runs 28 projects across seven community-led hubs, including a Youth Hub, two Women's Hubs in Hackney and Tower Hamlets, a problematic drug-use safe space, a research lab, a systemic litigation space, and a Health Justice Hub. Its core services comprise a Culturally Sensitive Community Connector Service commissioned by the East London NHS Foundation Trust since 2019, a problematic drug-use project and street outreach serving over 150 individuals weekly, participatory research commissioned by London's Violence Reduction Unit, a national Housing Justice Campaign supported by the Civic Power Fund, and a three-year community wealth-building collaboration called 'Reworlding Hubs, Liberatory Harm Reduction, Saving our Lives' funded by The National Lottery Community Fund and Esmee Fairbairn Foundation in partnership with Decolonising Economics and Land in our Names. The organization has no proprietary technology stack and no commercial product; service delivery is hub-based and community-led, with work inspired by the Black Panther party's community programming and grounded in principles of love, care, and liberatory harm reduction. The revenue model is exclusively institutional grant funding and public-sector commissioning — there are no commercial customers, no pricing model, and no earned income from service users. Coffee Afrik is also crowdfunding a Community Bank Account hosted on Open Collective to extend community-controlled financial decision-making and reserves, and is a founding member of the VRU's Fatherhood Consortium. Earned media coverage has appeared in The Guardian, The Mirror, and Al Jazeera, and the Youth Hub is recognized as award-winning.

Name

Coffee Afrik CIC

Legal name

Coffee Afrik CIC

Website

https://coffeeafrique.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Coffee Afrik CIC is a lived-experience-led UK Community Interest Company running 28 projects across seven community-led hubs in East London, delivering culturally sensitive health, housing, youth, and harm-reduction services to Black and Global Majority women and young people, funded by grants and public-sector commissioning.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Social Services

NAICS

Social Assistance (624), Other Individual and Family Services (62419)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300), Services-Misc Health & Allied Services, Nec (8090)

akta.pro primary industry

Public Health Communications, Risk Communication & Community Engagement (HLAJAMAH)

Keywords

• Community social services
• Harm reduction outreach
• Youth hub services
• Housing justice advocacy
• Culturally sensitive support

Headquarters

HQ city

Dalston

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Grant Funding: Primary revenue from institutional funders including The National Lottery Community Fund, Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Civic Power Fund, and other grant-making organizations. No commercial revenue model.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Coffee Afrik CIC operates seven community-led hubs across East London delivering culturally sensitive services to Black and Global Majority women, young people, and individuals experiencing problematic drug use. Core offerings include the Community Connector Service (commissioned by East London NHS Foundation Trust since 2019), the Problematic Drug-use Project & Street Outreach (serving over 150 individuals weekly), the Reworlding Hubs community wealth-building program, participatory research with London's Violence Reduction Unit, and Housing Justice Campaigning focused on Somali families.

Product overview

Coffee Afrik CIC is a lived experience-led community organization offering a portfolio of interconnected hub-based services. The organization operates seven community-led hubs including a Youth Hub, two Women's Hubs (Hackney and Tower Hamlets), a Health Justice Hub, a problematic drug use safe space, a research lab, and a systemic litigation space. Core services include culturally sensitive Community Connector Services (commissioned by East London NHS Foundation Trust), harm reduction street outreach, community wealth-building programs, participatory research with London's Violence Reduction Unit, and housing justice campaigning. The organization manages 28 projects across these hubs, providing life-saving services to women and young people from Black and Global Majority communities in East London.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Reworlding Hubs, Liberatory Harm Reduction, Saving our Lives: Three-year community wealth-building collaboration focusing on co-designing structures to devolve decision-making power, resources, and assets to the community.

Products and services

• Culturally Sensitive Community Connector Service A culturally sensitive support service commissioned by East London NHS Foundation Trust since 2019, helping clients access support for housing, employment, mental health care and other services.
• Problematic Drug-use Project & Street Outreach A culturally sensitive support service providing hot food, blankets, and harm reduction support for individuals experiencing problematic drug use, serving over 150 individuals each week. Includes campaigning for more safe use spaces with the London Harm Reduction Collective.
• Reworlding Hubs, Liberatory Harm Reduction, Saving our Lives A three-year community wealth-building collaboration with Decolonising Economics and Land in our Names, co-designing structures to sustainably devolve decision-making power, resources, and assets to the community. Funded by The National Lottery Community Fund and Esmee Fairbairn Foundation.
• Award-Winning Youth Hub A community-led hub providing services for young people in East London, recognized with an award.
• Women's Hubs (Hackney & Tower Hamlets) Two community-led women's hubs in Hackney and Tower Hamlets providing community support services for women in East London.
• Health Justice Hub A community-led hub providing health-related justice and support services to the community.
• Housing Justice Campaign A national housing campaign supported by the Civic Power Fund to raise awareness about social injustices in housing, focused on exposing the unsafe and inadequate housing Somali families were assigned by Tower Hamlets Council. Featured in The Guardian and The Mirror.
• VRU Participatory Research Participatory research commissioned by London's Violence Reduction Unit to understand how public services can better serve young people facing systemic inequities. Coffee Afrik is also a founding member of the Fatherhood Consortium (a VRU initiative supporting fathers and families).

Quantifiable outcome

• Supported thousands of clients to access support for housing, employment, mental health care and more through Community Connector Service
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• East London NHS Foundation TrustcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommissioned Coffee Afrik to run a Culturally Sensitive Community Connector Service since 2019, supporting clients with housing, employment, mental health care access.
• London's Violence Reduction Unit (VRU)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommissioned Coffee Afrik to conduct participatory research on how public services can better serve young people facing systemic inequities. Coffee Afrik is a founding member of the Fatherhood Consortium.
• Decolonising EconomicscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration partner in the three-year community wealth-building project focused on co-designing structures to sustainably devolve decision-making power, resources, and assets to the community.
• Land in our NamescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration partner in the community wealth-building project alongside Decolonising Economics.
• London Harm Reduction CollectiveminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCampaigning partner for more safe use spaces alongside Coffee Afrik's problematic drug-use project.
• Open CollectiveminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFiscal host for the Community Bank Account, ensuring income and expenditure is transparent and open for all.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Regional players

• Brockley Impact: A community-led social enterprise in South East London delivering services to marginalized communities. Operates a similar hub-based community support model with lived-experience leadership, focused on Black and minority ethnic populations in a different London region.
• Bollywood EI8ht: A community-led charity in East London working with young people from Black and Global Majority communities on social action, wellbeing and creative engagement. Peer on community-led governance and target demographic focus in the same London geography.
• MIND in Tower Hamlets and Newham: A local Mind affiliate delivering mental health services across East London boroughs. Comparable on regional commissioned-delivery model and culturally sensitive service design, though focused on mental health specifically.
• Nottingham African Caribbean Community Organisation: A community-led organization providing culturally sensitive social, health and youth services to Black communities in the East Midlands. Comparable on community-led governance, lived-experience delivery, and grant-funded hub operations.
• African Community Council for the Regions: A regional umbrella body supporting African diaspora communities with advocacy, service navigation and community engagement. Comparable on community-empowerment mission and grant-funded operations serving similar populations.

Direct peers

• Settled: An East London-based charity supporting vulnerable migrants and Black and minority ethnic communities with social inclusion, wellbeing and advocacy services. Directly comparable on mission, geography, target population, and commissioned-services delivery model.
• Limehouse Project: A Tower Hamlets-based charity supporting disadvantaged Black and minority ethnic communities through advice, wellbeing and outreach services. Closely comparable on East London geography, beneficiary population, and grant-funded community services model.
• Black Thrive Lambeth: A Lambeth-based partnership focused on Black community mental health and social equity, commissioned by statutory bodies. Closely comparable on partnership with public-sector commissioners and BIPOC-focused community services model.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/CoffeeAfrique
• Instagraminstagram.com/coffeeafrikcic

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Coffee Afrik CIC