Trader Caravela Coffee Implementing Self-Management Model Called One Caravela

Caravela Coffee courtesy photo.

Green coffee trading company Caravela Coffee has announced it is reshaping its management structure with the goals of improving collaboration, empowering individuals and better responding to the evolving challenges and needs of the coffee industry. 

Under the name One Caravela, the organizational initiative emphasizes self-management, as opposed to siloed management within a vertical hierarchy. 

The UK-based B Corp-certified company, which has maintained a strong operational focus on the Latin American coffee sector since its founding 23 years ago, said the change will apply to all of its seven export export offices and four import offices.

Caravela used the term “transversal” — which is typically related to global management structures — to describe the One Caravela initiative. 

“This transformation, designed to increase stakeholder transparency and trust, will improve our ability to source more and better coffees from fewer producer suppliers while providing roaster customers with a comprehensive yet curated selection of the finest coffees from Latin America, advancing prosperity for all,” Caravela said in an announcement of the One Caravela initiative yesterday. “This shift finds us willingly leaning into self-disruption as we endeavor to remain at the forefront of purpose-driven innovation within the specialty coffee industry.”

Caravela Coffee courtesy photo.

Caravela Coffee relocated its North American headquarters to the Houston area from North in 2021, and the company maintains additional import offices in London (UK), Taipei (Taiwan) and NSW (Australia). 

“In the ever-evolving landscape of the specialty coffee industry, each harvest brings forth new challenges, introducing constant uncertainty, and growing threats to daily operations,” Caravela Coffee Co-Founder and CEO Alejandro Cadena said in yesterday’s announcement. “To navigate this dynamic environment, we must embrace agility and autonomy to unlock creativity and innovation at every level of the organization.”

The person-to-person details of the organizational restructuring were not disclosed, but Caravela said it is designed to promote employee empowerment, professional development, organizational agility and innovation, among other outcomes. 

“Self-management relocates leadership from individual senior-level roles to networked teams, enabling every Caravela team member to make well-informed and self-regulated decisions capable of positively impacting their respective spheres of influence,” the company stated. 

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