Once celebrated as the pride of Kenya’s coffee industry, Embu’s fertile coffee-growing region was renowned worldwide for its exceptional beans. However, that era of prominence has faded. Today, smallholder farmers-the backbone of this sector-face overwhelming challenges such as rising debts, unpredictable climate conditions, and volatile international markets, making it difficult to maintain the legacy passed down by previous generations.
Amid these hardships, a technological transformation is emerging. At the forefront is Peter Maina Njoroge, whose unique journey from chemistry and economics to tech entrepreneurship is revolutionizing the coffee supply chain through blockchain innovation.
As the co-founder of Project Mocha, Maina is pioneering a platform that directly links coffee farmers with consumers worldwide, bypassing traditional intermediaries and financial institutions by leveraging transparency, technology, and tokenization.
His ambitious goal is to transform coffee trees into digital investment assets accessible to anyone, anywhere.
“Why should farmers rely on costly bank loans when a coffee enthusiast in Tokyo or Berlin could directly invest in a Kenyan coffee tree and share in its profits?” Maina posed thoughtfully during our discussion.
This concept is daring, yet Peter Maina’s expertise and vision make it feel entirely achievable. I was immediately impressed and convinced of its potential.
From Science to Startup: The Evolution of a Tech Innovator
Maina’s entrepreneurial spirit was nurtured early on in a family that embraced risk and innovation. In the late 1990s, his parents left secure positions at a bank and post office to launch one of Kenya’s pioneering tourism ventures online during the dot-com era. Witnessing their bold leap inspired his own fearless approach to business.
“I always knew I’d lead my own enterprise,” he reflects. “Seeing my parents build something from nothing and uplift our family convinced me that entrepreneurship could address real-world challenges.”
Equipped with academic credentials in applied chemistry and economics, Maina entered the agritech space over ten years ago, driven by the belief that technology could revolutionize Kenya’s agriculture sector, which accounts for about 30% of the country’s GDP.
His initial venture, M-Teller, tackled the chronic issue of farmers’ limited access to affordable agricultural supplies. Although the COVID-19 pandemic curtailed this startup, Maina’s subsequent role at a fresh produce aggregation company-facilitating direct sourcing for upscale clients like Serena Hotels-broadened his insight into supply chains and data-centric logistics. This company was eventually acquired by investors.
The inspiration for Project Mocha struck in 2019 when his longtime friend and co-founder, Paul Gashara, invited him to visit his family’s coffee farm in Embu.
Reimagining Kenya’s Coffee Landscape
Kenya’s coffee sector has long been synonymous with premium quality and rich taste, yet it has faced a steep decline. Since the 1980s, coffee output has dropped by nearly 60%, primarily due to smallholder farmers’ lack of access to sustainable financing.
“Coffee farming is unique because it requires continuous investment in inputs, labour, and irrigation, but returns only come biannually,” Maina explains. “This cash flow gap undermines the viability of farming.”
Meanwhile, global demand for coffee has surged, doubling over the same period. Maina and Gashara recognized a chance to align consumer funding with production needs, creating a win-win scenario.
This insight led to the creation of Project Mocha, a decentralized agritech platform where coffee trees are tokenized-converted into digital assets secured on the blockchain. Each token represents a specific, geotagged tree monitored by IoT devices and linked to real-time production metrics.
Farmers maintain ownership of their land while gaining access to capital through these digital tokens, which investors worldwide can purchase in fractional shares.
“We remain a traditional coffee business at heart,” Maina notes, “but we’re innovating by putting coffee farming on the blockchain.”
Consumers, from individual enthusiasts to large coffee retailers, can invest directly in these trees, providing farmers with much-needed working capital and sharing in the profits from coffee sales.
“Our goal isn’t just to digitize coffee,” Maina emphasizes. “We want to reconnect people with the origins of their brew, making coffee farming both sustainable and lucrative once again.”
A Living Lab in Embu: Pioneering On-Chain Farming
Project Mocha’s pilot launched in late 2024 after unveiling its prototype at the ETH Safari conference, East Africa’s premier Ethereum event. The initiative graduated from an incubation program earlier this year and secured a grant from Scroll, an Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solution, to fully integrate its operations on-chain.
Currently, the team operates a demonstration farm in Embu with nearly 3,000 coffee trees digitally managed. This site functions as both a training hub for farmers and a live exhibit for potential investors eager to understand on-chain agriculture.
“Seeing is believing,” Maina asserts. “Our demo farm illustrates how combining IoT, blockchain, and satellite data can boost yields and transparency.”
Already, over 300 farmers and 50,000 coffee trees await onboarding as the platform prepares to scale in 2026.
However, expansion presents challenges. The process of geotagging trees and validating data is resource-intensive and costly. Building trust with investors thousands of miles away-whether in Sweden or Singapore-requires absolute transparency and verifiable proof.
Blockchain technology addresses this by immutably recording every tokenized asset, yield report, and farming activity. “Trust is our most valuable asset,” Maina stresses. “Blockchain enables us to demonstrate authenticity in real time.”
Scaling Beyond Borders: Project Mocha’s Global Ambitions
While perfecting its pilot in Kenya remains the immediate priority, Project Mocha’s aspirations extend across Africa and beyond.
By 2026, the startup aims to expand throughout East Africa and replicate its model for other high-value crops such as cocoa, tea, and avocados. Interest has already come from coffee producers in distant regions like Venezuela and Malaysia.
Maina envisions Project Mocha evolving into a decentralized coffee ecosystem akin to a digital Starbucks, linking tokenized farms, local roasters, and retail points through smart contracts.
“Imagine using your Mocha token to purchase coffee in cities like Nairobi, Lagos, or Singapore,” he says. “Each token represents a real farmer, a real tree, and a shared story of impact.”
Beyond revitalizing coffee, Maina’s broader mission is to make agriculture appealing to Africa’s youth, who often see farming as outdated or unprofitable.
“It’s about creating aligned incentives,” he explains. “If young people can earn by verifying farm data, maintaining IoT devices, or managing blockchain records, agriculture becomes a tech-driven career, not a fallback.”
He proposes establishing a decentralized network of agricultural extension agents-young, tech-savvy individuals equipped with mobile apps to verify farms and receive instant blockchain-based payments for micro-tasks. “This is how we keep agriculture vibrant and relevant,” he says.
As Project Mocha enters its beta phase, Maina is focused on raising awareness. “We’re just getting started,” he notes. “We want to engage in conversations, conferences, and media that help people grasp our vision.”
For Maina, Project Mocha transcends being a mere startup; it represents a movement toward climate-resilient, transparent, and inclusive agriculture. It invites everyone-farmers, investors, and coffee lovers alike-to participate.
“If you cherish coffee,” he smiles, “you should also care about the hands that cultivate it.”
With tokens priced at just $1 each, Project Mocha opens the door for anyone to invest in a coffee tree and, by extension, Africa’s agricultural future.
He concludes with advice for young African innovators:
“Don’t imitate Silicon Valley. Focus on solving genuine problems in your community, build with local knowledge, and think globally. That’s the path to Africa’s success.”
As the world savors its morning coffee, Project Mocha envisions each cup telling a story of innovation, resilience, and a shared future between global consumers and African farmers.