Alum launches company to help fellow Sudanese refugees

December 8, 2017

Spider Pride

It is no secret that Spiders leave Richmond to go on and do amazing things. For Manyang Reath Kher, C'17, that meant launching a business to help his home country of Sudan.

To raise money for the Sudanese refugee crisis, Kher, a refugee himself, started his own coffee company last year called 734 Coffee, named for the Gambela region where they source their coffee beans. About 80 percent of the profits go to Kher’s education program Refugee Campus, which provides scholarships to Sudanese refugees.

“It’s still a business, but it’s exciting to reach people who have no idea about the crisis,” Kher recently told the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “And it’s through coffee — people love coffee.”

Kher spent his childhood in Sudan during the Sudanese civil war, surviving by walking hundreds of miles to live in makeshift refugee camps in Ethiopia. After 14 years, Commonwealth Catholic Charities brought him to Richmond, where he attended high school before coming to UR.  

“I care about this situation because I lost everything to it,” he told the Times-Dispatch. “These refugees, they could spend their whole life there unless someone gives them an opportunity.”

We’re so proud of Kher and alumni like him who work to make the world a better place. 

Read more about Kher's story