Alfred Gitau Mwaura — Educator, Founder, Coffee Ambassador

Alfred Gitau MwauraEducator & Coffee Ambassador JourneyRootsVenturesPhilosophy

Kenyan educator · Social entrepreneur

Alfred Gitau Mwaura

Alfred Gitau Mwaura is the founder of the GoLearn platform, Kenya Coffee School, Barista Mtaani, and the Open Skills Education (OSE™) framework.

A Pan-African specialty coffee visionary building vocational training, practical coffee skills, and sustainable trade systems that put youth and farmers at the center of Africa’s coffee future.

Explore his venturesRead his story

Founder, Kenya Coffee School & Barista Mtaani

His journey

From Murang’a’s coffee farms to Pollenzo, and back to build a school.

A story that moves between the highlands where he was raised and the classrooms of Italy that reshaped how he saw coffee’s value.

Murang’a, Kenya

A childhood rooted in coffee

Alfred grew up in Murang’a’s lush highlands, where coffee farming was more than an industry — it was the family’s way of life. He watched Kenyan farmers grow some of the world’s finest beans while remaining locked out of the profits those beans generated abroad.

Pollenzo, Italy

Studying the global coffee value chain

Determined to understand why Kenyan farmers stayed poor while producing premium coffee, Alfred pursued a degree at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo — the institution founded by the Slow Food movement — immersing himself in gastronomy, sustainable agriculture, and food culture.

Return to Kenya

Building the missing link: education

In Italy, Alfred saw baristas and roasters command respect and fair wages for their craft. He returned home asking why Kenya couldn’t have its own world-class coffee education system — and set out to build one from the ground up.

Roots

Born in Gatanga, into a lineage of service and enterprise.

Alfred traces his discipline and purpose to the generation before him.

Grandfather

Daniel Numa

A respected medical doctor who later became a renowned coffee farmer — planting the earliest seeds of Alfred’s lifelong connection to coffee and community.

Father

Rafael Mwaura

A lecturer at institutions including Kimathi University and Thika Technical Institute, instilling academic rigor and intellectual discipline.

Mother

Margaret Wanjiru Gitau

A secondary school accountant and bursar, shaping precision, responsibility, and ethical stewardship.

What he’s built

An ecosystem, not a single institution.

Each venture tackles a different link in the same chain — from classroom to farm to global certification.

Kenya Coffee School (KCS)

A premier hub teaching coffee from farm to cup, delivering globally aligned barista, brewing, roasting, and sensory training.

Barista Mtaani

A grassroots movement bringing affordable, community-based coffee education directly into neighborhoods across Kenya.

Open Skills Education (OSE™)

A framework promoting vocational training and practical skills as a pathway to youth employment across the GoLearn platform.

SCB & SAT Certification

The Specialty Coffee Barista certification and its Accredited Trainer framework — modular, affordable, and digitally verifiable credentials for coffee professionals worldwide.

Alfix Sub-Organic Fertilizers

A regenerative agriculture venture treating soil as a living economy — converting farm waste into farm wealth for Kenya’s coffee-growing communities.

GoLearn Platform

The umbrella platform connecting Kenya Coffee School, Barista Mtaani, and OSE™ into one vocational learning ecosystem.

His philosophy

“Coffee is our heritage. It’s time we own it.”

Alfred often draws a parallel to the Slow Food movement he studied in Italy — but where Slow Food defends food cultures, he defends coffee culture. Where it protects farmers, Kenya Coffee School empowers producers through education, proving good, clean, and fair coffee in the cup, the classroom, and the community.

GoodCleanFair

Get in touch

Connect with the GoLearn ecosystem.

For speaking engagements, partnerships, or to learn more about Kenya Coffee School and Barista Mtaani, reach the team directly.

Speaker & educator

Book a conversation

Alfred speaks widely on coffee education, value addition, and youth empowerment across Africa’s specialty coffee sector.Call to connect

Alfred Gitau Mwaura

© 2026 GoLearn Platform — Kenya Coffee School, Barista Mtaani & Open Skills Education (OSE™).