Nicolas Rueda Latiff just joined NKG as CEO at Neumann Gruppe USA on 1st of October. NKG has crossed his professional path on several occasions before: First, when he was working at the FNC. Later, as a “friendly competitor”. Nicolas’ career in coffee started in the Netherlands, where he worked as a trainee at The Mild Coffee Company. He was trained the “good old fashion way” and had to do a bit of everything, including the preparations of faxes, yes, still widely used back then, and coffee, – which led him to learning to appreciate the diversity of the green coffees in the coffee lab. Later on, he was assigned the French & Belgium freeze dried coffee clients. He first realized he became a coffee geek when he a “one track coffee mind” (he started to think about coffee all the time). His passion for the product further developed while visiting his first origin: Colombia. “Although I was born in Colombia, being in the coffee fields as part of my work was a great discovery: knowing the stories and the faces behind the product directly from the producers on the field made me realize that coffee had gotten into my veins. 23 years later, it is still there.” At NKG, Nicolas likes the fact that we are dedicated to coffee only the challenge of keeping the edge through agility, knowledge, and passion. Though writing this he did not have the chance to work with the colleagues a lot yet, he finds the mix between experience, tradition, new and young faces to look promising.  

Thuy Pham’s first job related to coffee was as a coffee trader at NKG Rep. Office Vietnam (in charge of Rothfos Corporation account). She discovered her passion for coffee when she was able to learn more about the coffee supply chain and the story behind every good cup of coffee – which is all about the hard and good work of the coffee farmers, the collectors, processors, traders, logistic people, roasters, distributors … Starting as a coffee trader 26 years ago, Thuy works at NKG for 26 years. After becoming deputy director, her current position is now Chief Representative of NKG Rep. Office in Vietnam. What she likes most about her work at NKG is the working atmosphere at NKG and her office, where they have “a very good team with dedicated, hardworking but sympathetic people”, as Thuy says. “For us, going to work is like going to our second home, we can work with our enthusiasm but without feeling pressure”, she adds. How does she answer our questions? Find out in the following!  

In 2013, Changsu started his first coffee job as a manager/co-owner of a roastery coffee house called Assa Coffee in Kathmandu, Nepal. He just recently joined NKG in July this year as a COO of NKG Korea. How he discovered his passion for coffee? That is a really interesting story: “Being a missionary apprentice in Nepal, I’ve sought after a cash crop which can aid in alleviating the poverty and empowering entrepreneurial young kids in Nepal. And I found coffee to be the perfect tool for such purpose.” What an inspiring reason to enter the coffee industry! We are very happy that he now chose NKG to participate with his passion and knowledge, and that he, too, likes working with us and the teams in our Asia Hub. So, let’s get to know Changsu a bit better!