Mate coffee from Paraguay, founded in Schwerin

A name that means home

Leonie Tessenow came to Germany from Paraguay at 18 and now lives with her family in Schwerin. She named her company Tekoha, after a Guaraní word for home, the place where you are rooted. That is exactly what it brings together: her roots in Paraguay and her home in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

An idea that adds up

Leonie had known for a long time that she wanted to run her own business, but she lacked the right idea. Towards the end of her master's degree, when she could hardly find a job that fitted her life in Schwerin, she came across instant mate coffee, which people in Paraguay simply pour hot water over and which did not exist in Germany in this form. She did the maths, and once it was clear that it could pay for itself, she got started.

From the plantation to a limited company

Alongside everyday life with three children, she travelled to Paraguay, looked for producers and checked whether the mate could be made in organic quality. Then came advice from the chamber of commerce, talks with banks and the founding of a GmbH, funded from her own savings and loans. When her first bank tried to talk her out of the GmbH, she simply switched banks. Develup in Ludwigslust and the district of Ludwigslust-Parchim gave her an important push at the start.

What comes next

At the Female Founders Contest she had to sum up her business in a few sentences for the first time, and what she celebrated most was the first repeat order, because it showed that the product works. Now she wants to get Tekoha into supermarkets across Germany, and she is working on a ready-to-drink version and on getting into cafés and restaurants. Her advice to others is not to overthink things, but to trust themselves and get started.

The full story by Verena Teske-Mbalisike was first published in German by GründerMV.