25/08/2026
Meet Wilson – Founder and CEO of Cross River Coffee! 🌽
He is the one who started it all, by bringing coffee from his home in Cameroon to Germany under the name Bòngàbee 🇨🇲 What many people may not know: this name is a word in Limbum (Wilson’s mother tongue) meaning togetherness, unity and is the original idea behind the project. That is not only to import coffee, but to build bridges and bring people together.
Growing up in a family harvesting coffee as an export crop and knowing it only as a drink from Nestlé, he first had no idea what is hiding inside these little beans ☕️
But once he started the coffee project in 2015, there was no stopping him. He did endless cuppings every week, always ending up at football training because there was too much caffeine involved. And then there was no way around roasting the coffee himself. To this day, he’s our Chief Roaster, making sure we get to enjoy the beans we all love so much! Luckily, he’s not doing it in his oven at home anymore, like he did with his very first trial 🤭
He was also the very first barista at Cross River Coffee – you might still remember him from the Corona days, when he opened our first café in Löbtau. And you still find him in our cafés today: behind the bar, serving coffee, building or fixing things in the cafe or cleaning (to be honest, probably better than anyone else)
But most of all, he’s is the person that is keeping things moving behind the scenes with passion for what he’s doing and without ever losing sight of his initial goal.
Sometimes, he has his very own Cameroonian way of doing things – one that might seem unusual to some of us at first. But somehow, it always makes sense in the end, always works out, and always comes with intention.
And whenever someone needs support, he’s there. No matter what it is or where it’s needed, he’ll find a way to help.
We’re lucky to have you behind this team and everything that makes Cross River Coffee what it is 🦍
