"I didn't set out to build a coffee company."

Dear friend,

If you're reading this, it probably means we've shared a cup of coffee — or we're about to. Either way, I owe you the truth about how we got here.

I'm an engineer by training. I spent the early part of my career on bridges and infrastructure projects in London, with Mouchel Parkman and Jacobs, then back home with PETRONAS and YTL. I learned how to build things that don't fall down. I did not learn how to roast beans.

So when people ask me why I started a coffee company, the honest answer is: I didn't. I started a question.

The question was simple. Why does a great cup of coffee need a 60-square-metre café, a queue, and a barista with a name tag? Why can't the café come to you — to your office, your hospital, your hotel, your mosque — and just… be there, quietly, doing its job, when you need it most?

That question became Coffee Star.

The moment that changed everything

In April 2020, when the world stopped, our machines didn't.

We had launched only a year earlier — small team, fewer than ten machines, mostly in office lobbies that were now empty. Then the calls came. Hospitals. Quarantine centres. Nurses doing 18-hour shifts who couldn't leave their wards to find a coffee shop because there were no coffee shops to find.

So we packed our trucks and we went. Not for a press release. Not for a tax deduction. We went because someone needed a hot drink at 3am and we had a way to put one in their hands.

"You don't actually know who you are as a company until something breaks. We learned, in 2020, that we are a coffee company that runs toward the people who need us most — not away from them."— from a 2020 reflection

That spring is where the soul of Coffee Star was forged. Not in a strategy off-site. In hospital car parks, at 4am, in the rain.

What we believe

I'm Bumiputera. I'm Muslim. I built this company in Malaysia. None of those facts are marketing — they are constraints I chose to design within, because I believe the best businesses come from being honest about who you are, not from pretending to be neutral.

So Coffee Star is halal. Genuinely halal — not "we don't add pork." Halal across our supply chain, our finance, our cleaning protocols, our partnerships. We don't apologise for it; we lead with it. Two billion people quietly want what we make.

We source Fairtrade-certified beans because the farmer who grew your espresso deserves more than a fraction of a cent on your RM 8 cup. That math broke my heart the first time I ran it; it still bothers me now. We can't fix the global coffee economy alone, but we can refuse to participate in the bad bits.

And we run on ESG — Environmental, Social, Governance — not because Bursa Malaysia or Petronas told us to, but because, when I asked myself "would I want my children working at this company?", the only answer worth living with was: only if we do this properly. Being a finalist for the SME ESG Challenge 2025/2026 was a lovely surprise. But the work was already done.

The team behind the cup

I want to correct a small lie our website used to tell. It said "Coffee Star was founded by Raja Ahmad Fauzan." Technically true. Practically misleading.

Coffee Star was founded by an idea, an investor's leap of faith, and a small group of people — engineers, baristas, IoT developers, finance folks — most of whom are still here, and most of whose names I never put on a slide. Most of our department heads are women. Our ops team has stayed past midnight more times than I can count. Our service techs have driven through floods.

When you buy a Coffee Star machine for your office, you're not buying my idea. You're buying their work. I just had the privilege of saying yes when they wanted to build it.

Where we go from here

In 2024 we crossed a border. Coffee Star machines are now in Saudi Arabia, with the Kingdom's growing coffee market and — closer to my heart — for the people travelling for Hajj and Umrah. A pilgrim in Mecca should not have to choose between a moment of devotion and a decent cup of coffee. We're trying to make that choice unnecessary.

We're 114+ machines today. We'd like to be many more. Not because the number matters, but because every new machine is a question answered: can a halal, Bumiputera-owned, ESG-built company from Malaysia hold its own next to global giants?

So far, the answer has been yes. Quietly, machine by machine.

What I'd ask of you

If you're a customer reading this — thank you. Genuinely. The coffee in your cup right now exists because you said yes to us, and we don't take that for granted.

If you're someone considering working with us — I'd love to talk. Read the Coffee Star story here, or just reach out via the Reach Me form. I read every message that comes in. Every one.

If you're a fellow founder, an SME wondering whether ESG is worth the effort, or a Bumiputera entrepreneur trying to figure out whether to play the global game from Malaysia — yes, you should. Here's the playbook I wish I'd had. And if you want me on your stage, the Speaking page is here.