About Covan’ee

After living in Papua New Guinea as missionaries from 1986 to 2002, the not too many people of the Gwahatike language group in the Raikos District, Madang Province, has become very dear to our hearts. Though we had left after years of mission work, the place and its people have always been with us. After we have left, our family, through our eldest son, Hee-Jae An, have found a way to keep our relationship, and help the people there.

Since the first notion of going into the vanilla business in 2002, it took us 5 years for us to actually take action. From the beginning, the journey was rocky to say the least. In 2007 we traveled to Papua New Guinea, trying to establish a base of operations there. However, with the conditions there not fitting to our needs, we decided to pull out by the end of 2009.

After pulling out in 2009 we were involved in the very first small scale bean-to-bar chocolate factory in Korea. Whilst working on the chocolate project, in 2010 we incorporated Covan’ee in the United States and by 2013 left the chocolate business to pursue our own interests. Throughout this time, we kept on pursuing our interests in Papua New Guinea through one Mr. Nafian Saremo, a dear friend and associate of ours for over 28 years, who with our help, in 2012 was able to establish Saremo and Sons Limited. From the incorporation of Saremo and Sons Limited, it took the better part of 2 years to get all the licenses, especially the export license ready and in order for our first shipment to actually be shipped.

Now we are able to embark in a new adventure. An adventure that we hope you will come along for the ride.

We bring you not just a promise but a covenant.

Cocoa, Vanilla and Coffee,

Covan’ee…