Tech billionaire Mark Cuban is best known for his role on the ABC hit show "Shark Tank". The several-times-over entrepreneur has dealings in some incredibly powerful markets, from his online pharmacy business to his ownership of the NBA team the Dallas Mavericks.
But it was his appearance on the potential business investment reality show that morphed him from another successful business mogul to a household name.
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This week, Cuban and the show's six other main investors were all about the java thanks to a visit from a hopeful Kenyan coffee maker: Margaret Nyamumbo and her company Kahawa 1893, which sources its coffee directly from African women who are often for fairly compensated for their labor.
Fellow investor Kevin "Mr.Wonderful" O'Leary believed that Nyamumbo's company valuation of $7 million was too much -- but Cuban was quick to disagree, telling Nyamumbo the company was worth more because of its bold mission to empower the Kenyan women who do the actual farming by paying them significantly more for their work.
Nyamumbo has witnessed firsthand how the women from her home do the major share of the coffee farming but a much greater percentage of the pay goes to the men who own the lands.
In the end, every Shark save for O'Leary extended an offer to Nyamumbo, though her final deal didn't come from Cuban -- though both he and Lori Greiner did negotiate with the entrepreneur a bit.
In the end, Emma Grede offered the company $35,000 for 12.5% of the company and was accepted. At the time of the episode's filming, Kahawa 1893 was stocked on shelves at Trader Joe's and Apollo Global Management (APO) grocery store Sprouts, and was on track to hit $4 million in sales for 2022.
