Entrepreneurial graduate serves up a taste of home

A Birmingham City University graduate has opened an Indonesian coffee shop, bringing the flavours of his home country to Birmingham city centre.

Birama Gladini and his wife Elmira Hamdi have established Ngopi, meaning “let’s have coffee” in Indonesian, underneath The Square Shopping Centre on Dale End.

The pair previously ran a coffee shop in Indonesia before moving to Birmingham.

Birama Gladini said: “We are staying to our roots and offering a modern yet authentic Indonesian feast to fill the void of dedicated Indonesian cafes or restaurants in the Midlands. We hope that everyone, including locals and Indonesians living in the UK, love what we have to offer.”

Birama completed his Enterprise Systems Management MSc at Birmingham City University in 2016, and has since been endorsed by the institution to remain in the UK through the Government’s Tier 1 (graduate entrepreneur) visa programme. This allows Birama and his family to remain in the UK for two years in order to set-up and run the business.

Later, they can apply for a Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) visa which allows them to remain in the UK to run their business for another three years.

Indonesia is the fourth largest producer of coffee in the world. The majority of Ngopi’s coffee is made using the Indonesian bean, toraja sapan, which Birama and Elmira roast in-house using their Indonesian-made machine, Froco.