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Divine Chocolate Raises Earthly $499.4K - cbl
By citybizlist Staff
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- According to an SEC filing, Divine Chocolate, Inc. raised $499,375 in equity investment.
In 1997, the farmers of Kuapa Kokoo, Ghana and investors from The Body Shop and Twin Trading, and supporters from Comic Relief and Christian Aid created Divine Chocolate. The company, which opened in Washington, D.C. in 2006, is a Fair Trade brand of chocolate in the UK and the U.S.
The chocolate company raised $2.1 million in financing in 2006 and 2009.
Divine Chocolate is majority owned by a cocoa farmers' cooperative in Ghana. The chocolate is made in a German factory from cocoa beans produced by Kuapa Kokoo farmers. Farmers are paid a minimum of $1,600 per ton - or the world price when that happens to be greater - plus an additional "social premium" of $150 per ton.
The company's chocolate bars and dinner mints are sold at Whole Foods, Wegman's, and specialty markets.
Named in the filing were Erin Gorman, chief executive officer; Alexander Balfour, founder and chairman; Sophi Tranchell, managing director; and directors Lisa Bonds, Lutheran World Relief (a repeating investor, from Baltimore); Paul "P.C.K." Buah, president, and Kwasi Poku, managing director, of Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Union (Ash-Town Kumasi, GHANA); and Cornelis Van den Burg, Divine Chocolate Ltd. (Amersefoort, Netherlands).
SEC filing: http://tinyurl.com/2d4tf5e
Executive Bios
Erin Gorman
Erin Gorman always wanted to help save the world, but she never imagined she would do it with chocolate. While at Ursinus College, a small liberal arts college outside of Philadelphia, Gorman majored in philosophy and English, but her goal was to help bridge the divide between the rich and the disadvantaged. In 1997, her ambitious plans led her to American University in Washington, D.C., for a master's degree in public policy, with a special interest in prison reform. But after several personal talks with inmates, she kept coming back to one idea: Poverty was the main reason people ended up in prison. After graduation, a version of Gorman's dreams came to pass when she took a job as program director with Washington, D.C.-based Green America (formerly Co-Op America), an organization that lobbies companies to become more socially responsible and environmentally friendly. Her particular interest was in addressing poverty through economic reforms, such as finding ways for Third-World farmers to get fair prices for their crops. That made her a perfect fit for London-based Divine Chocolate, a fair trade company with $25 million in sales partly owned by the very farmers in Ghana who harvest the cocoa. In 2005, Divine UK had been in business for seven years and wanted to expand into the U.S. Gorman, now 35 and married, was tapped to secure investors, which she did while keeping her day job at Green America. In 2007, after securing financing for the Washington, D.C.-based Divine US from fair trade advocate Lutheran World Relief and micro-lender Oiko Credit, Gorman told Divine UK's managing director Sophi Tranchell that it was time to hire a CEO for the new company. Tranchell appointed Gorman to that role.
Alexander "Sandy" Balfour
Formerly an award-winning television producer, he is a founder and Chair of Divine Chocolate, a fair trade company. Author of the critically acclaimed memoirs VULNERABLE IN HEARTS: A Memoir of Fathers, Sons and Contract Bridge (UK: Atlantic, US: FSG, Canada: McArthur & Co, and 4 other countries) and PRETTY GIRL IN CRIMSON ROSE (8): A Memoir of Love, Exile and Crosswords (UK: Atlantic, US: Tarcher, Canada: McArthur & Co.). Also author of NURSING AMERICA (US: Tarcher, 2004) and I SAY NOTHING (3) (UK: Atlantic 2006), based on his X-Philes columns for The Guardian. Now writing A CLUE TO OUR LIVES: A History of the Guardian Crossword.
Sophi Tranchell
Sophi holds the position of Managing Director of Divine Chocolate in London. She is also the Social Enterprise Ambassador and co-chair of Social Enterprise London. She studied politics and philosophy at Warwick University and joined Divine Chocolate in 1999. At the time she was the managing director of art film distributors Metro Tartan.
Director Bios
Lisa Bonds
Lisa currently holds the position of VP of External Relations with Lutheran World Relief, a non-profit relief organization based in Baltimore, MD. Prior to joining Lutheran World Relief, she was the Communication Director for the National Breast Cancer Coalition.
Paul "P.C.K." Buah
Mr. Buah is a farmer with four acres of cocoa farm and was elected President of the Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Union in 2006, having been elected from village to regional level, and then to national level. He was a Recorder for his society in Twifu-Wamaso in the Central region of Ghana.
Kwasi Poku
Mr. Poku is the managing director of Kuapa Kokoo Ltd. He is from a cocoa farming family and owns a cocoa farm. He was appointed as Managing Director in September 2008. Previously, he worked for the PBC (Produce Buying Company), the buying company of the Ghanaian cocoa board. Mr. Poku's role as Managing Director is unusual as he is working with people who are workers, but also his employers.
Posted: July 25, 2010