A moment to wish the folks at Rainforest Alliance congratulations on the 25^th anniversary of their organization, which was feted at a gala held on May 16^th in New York City.  Having won their “Sustainable Standard Setter” award last year, we were honored to co-chair the event with our supply chain partners ECOM.  The gala was held at the Museum of Natural History … Read more

Cocoa Swollen Shoot Virus (CSSV) has wreaked havoc on cocoa crops throughout  much of West Africa and continues to inflict serious economic and human hardship in cocoa-growing countries.  As part of our research and collaborative efforts to better manage and combat this disease, Mars Chocolate and ICRAF recently held a regional workshop on CSSV in Accra, Ghana.

The weeklong workshop brought together more than 25 … Read more

Last Thursday, I was invited to speak at Secretary Clinton’s Global Impact Economy Forum, a gathering of 250 high-level investors, business executives, entrepreneurs, philanthropists, academics, and policymakers, in Washington, DC.  It was a great honor to have the work of the Sustainable Cocoa Initiative highlighted by the State Department and I was pleased to represent Mars Chocolate at the event.

The forum featured comments … Read more

IDH Sustainable Trade Initiative  is a trade body supported by the Dutch Government, designed to help promote sustainable trade and strengthen supply of different commodities in The Netherlands.

As the manager of the cocoa program at IDH I’m proud  of our ambitious initiative to transform the cocoa sector though mainstreaming sustainability. Our program aimed primarily on professionalizing farmers, so that they can increase productivity and … Read more

The Regional Cocoa Breeders Group is a collaboration of regional Asia/Pacific cocoa breeders in Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea and India.  The group meets to address improving planting materials for cocoa farmers. A majority of collaborators are the national cocoa research institutes or universities responsible for cocoa research in each region.

The Regional Cocoa Breeders Group first met in Singapore in 2004, where … Read more

On Sunday, February 26^th, I participated in a panel on sustainable sourcing at Harvard Business School’s (HBS) Social Enterprise 2012 conference. Moderated by HBS professor Christopher Marquis, other participants in the discussion included Justin Bakule of Foundation Strategy Group, Pacita Juan of EchoStore, and Chuck Rubin of CommonSoles.

This was a chance to talk about both the business and … Read more

During the week of January 23^rd, representatives from the Governments of Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire met with officials of the US Department of Labor, the congressional offices of Tom Harkin and Eliot Engel as well as the global cocoa industry for a series of meetings aimed at identifying more innovative and collaborative ways to address the worst forms of child labor in the cocoa sectors … Read more