Chocolate Company Empowers Women Workers in Ghana

Divine Chocolate, a company in Ghana, provides gainful employment to thousands of cocoa growers and empowers women workers, which in Ghana, is something out of the ordinary.

The company is a fair-trade certified maker of chocolates and is the only one that is owned by a farmers’ cooperative. The coop, which is made up of thousands of cocoa growers in Ghana has been able to transform the lives of its owners and many of them are women. It was established in 1993 and spearheaded by Nana Frimpong Abrebrese. They got support from Twin and Twin Trading Co., a London-based organization that works to reform the trade relationships and supply chains in the coffee, nuts and cocoa industries. Their success allowed the cooperative to establish Divine Chocolate in 1998, also with the help of Twin and Twin Trading Co.

A different business approach

The cooperative, Kuapa Kokoo or “Good Cocoa Farmer” in English, shares its profits with its 85,000 members. In Ghana, it is seldom that women were able to succeed because they were not always allowed access to tools and resources. But the cooperative does more than just empowering women.

Kuapa Kokoo has recently provided the children of cocoa growers who are co-op members with 100 bamboo bicycles so they do not have to walk more than four miles to reach their school. Everything was done locally to boost the economy, with Divine Chocolate and Kuapa Bikes working with Ghana Bamboo Bikes to fix old bikes and fit them with sturdy bamboo frames. The company also provided free workshops for the bike owners so that they can fix and maintain their bikes by themselves.

It also has several programs running to uplift the lives of the member workers-growers, such as a credit union, worker protection and social services. It has a weekly radio program to update cocoa growers located in remote areas, many of whom are not able to read, on issues that are important to the cocoa and chocolate industry.

Divine Chocolate runs its own Women’s Cocoa Farming Training Program as well as the Kokoo Women’s Fund. These two organizations provide services to women members, including adult literacy programs. They also teach skills or small business management and livelihood programs like vegetable gardening, batik making and soap making to add to their income.

Image Credit : Photographer Juliana Fremah