Archiven

Cocoanect to bring cocoa, stories and a special guest to Chocoa.

We are anticipating the introduction of new fine flavour origins and sharing updates on our sustainability initiatives during Chocoa, the cocoa- and chocolate event held on 21-25 February in Amsterdam. 

This year we share a large booth at the trade fair with Ecosphere+. Ecosphere+ is one of the partners in the Redd+ Business Initiative (RBI), as is Cocoanect. RBI supports a fine flavour cocoa project in the buffer zones around the Tambopata National Park in Peru. Introducing climate-smart cocoa is an important step for reforestation in this beautiful part of our world, and we are eager to raise more awareness for the project and the wonderful fine flavour cocoa that is cultivated here. If you are joining  the Chocoa Conference, make sure not to miss the afternoon session on ‘sustainability beyond cocoa’. Ecosphere+’s CEO Lisa Walker will be one of the speakers on the main stage, and explain how environmental protection, sustainable economic development, and fine flavour cocoa go hand in hand.

President Victorine of women coop KOADO-DUE (pictured in front).

We will also welcome a very special guest from Ivory Coast, Ms. Victorine Kouaglou. Victorine is the president of our women coop KOADO-DUE. KOADO-DUE has grown exponentially under Victorine’s guidance and is one of the only three women-led coops in Ivory Coast. She will join the team at our booth during the trade fair and is looking forward to sharing her experiences on involving women in sustainable cocoa farming.

Our Specialty Cocoa team will introduce new origins.

Our Specialty cocoa team is especially looking forward to connecting with bean-to-bar chocolate makers and fine flavour cocoa suppliers. We have added some wonderful new origins to our list of offerings and will bring bean samples, chocolate, and lots of stories. If you are working in the fine flavour cocoa industry, we recommend you to join the European Markets Academy event on Wednesday. Our Specialty Cocoa Specialist Mirko Bellocchio will give a presentation in the morning, in which he goes into detail about the post-harvesting demands of chocolate makers.

Though unfortunately, not the whole office can join, you can meet quite a few of us at the trade fair. Next to our Specialty cocoa team (Mirko Bellocchio and Francois-Brieuc Plard), you can also find the Head of Sustainability (André van den Beld) and Cocoanect’s Storyteller (Siebrigje Dijk) at booth E6-E8, to tell you all about the progress of our sustainability initiatives. From overseas we will have Victorine Kouaglou present, and our Monitoring & Evaluations officer Marjolijn Hekelaar (based in Kumasi, Ghana) will also join the team. Both ladies have a wealth of knowledge on the day-to-day realities of sustainable cocoa farming and are eager to share their experiences (and enjoy some of the world’s best chocolate of course).

We are looking forward to meeting you at Chocoa!

We are anticipating the introduction of new fine flavour origins and sharing updates on our sustainability initiatives during Chocoa, the…