After the scandal of child labor and modern slavery in 2000’s, the chocolate lobby convinced angry regulators that the industry could fix the child labor issue by 2005. Certifications, such as Fairtrade, UTZ, and Rainforest Alliance used to be perceived as great initiatives, but over the years they have become more of a marketing tool to bypass certain morals and put the consumer more at ease when in reality, over 20 years later, not much has changed.

While global GDP has grown by 271% since 1990, the number of people living on less than $5/day has increased by more than 370 million.  Confronting inequality is the only way to end poverty in a climate-constrained world.

Poverty-reduction rely on a fair distribution of our planet resources and not on the prospect of growth and at the expense of our planet.

Bantu Chocolate isn’t about the pursuit of endless industrial growth while chewing through our living planet and threatening our existence but instead Bantu Chocolate is about nurturing our nature.

By cultivating our own Cacao on a land passed down through generations, and producing a tasteful bean-to-bar chocolate, we want to wash away the persistent negative stereotypes surrounding West Africa Cacao and show that there are quality-conscious makers committed to ethically sourced, traceable and high-quality beans.

The fertile ground of the dense rainforest in Cameroon, enriched with volcanic soil, tremendously contributes to the exceptional taste and quality of the Cameroon cocoa beans and it’s renowned colour.

Ranking 5th in the world in cocoa production, 90% of the bean produced is mostly exported to the Netherlands and France.

At Bantu Chocolate, 3 type of cocoa can be found in our farm, trinitario,criollo and forastero.

Our mission

In 2016 my mother decided to use the land she had inherited from her ancestors to start a farm in Cameroon. We not only planted cacao but opted for a regenerative agriculture approach and have also planted thousands of trees such as bananas, plantains, papaya, avocado, mangoes, shade and environmentally friendly trees to enhance biodiversity, protect and nourish soils.

No country can achieve sustainable economic development without substantial investment in human capital. Education enriches people's understanding of themselves and the world as a whole.

That is why at Bantu Chocolate, our farm is located in Cameroon, we make chocolate in London, and work hard to bring all the attention back to Cameroon and Africa as a whole by promoting children’s education and literacy in our village, creating employment opportunities as well as having a positive community impact by paying our collaborators a living wage.This will empower and support local members of the communities to solve their problems by themselves and help to fill in the gaps in basic health, education, income generation, and hygiene improvements.

The Education Commission projects that if current trends continue, by 2030 just 4 out of 10 children of school age (1.4 billion children) in low- and middle-income countries will be on track to gain basic secondary-level skills.

The education sector is undeniably strategic to economic development.

That is why strengthening education for children will be one of our main focus areas along with paying our collaborators the living wage. The purpose of this specific project is to improve the quality of teaching and learning for teachers and children in our locality, with a focus on:

• Improvement of school infrastructure, furniture and equipment. The school will receive financial support to build new classrooms, and procure library books and furniture. This will contribute to creating child-friendly, safe and conducive learning environments.
• Raising awareness of the importance of good hygiene.
• Strengthening of teachers’ skills - teachers will be trained on new teaching methods, usage of computers as teaching aids, and ways of promoting gender equality within the classrooms. They will also receive refresher training in their areas of teaching (i.e. Maths, English, French etc.)

By investing in job creating SME’s, like Bantu Chocolate, the aim is to create attractive post-education opportunities for young people, which can engender a virtuous cycle of progress in the future.

The investment will allow us to implement a strong marketing support program of social media, press campaigns and strategic events, acquire a factory purchase equipment and pay our staff a fair living wage in Cameroon and London, where we are based, and where we will be producing our chocolate.

The investments breakdown is as follows:

- 17% for Farming and Social Impact for the Village: planned to be paired with revenue from operations on the long term

- 21% for Chocolate Bean-to-Bar chocolate Making Equipment

- 15% for New Product Development: research, design, travel and chocolate line

- 26% for Marketing Programme: content productions, events, social media, paid social

- 21% for Personnel: Salaries and administrative costs.

Timeline

Risks and challenges

Responsible. Sustainable. Environmentally friendly. Green. Carbon neutral. Biodegradable. etc Corporate marketing is full of these kinds of claims, which is a good thing as it means that these companies are paying more attention to the sustainability of their businesses—particularly to their environmental impacts—and are communicating about them more openly. But how accountable are they? Acquiring credibility will definitely be a challenge in the current climate but I believe you ave the legitimacy to bring this project to fruition.