Divine Chocolate is a global social enterprise driven by a mission. Our mission is to help end exploitation in the cocoa industry, creating a world where farmers thrive and prosper.
Our business model reflects the belief that producers should earn a share of the profits they help to create. That’s why the a shareholder of Divine Chocolate is Kuapa Kokoo Farmers’ Union, a co-operative of 100,000 cocoa farmers in Ghana who grow the finest quality cocoa for our everyday and seasonal collections. The farmers’ ownership stake in Divine Chocolate is a first in the Fairtrade world.
A social enterprise is all about combining business with social justice, and using business and enterprise as a force for good and a way of making change. Definition by Social Enterprise UK
Cocoa quality is determined from the moment it starts growing on the tree, and it is affected by each stage of the bean-to-bar journey. For this reason, cocoa farmers are well-trained to carry out each stage (from planting through harvesting to fermenting and drying) as carefully as possible.
Kuapa Kokoo’s motto is Pa Pa Paa – which means “Best of the best” in the Ghanaian language of Twi. This motto reflects the members’ pride in the high quality cocoa they produce, a result of the time and care they put in to growing the cocoa
Divine strongly advocates for independent third party verification such as Fairtrade, B Corp, and Organic Certification. Externally audited certifications like these provide consumers with the confidence in the claims we make.
Fairtrade is an independent, third party certification organisation that works in partnership with more than 1.5 million producers in developing countries.
Its mission is to secure decent working conditions, fair prices, and better terms of trade. In this way, producers are empowered to improve their social, environmental and economic sustainability
Each and every one of our products carries the FAIRTRADE Mark on our packaging. Products carrying the Mark meet the internationally-agreed Fairtrade Standards.
Divine Chocolate is licensed by Fairtrade Foundation, the independent, non-profit, local marketing organisation for Fairtrade International, working with businesses in the UK who buy and sell Fairtrade products, and license the use of the FAIRTRADE Mark.
The Fairtrade Certified ingredients in Divine Chocolate products include:
Divine Chocolate is proud to be a Certified B Corporation®. B Corporations are leaders of the global movement of people using business as a force for good. Individually, B Corps meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability, and aspire to use the power of markets to solve social and environmental problems.
Divine is audited and certified as a B Corporation (B Corp) - joining the growing movement of thousands of companies worldwide who are signed up to use business as a force for good. To certify as a B Corp, a company must achieve a minimum verified score of 80 points on the B Impact Assessment. Divine Chocolate achieved a rating of 127.
B Lab also highlights top-performing Certified B Corps on the annual Best for the World lists; in 2018 Divine Chocolate was honoured to be recognised in the ‘Best for Community’ Impact Area.
Organic sales are growing, and we have responded to chocolate lovers who say they actively look for organic ingredients and cocoa content. We have sourced excellent organic and Fairtrade cocoa from São Tomé for our Divine Organic range of Dark Chocolate bars.
In the UK, the range has been certified organic by the Soil Association Certification Limited, the UK’s largest organic certification body.
Organic farming means higher levels of animal welfare, lower levels of pesticides, no manufactured herbicides or artificial fertilisers and more environmentally sustainable management of the land and natural environment, which means more wildlife.
The Soil Association wants to ensure the highest possible standards of animal welfare, environmental and wildlife protection, so they have their own higher – or stricter – standards in key areas compared to EU organic regulation.
For a food product to be labelled as organic, every organisation working up and down its supply chain – from farmers, to packers, to food processors, and organic retailers – have to meet organic standards and prove it to an organic certification body. The wealth of rigorous standards employed by the Soil Association are all designed to ensure that organic food is food you can trust.
The chocolate industry is valued at approximately $100 billion worldwide. But, the cocoa farmers who grow the essential ingredient that makes chocolate chocolate typically only earn about $1 per day.
At Divine, we’re challenging the terms of world trade and advocating that farmers should be sustainably remunerated as suppliers, and have a voice and say in their future. As such, farmers who supply cocoa to Divine benefit in a number of ways, including:
For more than two decades, Divine Chocolate and Kuapa Kokoo have shared a commitment to empowering women. Together, we support women in cocoa farming develop the skills and confidence to grow better cocoa, build better communities and thrive in business.
Explore our history and values in action on our Empowering Women page:
At Divine, we care enormously about the environment. We are committed to doing all we can to make improvements that reduce our environmental impact.
We’ve demonstrated this commitment across various categories within our operations, including:
