Omanhene Cocoa Bean Company

Omanhene Cocoa Bean Company is a chocolate company headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. Omanhene is famous for the milk chocolate that they produce. All of Omanhene's chocolate beans come from the lush forests in Ghana. The difference between Omanhene's chocolate from their competitor (according to their website) is that all Omanhene's chocolate bars are made and processed in Ghana, whereas other major competitors to buy the beans from a tropical country and ship them to countries like Canada or the United States to process and make chocolate bars.

History

The Omanhene Cocoa Bean Company was founded in 1991 by Steven C. Wallace and his brother, Jonathan. Steven was an AFS high school student and lived in Ghana for three months in 1978. However, at the age of 29 (in 1991), he returned to Ghana and then started a chocolate business. The name Omanhene in the Twi language, means the "Paramount Chief".

Omanhene chocolate is a single source chocolate, using only beans from smaller family farmers in Ghana. It produces the chocolate in the same factory where the beans are processed into the main ingredients of chocolate (cocoa butter, cocoa liquor, and cocoa powder). Because of this, their chocolate has the opportunity to be made into a shelf stable finished product much sooner - without the degradation of ingredients that occur when cocoa liquor is stored and transported for months prior to being used to make finished chocolate. Although the product is not organic, beans from Ghana, due to the shade grown trees, and family sized farms, are claimed by the company to have a healthier profile with the strong likelihood of less pesticide having been used than in larger cocoa plantations common in other countries.

The factory workers and family farmers have a stake in the Omanhene Cocoa Bean Company.

The company was an early adopter of the UN Global Compact, and has been commented favourably on by the slow food movement in the USA.

The company in addition to its normal products have an 80% cocoa solids Extra Dark Chocolate that is suitable for those who wish to use chocolate as a nutraceutical, for the health benefits found in cocoa liquor.

References

• World Affairs Seminar 2006 speech on Monday, June 19, 2006.
• The Omanhene Cocoa Bean Company Official Website
• The Omanhene Cocoa Bean Company - Online Store
• The Omanhene Cocoa Bean Company - about page
• The Omanhene Cocoa Bean Company - 2 informative videos, one an Infomercial by Omanhene, the other, a profile of their socially responsible business practices, produced by the United Nations.