Divine Chocolate was launched in 1998. The organization aims to improve the livelihoods of West African cocoa farmers by creating a premium branded chocolate in the United Kingdom. Divine Chocolate works as a cooperative; one of the main ways in which Divine is different from other social enterprises is that the farmers are part owners of the company. It has taken partnership, a lot of passion, and even more persistence but Divine Chocolate is now a multi million-pound company with cocoa farmers sharing the profits.
Key takeaways:
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Don’t let big players scare you away. Divine Chocolate entered a very mature and competitive chocolate market in the UK dominated by five companies. Divine Chocolate successfully proved that no matter how small of an organization you start, there will always be room for new players to enter a saturated industry.
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Competing in the mainstream market meant that Divine needed great advertising and marketing. Divine constantly explores new ways of communicating with their target market. Divine’s great success has also been due to numerous celebrity endorsements.
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Rather than competing against other farmers in the village, Divine Chocolate farmers collaborate with each other resulting in increased productivity that leads to higher revenues for the whole village.