06 January 2009
Sophi Tranchell, Managing Director of the leading Fairtrade chocolate company, Divine Chocolate Ltd, has been awarded an MBE in the Prime Minister’s New Year’s Honours List for service to the food industry.
Sophi has led Divine from a under-capitalised idealistic start up in 1999 to today’s status as a mainstream and popular Fairtrade brand with £12m turnover, and profits shared by the Ghanaian cocoa farmers’ cooperative, Kuapa Kokoo, which owns 45% of the company. As well as expertly leading a small dynamic team which has consistently punched above its weight, Tranchell has ensured that Divine presented a challenge to the chocolate industry, proving it was possible to run a successful large scale business with a more equitable and empowering trading relationship with the growers at the start of the supply chain.
Sophi is delighted that this recognition will mean more people hear about and discover Divine, and through it – an alternative way to do business. “It is great to be acknowledged for doing something you love,” she says. “Working for the farmers of Kuapa Kokoo has been a privilege but it has also been a constant inspiration to see chocolate lovers here respond to Divine and the farmer-owned Fairtrade proposition. Growing a business in such a competitive environment can be tough – but chocolate invariably makes people smile – and we offer a very big reason to smile.”
She adds, “In this challenging economic climate I hope that the success of mission-driven companies like Divine heralds a new era of businesses where decision-making and money ends up in the hands of the many, not of the few.”
Throughout her time at Divine Chocolate, Sophi has persuaded banks, faith groups, NGOs, retailers, MPs and thousands of consumers who have heard her speak passionately about Fairtrade, to support and get behind her vision – and be part of a worldwide movement for change. She oversaw a ground-breaking deal with the Co-op which saw all the supermarket’s own-label chocolate converting to Fairtrade, supplied by Divine, and agreements with all the major supermarkets to stock Divine products. She was also behind the launch of Divine Chocolate Inc in the USA in February 2007, and that year was particularly delighted to see Kuapa Kokoo receive its first Dividend cheque as Divine paid off all its loans.
Sophi has always been driven by the compulsion that “when you see something that is wrong, you have to do your best to make it right” and has put her boundless energy, commitment and good humour into changing the way trade with farmers in developing countries is done. Throughout she has considered it an enormous privilege to have been able to work for the 45000 farmers of Kuapa Kokoo who have created such a thriving and dynamic democratically run cooperative.
Divine Chocolate is celebrating its first Decade, and remembering and thanking all those that helped Divine be a success has given the company a big boost to take on the next ten years of growth. Divine continues to aim to get more products, to more people, in more sectors and territories.
Sophi was announced First Woman of Retail and Property and the First Woman awards in 2006, led Divine to win Best Social Enterprise 2007 and Observer Best Ethical Business 2008, is co-chair of Social Enterprise London (SEL) and is on the Council for Social Action, set up by the Cabinet Office of the Third Sector.
Prior to joining Divine Sophi was Managing Director of art film distributors Metro Tartan. She has always fought for human rights issues. She is married with two children and lives in London.
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For further information please contact Charlotte Borger on 07973 394970
Editors’ notes:
• For more details about the Divine range of Fairtrade chocolate and the story of Divine and Kuapa Kokoo visit www.divinechocolate.com
• Divine Chocolate Ltd is co-owned by Kuapa Kokoo, a co-operative of 45,000 cocoa farmers in Ghana who grow the Fairtrade beans for Divine and Dubble, and who share in the profits.
• All Divine products carry the Fairtrade Mark, the independent guarantee certified by the Fairtrade Foundation that the ingredients are sourced under internationally agreed fair trade terms and conditions. These include a guaranteed, secure minimum price, an extra social premium payment for the farmers to invest in their own community programmes, long term trading contracts, decent health and safety conditions – all aimed at empowering farmers to make their own improvements to living standards and prospects for the future.
• Divine Chocolate has won a number of prestigious awards. These include Good Housekeeping’s Favourite Fairtrade Product 2008 and Best Food Brand in the SHE magazine Ethical Awards 2007. Divine Chocolate Ltd was awarded Best Social Enterprise 2007 at the Enterprising Solutions awards run by the Office of the Third Sector. Divine recently won Best Ethical Business at The Observer Ethical Awards 2008.
• The UK chocolate market alone is worth approximately £3.4 billion a year: if Fairtrade products can capture even a small proportion of that market, producers in developing countries gain real benefits.