Divine Chocolate Case Study

Divine Chocolate: A case study on social enterprises, their influence on society, for-profit businesses and challenges they face

Submitted by: Mahak Sharma (20149292)

The concept of social enterprise is not recent although it has gained a lot of popularity in recent years. A prominent example of the implementation of this concept can be seen in the Islamic banking system. [1] One of the seven deadly sins in Islam is usury. In order to accommodate this, Sharia banking system employs the use of profit sharing wherein the borrower and lender consent to divvy the risk of profit or loss from an investment/loan instead of paying a fixed rate of interest. This deems social enterprises more socially advantageous than their conventional counterparts.

It sells Fairtrade chocolates [4] and its social goal is to improve the lives of the Ghanaian cocoa farmers by producing and selling chocolate bars that enable the farmers to earn more from sales of the chocolate bars.

Divine Chocolate is a stellar example to highlight how mainstream businesses can create a positive social impact by translating its enterprise strategy into social objectives. The following paragraph will highlight financial, resource mobilization, health, education, farmer support, community welfare, women empowerment benefits gained by the community.

Divine Chocolate 's 100% commitment to Fairtrade and hybrid farmer-owned business model yields significant social benefits. Firstly, Fairtrade guarantees a fair deal for producers (farmers) in developing countries to cover all their costs while ensuring sustainable trade of cocoa beans. [5] Secondly, by selling Fairtrade cocoa beans, the co-operative of

In 2009, Cadbury 's Dairy Milk and Chocolate Buttons followed in Divine Chocolate 's footsteps and switched to Fairtrade becoming the first mainstream brand to do so. [10] The cocoa for Dairy Milk is now sourced from Kuapa Kokoo as well which has created more jobs for the community while simultaneously increasing competition for Divine Chocolate. Divine Chocolate has helped propel forward an undertaking that has seen sales of Fairtrade certified products grow rapidly. Subsequently, a number of well-known brands also switched whole product ranges to Fairtrade including Starbuck 's (espresso-based coffees), Sainsbury 's brand tea, Tate & Lyle 's sugar amongst many others. [11] [12] [13] Another great impact Divine Chocolate has had resulted from its collaboration with Comic Relief in 2000 to create the first Fairtrade product for young people: Dubble. [14] The brand expanded its product line to include Easter eggs and mini eggs. More than 50,000 youth supporters of Fairtrade have signed up to represent Dubble as agents to change the world, “chunk by chunk” thus educating the younger generation on sustainability