Acumen partnered with Hershey to publish Cocoa Interrupted: The Role of Social Enterprise in Cocoa Sustainability. The report highlights the stories social enterprises in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire that use for-profit models to creatively and sustainably address the varied needs of cocoa-growing communities. It includes concrete recommendations for how to add social enterprise to a corporate sustainability toolkit.
The authors hope that "through this report, corporations can see the potential for social enterprises to play a role in making cocoa a force for good. Acumen launched this project because we had understood that there are many actors within the cocoa industry that want to see more progress and more impact, and are open to bold new ideas, even if they are risky and unproven. This report is a first step.
After nine months of research and 40 interviews with corporations, social entrepreneurs, cocoa experts and intermediaries focused in West Africa, we have seen and believe there is a tremendous opportunity for corporations to work with social enterprises to tackle many of the highest priority issues impacting cocoa communities and the health of the industry. Our research uncovered examples of partnerships between chocolate industry leaders and social enterprises, demonstrating the potential of this approach as well as its complexity."