African Cocoa Marketplace (ACM) recently launched a new marketplace platform designed to connect African cocoa sellers with global buyers and investors.
The new platform, which assists buyers with finding the exact cocoa products they need for their businesses, is backed by due diligence that ensures that every marketing claim made by a seller has been vetted and certified according to ACM’s standards. This certification enhances supply chain visibility and sustainability within the cocoa sector.
SustainabilityOnline.net spoke to Dr. Kristy Leissle, founder and CEO of African Cocoa Marketplace, about the new platform, and how it will enhance sector sustainability. We started by asking her what was missing from existing marketplace services for cocoa buyers and sellers.
‘A common language’
“What was missing from the market was a scalable way for sellers of African cocoa products to communicate with global buyers, using a common language around business needs and values,” Leissle explains. “The existing third-party certification models can go a long way to getting buyers and sellers to align on a particular value system or vision of trade ethics, but having a certification does not equate with global market access.
“Nor does having a relationship with an international buyer – or even a lead to meet such a buyer – necessarily mean that a cocoa seller in Africa can meet the due diligence expectations of that buyer, or have the marketing tools to make a strong business case for receiving a premium, a long-term contract, or whatever it is that seller needs.
“ACM brings all these elements together into one marketplace – in which every cocoa product will be ‘ACM Certified’ – creating a scalable way for Africa’s cocoa sellers and international buyers to search for one another according to criteria that matter to their businesses.”
Certification process
One of the key features of ACM is the certification process, which ensures that marketing claims made by sellers are vetted and verified. According to Leissle, this is backed by a team of ACM seller engagement specialists work across West Africa, in countries like Ghana, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, to support sellers through the onboarding process and ensure that they meet ACM’s certification standards.
“The first step is to complete a questionnaire that helps ACM understand a seller’s business capacity,” says Leissle. “Are they a new market entrant, or well established? What reports do they have that give insight into their business health and scope of operations? If their responses suggest the seller is ready to start marketing on ACM’s Marketplace, we move to the next phase of due diligence, which involves collating supporting documents, gathering and triangulating sales information, and even creating or compiling multimedia content that will give further insights into the seller’s business realities.
“Because ACM works on a two-way transparency process, we do the same with buyers: gathering evidence that supports a buyer’s claims to support a set of production values or trade ethics, for example, paying a premium for cocoa.
“By understanding what both seller and buyer bring to the table – and using the same categories for our due diligence with both parties – ACM’s Marketplace can then help buyers and sellers find their best-fit business partners and begin the trade negotiation with a shared vision for cocoa sustainability.”
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Climate resilience
Climate change has had a significant impact on cocoa production in Africa, with unpredictable weather patterns, changes in rainfall patterns and periods of drought, and severe climate events disrupting agricultural production.
“The seasons are becoming more volatile before our eyes,” says Leissle. “ACM also maintains close communication with farmers and farmer groups in our areas of work, who share with us their stories about how climate change has impacted their lives and livelihood.”
An ACM series, A Cocoa Season in Ghana with John Adamnor, tracks these changes first-hand, following Ghanaian cocoa farmer, John Adamnor as he shares the progress of his cocoa-growing season.
“In our very first episode, John talked about the dramatic impact last season’s unpredictable rainfall and drought patterns had on his yields: they were a third of recent seasons, five bags of cocoa when normally he would get 15,” says Leissle. “During the minor crop, John did share a more hopeful outlook on the upcoming season. We’ll continue to witness this story as it unfolds over the coming months, as the main crop gets fully underway and we learn if the weather is favourable in Ghana or not.”
ACM’s approach to addressing these challenges is to help sellers secure better contract terms, which may include higher prices, price premiums, or long-term contracts. In turn, these improved terms enable farmers and their families to reinvest in their farms and communities, with the knock-on effect of improving climate resilience.
However, this is far from guaranteed.
“There is no silver bullet for climate resilience,” says Leissle. “There is no one program or project or solution that is going to solve the climate crisis for cocoa or any other crop. It’s going to take systemic change. I see ACM’s role in this as providing a way for cocoa sellers to advocate for their needs in the trade negotiation, and to share their honest reality in a compelling way, so that buyers see and understand that need.
“My hope and expectation is that once more buyers become attuned to seller realities, they will be willing to resource the improvement of cocoa communities, including around climate resilience. So we can hopefully begin to see pockets of climate resilience that will grow and expand to make the systemic change that is so urgently needed.”
Social sustainability
Another aspect of ACM’s mission involves promoting gender equity, female empowerment and youth rights. According to Dr. Leissle, the group is “committed to supporting African talent and leading through the example of empowering young people and women in their professional roles”, in turn ensuring a more equitable future.
“ACM’s Marketplace and our core services are also designed to promote the achievements of women and young people in the cocoa trade,” she explains. “For example, gender equity is a category of due diligence for ACM Certification.
“If a cocoa seller or buyer claims that their organisation or company supports gender equity, we then have a further breakdown of that category into practical terms, so that the seller or buyer can share exactly how they achieve equitable gender outcomes. Is it through quotas for women’s representation in leadership? Through charitable works that support women and girls? Gender-sensitive budgeting?”
As she notes, it’s not enough for a business to simply state that it supports gender equality – the ACM certification process requires transparency and accountability in this area.
“We are not expecting any buyer or seller on ACM’s Marketplace to solve every challenge of women or youth empowerment,” Dr. Leissle adds. “We want to know that they have evidence to back up their claim to supporting that value, so that we can promote it in trade negotiations and encourage resources to flow towards effective ways of meeting these critical challenges.”
Find out more about African Cocoa Marketplace (ACM) at cocoamarket.com. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones.
