An Interview With...Sophi Tranchell

‘An Interview with... Sophi Tranchell’:  The Managing Director of Divine Chocolate calls for Cadbury to convert all their remaining brands to Fairtrade and reveals a preference for dark chocolate

Monday 7 February 2011

Sophi Tranchell, Managing Director of Divine Chocolate, praises chocolate giant Cadbury for converting their Dairy Milk brand to Fairtrade, but says there is more that can be done in the latest edition of ‘An Interview With…’ the monthly podcast series by The Social Investment Business.

Whilst Tranchell speaks highly of Kraft’s promise to honour Cadbury’s move to Fairtrade since its takeover in 2010, she describes Cadbury’s and Divine’s approaches to Fairtrade as different, and advocates building long term relationships which empower cocoa farmers. Tranchell says that the majority-ownership of Divine by the Kuapa Kokoo farmers has been ‘absolutely essential’ to the brand’s success in transforming the chocolate industry. She says involving the farmers at this level of the organisation has enabled them to connect with others around the world and see the impact of their work through creative use of social media, as well as enable some of them to travel the world, informing and educating others of their work. Tranchell also credits key partnerships formed with The Body Shop, The Co-op and Christian Aid, for helping Divine to break into the £3.6bn UK chocolate market which is heavily dominated by the top three brands.

Tranchell also provides some key advice to social enterprises on how they can scale up to a similar level as Divine when competing in large, mature markets: namely working in partnerships, a great product and a strong team. She also revealed a preference for dark chocolate over milk chocolate in the quick fire quiz.

‘An Interview With...’ is a monthly podcast series from The Social Investment Business featuring short interviews with leading figures in social enterprise and civil society.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

1.  Listen to ‘An Interview With... Sophi Tranchell' and read the full transcript here: http://www.thesocialinvestmentbusiness.org/aninterviewwith/

2.  For more information about Divine visit www.divinechocolate.com

3.  Check out the resources section on The Social Investment Business website: http://www.thesocialinvestmentbusiness.org/resources/

4.  For further information or interviews, please contact The Social Investment Business press office:

Liz Banks - 0207 842 7726/ 07809 504072  liz.banks@socialinvestmentbusiness.org

Nicola Jones - 0207 842 7755 nicola.jones@socialinvestmentbusiness.org

5. The Social Investment Business, the fastest growing social investor in the UK, exists to help social enterprises, charities and community organisations do more of what they do best – supporting people and communities most in need. We help organisations prosper by providing innovative financial solutions, business support and long term strategic thinking.

www.thesocialinvestmentbusiness.org @TheSocialInvest

6. The Social Investment Business manages Government funds on behalf of the Office for Civil Society, the Department of Health and the Department for Communities and Local Government, with over 1,000 active investments. These range from £3,600 to help a small organisation bid successfully for a public sector contract, to £6.7million to help a large national charity establish and develop innovative new services for children and young people.