5 minute read
Meet The Dapaah Brothers: Ghanaian Chocolate
Tell us a little about your own background?
Our parents came to the UK from Ghana in the early 1990s and my siblings and we were born, raised in and lived in South London since. I describe myself as a career portfolioist in that I have multiple hats that I wear. The majority of my work sits in the intersection of entrepreneurship, education, and social inclusion; through programme development and digital content production. I’m also a writer and award-winning podcaster, alongside of course being a co-founder of Dapaah Chocolates.
How did your ‘Dapaah’ brand of vegan chocolate come about?
It’s a fun story and the way it plays out in my head sometimes is a little different to how my brother, Raphael may re-collect, but essentially, it was really the brainchild of Raphael. In 2016, he had spent some time in Ghana visiting family and was taken on a tour of our family’s farmland by our uncle. Obviously we knew that cocoa was Ghana’s main export but didn’t know the full extent to which generations of our family on both sides had been involved in the industry, dating back as far as the 1950s.
During that trip, realising the great opportunity that processing organic cocoa into chocolate could bring for the local community in the form of higher wages and jobs, Raphael was struck with the idea of creating our own premium artisan chocolate and disrupting the chocolate industry’s status quo.
Coincidentally, when he pitched the idea to me I was in Ghana working with a social enterprise and so with my entrepreneurial spirits already high I immediately saw the vision and jumped on board, and later on when we were all back in London our sister, Afia, joined. Thus, our brand is really continuing a legacy that was initiated over seven decades ago.
Fabulous name by the way. Is there a story behind the name?
Haha, that story is more straightforward as Dapaah is actually our surname. As a family business, our heritage and culture plays a big part in our story and mission at large so it made sense to honour that by using our surname. We’re just fortunate that it sounds great too.
How have you found launching a new vegan chocolate brand in the UK?
Any new endeavour, business or otherwise, invites some challenges but it has actually been a really fun process for us. It immediately can sound daunting going up against huge competitors in the chocolate world, but I’ve never really seen it like that. Our approach has always been to celebrate our heritage, focus on quality, and grow organically, which is exactly what we have done and what seems to have resonated with our customers. I knew that the market was missing a really good dairyfree chocolate so being able to really throw ourselves into that niche and build strong relationships with our customers has been vital. Their feedback really helped develop our product in the early days because we taught ourselves how to do everything from scratch. We’ve been able to master our craft and experiment more with daring special edition bars like our Chin Chin chocolate collections or pairing our chocolate with smoked almonds, or plantain chips, which has been super popular. Our story is also so unique that people fall in love with it as much as the chocolate itself, which has led to us being honoured at the Young British Food & Drink Awards 2019 and receiving really positive press with VICE, British Vogue, the BBC etc.
What are your plans for the next 12 months or so?
Our plans are to slowly scale up our capacity to keep up with our growing demand. We’re in a fortunate position that we have a solid core customer base which sometimes means our supply is a little outstripped so we’re re-investing in some new equipment to meet this.
We’re also getting extra creative in our branding which we’re really excited to reveal in due course. We really see our chocolates as works of art and customers will have that reflected more and more in every element from the taste, design and packaging of the bars, and even the collaborations that we do in the art world.
We hear about problems with cocoa production in West Africa, child labour and unfair wages – how bad are the problems?
There is no doubt that the problems are stark. Of the $130bn global chocolate industry, cocoa farmers see only a small fraction of the value chain, up to 7% at most, with manufacturers and retailers taking the lion’s share.
When the growers are earning such low wages for their work, you can sometimes find children being brought into the fold to support their family, which is an unfortunate reality. However, in nations like Ghana, where we hail from and source our cocoa from, child labour is very much on the decline due to the monitoring and regulatory measures in place and the enforceable action taken by the Government, as well as cocoa buyers who demand greater transparency and accountability. abroad. A big milestone for us is to be able to set up producing facilities in Ghana to keep more of the value chain local.
What’s holding back progress?
There are a number of hindrances including infrastructure issues, distance from global markets and power demands due to the climate, but ultimately these are barriers that can be overcome with strong policies that support the businesses that are positioned to drive the industry.
How can people help a bit more?
Think about your consumption choices. Avoid buying mass produced chocolate from the companies that perpetuate the problem and support those that are trying to change the status quo.
And finally – they do look delicious - where can we buy your chocolates?
You can buy our chocolates directly from our online store
www.dapaahchocolates.com
