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Steve
Wallace’s Omanhene Chocolate is guilt-free, not only because
it uses only slave-free cocoa beans from Ghana, but because
the company’s focus on dark and dark milk chocolate products
has newly touted health benefits.
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From his home in Whitefish Bay and a
$9,000 loan from his life insurance policy, Steve Wallace started an
international business to sell the best slave-free, guilt-free,
politically correct chocolate in the world. He was among the first to
forge an international business venture between the United States and
the government of Ghana. The business is called Omanhene, an African
Twi word meaning chief, the repository of ethical and moral authority.
The mission of the business is to
process the cocoa grown by local family farmers into chocolate
products for export, keeping both agricultural and manufacturing
dollars in Ghana, and thereby helping to improve the lives of the
people of Ghana. Until recently, all cocoa beans grown in Ghana were
exported to other countries that produced the more profitable finished
cocoa products such as chocolate. Wallace says if you take beans
offshore, you’re taking value offshore. He believes that private
business and not charity is the most effective way to help the people
of Ghana deal with economic hardships.
Omanhene was started in 1991 and has
experienced 55 percent average annual growth during the past three
years. It is a unique chocolate company in that its 300 factory
workers are shareholders in the company. They also receive subsidized
housing, free health care, meals and transportation. Economic
opportunities have translated into an increase in disposable income
and improved community infrastructures.
Here’s more with Steve Wallace:
Q: How did you get interested in
starting a chocolate factory in Ghana?
A: My interest in Ghana stems from my
foreign exchange student experience in 1978 when I was 16. I lived
with a Ghanaian family — Yao, the father, his three wives and 21
children. I loved Ghana and vowed I would help the people here when I
grew up.
Q: Why did you choose chocolate as
your vehicle to help the people of Ghana?
A: It hit me all at once. Chocolate
bars. Why hadn’t Ghana tried to develop chocolate bars to compete on
the world market? Once I considered the idea of chocolate bars made in
Ghana, I simply couldn’t let go. Sure, Switzerland makes fine
chocolate, but how many cocoa trees actually grow in Zurich? I was
convinced that if Ghana can grow the finest cocoa in the world, then
it should be able to produce the finest chocolate in the world.
Q: How did you convince the Ghanaian
government to work with you?
A: I was a pain in the neck. I was
sitting in the minister’s office, a very formal looking British
office. The receptionist asked me if I made an appointment. I said no
because your phones weren’t working. She said there were no
appointments for four weeks. I explained I had a plane ticket back to
the U.S. three weeks from now, and I have nothing to do meantime, so I
will just sit and wait until I have an answer. The room got hot and
the receptionist told the minister that there’s a very pale-skinned
person sitting in your office and he won’t go away.
Q: Where can you buy Omanhene
Chocolate locally?
A: Omanhene Chocolate products are
sold through the company’s Web site, www.omanhene.com, or by calling
(800) 588-2462. In Milwaukee you can find the chocolate at Pick ’n
Save, V. Richards Market, Outpost Natural Foods, Alterra Coffee
Roasters and Sendik’s Food Market.
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