A Systemic Solution:​ Integrating & Scaling For-Benefit Business Models in Cocoa

 

Sourcing from and partnering with mission-aligned for-benefit enterprises can solve for many challenges in cocoa value chains and help unlock cocoa companies’ ability to achieve their sustainability commitments and objectives.

 

Companies can leverage their buying power to create demand for for-benefits in their value chains by instituting a procurement preference for them. This will incentivize new for-benefit entrants and transitions from existing players, thus improving social and environmental outcomes throughout the value chains and delivering across all the SDGs.

 

Broadly, a for-benefit procurement preference can build on and strengthen initiatives in supplier diversity and sustainable sourcing, but it can also go beyond by supporting an enabling environment for for-benefits along the value chain and their path for continuous improvement.

 

In cocoa value chains, an increase of for-benefit enterprises across translates specifically into business models that pay fairer wages, are more transparent, have strong commitments to reduce environmental impacts, and have an overall management and legal structure that hold the enterprises accountable to putting into action the critical social and environmental commitments.

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