Innovation

Cocoa Potash seeks to improve the lives of cocoa farmers through economic empowerment and skill development while seeking to build a sustainable business that fosters economic prosperity for rural cocoa farmers, especially the youth and women. Through their work, they mentioned that they solve 5 UN SDGS as follows:

1. No poverty: Improve the living standards of farmers, creation of jobs and economic opportunities for women and rural farmers, and give hope to marginalized people, including teenage mothers, widows, divorced women, single mothers and dropped out women.

8. Decent work and economic growth: Access to organic and less costly potash and potash fertilizer to cocoa farmers, training women and marginalized groups and giving them skills to sustain themselves (soap making and financial management)

9 Industry, innovation, and infrastructure: We convert cocoa waste acquired from selected cocoa farms into caustic potash and fertilizers, creating a local value chain for potash and potash fertilizer.

10. Reduced inequality: Partner and work with organizations that prioritize equity and inclusion in their work, recruit and hire a diversified workforce, including people of different beliefs, genders, and backgrounds.

13. Climate action: Recycle cocoa waste into potash(environmental), prevent methane gases from the environment (climate), and eliminate black pod disease that affects cocoa yield.

Inspiration

Ibrahim Quagraine, the CEO & Co-Founder of Cocoa Potash said that he grew up in a family that worked in the cocoa farm business. His mother, uncle, and grandfather were involved in the business so he knew a lot about it growing up. When he was in his first year of college, he along with his roommate founded Cocoa Potash. Initially, they wanted to start a business to make an impact and give back to their community so they thought of starting a local chocolate business. Since they knew that the cocoa field was something that was so popular and abundant in Ghana, that was an appealing choice for them. However, after doing a lot of research, they realized that the waste produced by cocoa was so much that the two engineers got together to tackle that challenge and start Cocoa Potash.

The process of starting their cocoa business took a lot of research and effort. Ibrahim went back home, came back with equipment used for plastic recycling and ran the experiment to see if it can be used to recycle cocoa waste. He along with his co-founder did a lot of experimenting at his professors' lab during his second year of college. They even had to lobby for help with patent applications and raise funds to build a prototype. After all the process, they were able to successfully build one and begin their startup.

Overall impact

Although Cocoa Potash still remains a relatively young business, it has already made significant progress in trailblazing a new avenue for societal and environmental betterment in lower class communities in Ghana. Ibrahim Quagraine’s team has changed many lives. Their business has given many cocoa farms and their surrounding communities, across 9 of the 12 regions of Ghana, the ability to profit off of local resources. Providing these opportunities specifically to marginalized or disadvantaged individuals has contributed to the overall betterment of society. In the coming years, Cocoa Potash has the opportunity to expand and continue establishing such programs that are aimed at offering training and workforce opportunities.

With the introduction of an opportunity to profit off of and reduce overall cocoa plant waste, Cocoa Potash eliminates unnecessary discarding of cocoa waste while simultaneously preventing tons of greenhouse gasses from being released into the air as a result of burning being or being left to rot being the only disposal methods. As the business grows, it will be able to eliminate more and more of the environmental destruction that occurs with every harvest. Furthermore, Cocoa Potash’ technology also works to create potash from other plants, including coconut, cashew nuts, and palm nuts. With such a possibility on the horizon, there is opportunity for the business’ innovative technology to revolutionize both the farming and beauty industries.

Business benefit

Cocoa Potash taps into a mine of new opportunities and business potentials with regard to cocoa products. The innovations of the business are ones that have the potential to spread and be implemented by more cocoa farms across Ghana and the Ivory Coast, the world’s two forefront producers of cocoa. With both those countries experiencing high percentages of unemployment and poverty, Cocoa Potash brings prospects of new sources of income and opportunities. Having only been up and running for about four years now, the business has slowly grown over time. Starting off as just an idea of how one engineering student can help out his community, has flourished into a business with many members that make it such a well-oiled machine. Now the business is run by six professional employees (including Ibrahim Quagraine), a varied number of interns provided by supporting foundations, about 100 seasonal (harvest) workers, and approximately 50 year-round employees charged with farm upkeep.

Ibrahim Quagraine’s business penetrates the beauty industry with sustainable, pure, and organic hygiene and cosmetic products. These ethically sourced soaps and shower gels provide options for the consumer with concerns regarding the source of their products. With more recent pressure to halt global warming impacts and raise the public’s ethical consciousness, Cocoa Potash products are sure to attract attention. Furthermore, the business presents major investment opportunities for cosmetics companies and opportunities for growth in companies already involved in cocoa production. With Cocoa Potash, any consumer can purchase their products knowing that their money is going directly to a business that is benefiting communities in Ghana, helping maintain the environment, and promoting equality and equity within their workforce.

Social and environmental benefit

Cocoa Potash was founded with the need to reverse climate change effects in mind. While there is typically ten tons of waste discarded in the production process of cocoa beans, the business helps eliminate a majority of that by converting the “cocoa waste” into commercially viable products such as soaps, fertilizers, and other hygiene products. Not only does Cocoa Potash tap into a new source of economic growth, but it does so in the benefit of its community. They have created skill training programs as well as opened up job offerings that allow carefully selected community members, with priority to youth and women who are divorced, single mothers, uneducated, etc, to cultivate new skills and find a means to benefit financially. Cocoa farmers also benefit from the ability to expand on their product and even profit off of a defective harvest as the plant would still contain potash.

Moreover, Cocoa Potash has introduced and implemented more safe, sustainable, and efficient methods of farming and producing the plant. As cocoa beans only make up 20-25% of the entire fruit, the rest is discarded by either leaving it on the soil, which adds acidity that decreases the overall fertility and breeds bacteria, or by burning it, which poses the risk of bushfires during dry season and releases a large amount of smoke and gasses that are negative for the environment. By eliminating most to all of that waste straight away, that significantly reduces the environmental harm produced by the process, while also saving cocoa farmers from the costs of having to discard the waste.

Interview

Ibrahim Quagraine, CEO & Co-Founder