The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Cocoa Asante, a luxury brand that handcrafts chocolates in the United States of America, Ella Livingston Pinamang has thought of setting up a branch in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region.
The brand based in Tennessee has already secured land for the factory at Abira and sought the blessings of Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II to continue with the construction and subsequently embark on adding value to the country’s cocoa beans.
Sharing her journey with the company in the US, the teacher by profession said her inspiration came from the predominant occupation of her family- cocoa farmers- and the fact that she was dismayed to see production and manufacturing of the beans never took place with the farmers.
“I started Cocoa Asante because I was passionate about my family’s legacy as farmers, both my mom’s side and my dad’s side. I found it unfair that their involvement extended only to growing and harvesting cocoa beans and so it was important to me that we also benefitted from the production and manufacturing of chocolate so that is why I started Cocoa Asante. Our story last year went viral when we received a review and we received over 13 million views on our social media alone. The work I want to do with Cocoa Asante is to bring it here to Kumasi.”
Her intention is to contribute to job and wealth creation, value addition to cocoa beans and pay her dues to the country in infrastructural development.
“My father the Abirahene has given us land to build our factory there so I have come here to receive the blessings of His Majesty so that we can come to Ghana and provide jobs, infrastructural development and production and manufacturing of cocoa products.”
Her ambition is to set up the biggest cocoa company in Kumasi and potentially the only woman-owned one in Ghana or even all of Africa, she said as she presented her business to the Manhyia Palace during the fifth Akwasidae festival on June 24, 2024.
Livingston, who migrated with her parents to the US at age three, started Cocoa Asante in 2018.
Source: Manhyia Palace
