Spotlight: Creating Social Change & Impact Through Business Innovation
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Madécasse, a winner of our 2008 Social Venture Competition is one of many in our vibrant pipeline of entrepreneurs excited about starting ventures that catalyze large-scale social change.
Since the competition, Madécasse has been named one of the 50 Most Innovative Companies in the World for "building a chocolate company in one of the poorest countries in the world" by Fast Company (along with Apple, Google, Amazon, Twitter, etc) and was also honored by the UN Office for Partnerships and the Foundation for Social Change as a company that uses business solutions to solve environmental problems.
Nearly six years since the company was founded, its products are sold in over 2,000 stores in the US alone, plus outlets in 15 countries on four continents. Sales have doubled in each of the past couple of years. And the firm’s commitment to sustainability and local farmers helped it attract financing last fall from Verde Ventures, an investment fund managed by Conservation International that provides support for small- and medium-sized businesses that contribute to healthy ecosystems and human well-being.
Madagascar has a thriving cocoa export industry and a small chocolate manufacturing capacity for local consumption, but Tim McCollum and Brett Beach, who had both been posted there for the Peace Corps, saw an opportunity to create the first vertically integrated chocolate exporter in Africa by partnering with local growers and chocolate makers. Brian McCollum, then at Stern, was brought on to write the business plan, which they took straight to the Berkley Center’s Business Plan Competition.
Co-founder Tim McCollum (c) of Madécasse works closely with farmers in Madagascar, one of the poorest nations in the world.
During the process, recalled Brian McCollum, “We got a ton of feedback very quickly from a lot of people. At each of the five or six stages of the competition, we got to sit down with different groups of people, such as venture capitalists, which was incredibly valuable. In the poster session, faculty and students walk around and interact with you and help you refine your ideas. It’s a good reality check.” The feedback convinced the team to focus on chocolate initially, and leave vanilla exporting for a later stage, and also helped it position the brand in the “sweet spot” between high-end and socially conscious chocolate, Brian McCollum said.
On deck for Madécasse: new markets, including South Africa and Australia; new chocolate bars; and the vanilla extract product line the team had initially contemplated.
Since the competition, Madécasse has been named one of the 50 Most Innovative Companies in the World for "building a chocolate company in one of the poorest countries in the world" by Fast Company (along with Apple, Google, Amazon, Twitter, etc) and was also honored by the UN Office for Partnerships and the Foundation for Social Change as a company that uses business solutions to solve environmental problems.
Nearly six years since the company was founded, its products are sold in over 2,000 stores in the US alone, plus outlets in 15 countries on four continents. Sales have doubled in each of the past couple of years. And the firm’s commitment to sustainability and local farmers helped it attract financing last fall from Verde Ventures, an investment fund managed by Conservation International that provides support for small- and medium-sized businesses that contribute to healthy ecosystems and human well-being.
Madagascar has a thriving cocoa export industry and a small chocolate manufacturing capacity for local consumption, but Tim McCollum and Brett Beach, who had both been posted there for the Peace Corps, saw an opportunity to create the first vertically integrated chocolate exporter in Africa by partnering with local growers and chocolate makers. Brian McCollum, then at Stern, was brought on to write the business plan, which they took straight to the Berkley Center’s Business Plan Competition.
Co-founder Tim McCollum (c) of Madécasse works closely with farmers in Madagascar, one of the poorest nations in the world.
During the process, recalled Brian McCollum, “We got a ton of feedback very quickly from a lot of people. At each of the five or six stages of the competition, we got to sit down with different groups of people, such as venture capitalists, which was incredibly valuable. In the poster session, faculty and students walk around and interact with you and help you refine your ideas. It’s a good reality check.” The feedback convinced the team to focus on chocolate initially, and leave vanilla exporting for a later stage, and also helped it position the brand in the “sweet spot” between high-end and socially conscious chocolate, Brian McCollum said.
On deck for Madécasse: new markets, including South Africa and Australia; new chocolate bars; and the vanilla extract product line the team had initially contemplated.
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social entrepreneurship