Tuesday, December 28, 2010

There's a great new product that we have at the Park Slope Food COOP. It's a chocolate called Madécasse. It has an awesome history, whereby one of my fellow NYU MBA alumni brought an idea to fruition. There's an annual Social Entrepreneurship competition at school, called the Satter Family Prize, and he and the co-founders have really helped revolutionize chocolate production for an increasing number of villagers in Madagascar. A snippet from the NYU site is below. I was moved by their story, and I'm extremely excited to see their products in the COOP. Additionally, NYU's focus on Social Entrepreneurship and helping incubate ideas such as this one continues to be inspiring.
From: http://w4.stern.nyu.edu/berkley/bpc.cfm?doc_id=100263

Founders: Brian McCollum (MBA '07) and co-founders Brett Beach and Tim McCollum

Madécasse imports specialty food products grown and manufactured in Madagascar. Focused primarily on goods made from locally grown cocoa and vanilla beans, the group aims to bridge the gap between poverty and potential in emerging markets using Equitrade. A model that builds upon the Fair Trade concept, Equitrade requires both the farming and the manufacturing of products to be completed within the country of origin. Based on market trends showing that consumers are increasingly interested in a product origin and in purchasing goods from ethical and sustainable enterprises, Madécasse distributes their premium chocolate bars and other food products to retail outlets across the US.