Shawn Askinosie is an author and the founder and CEO of Askinosie Chocolate. His book, Meaningful Work: A Quest to Do Great Business, Find Your Calling, and Feed Your Soul, takes readers on his journey to self-actualization and is a guide to how they can discover the secret to purposeful business. He was also named by Oprah Magazine as one of 15 Guys Who Are Saving the World, and by Forbes as one of the 25 Best Small Companies in America. Shawn joins Gwen Hassan to share how children are exploited in the cocoa beans industry and how Askinosie Chocolate mitigates their supply chain risks.
Compliance professionals are often overextended and not taken care of. A compliance officer’s role should not be viewed as solely to ensure compliance within a company, but also to coach and advise. The work of CSR and ESG departments should be diffused throughout the entire organization. It’s particularly important that these departments are led by lawyers, as they are in a unique position to advocate for change in a way that is credible.
Askinosie Chocolate is a company that sources its cocoa beans directly from farmers, rather than through brokers like most other chocolate companies. They also pay farmers 55% more than the farmgate price and provide advanced payments to help finance the farmers’ harvesting operations. This approach is called “direct trade” and is meant to create a more direct alignment between the chocolate maker and the farmer. This model also helps to mitigate issues like conflict minerals and child trafficking in the supply chain, which can occur when beans are shipped through multiple middlemen, and their origins are not transparent.
Resources
Shawn Askinosie on the Web | LinkedIn | Twitter
Meaningful Work: A Quest to Do Great Business, Find Your Calling, and Feed Your Soul
