Name: Sophi Tranchell
Age: 43
Business: Divine Chocolate
Role: CEO
Where: Founded London, operates internationally 

Later she set up Hammersmith & Fulham Anti Apartheid Group. And before joining Divine in 1999, she was head of Metro Tartan, an independent distribution company with a reputation for cutting edge world cinema.

Sophi joined Divine ten years ago and was at the helm for the launch of Dubble, the first fairtrade product for kids. She is passionate about offering UK consumers top quality chocolate and having the opportunity to empower small-scale farmers. She has now established Divine as a leader in fairtrade chocolate, with a turnover of £9 million.

Sophi is also founding director of Trading Visions, the sister education and awareness raising charity of Divine Chocolate.

A chunk of Divine

In 1998, Divine launched the first ever fairtrade chocolate bar aimed at the mass market. A Ghanaian farmers’ cooperative known as Kuapa Kooko helped set up Divine (formerly the Day Chocolate Company) with the enthusiastic support of The Body Shop, Christian Aid and Comic Relief. The Department for International Development pulled out all the stops to guarantee a business loan, and NatWest offered sympathetic banking facilities.

The co-operative of cocoa farmers inGhana, which grows the cocoa beans for Divine, owns nearly half ofthe shares in the company. In 2006, original Day Chocolate founder, The Body Shop, made a decision to donate its shares in Divine toKuapa Kokoo - so now the farmers' cooperative has an even bigger stake in the business – 45%.

www.divinechocolate.com

Readour in-depth interview with Sophi, here

click here to read Sophi's blog