We are KANY. KANY SCOOPS from Ivory Coast.

KANY’s ambitious idea first took shape in Séguié in 2016, in the south-east of Ivory Coast in the heart of Abbey country, a traditional community that fiercely resisted colonization.

This idea was to revolutionize the cocoa sector by promoting the contribution of women, by acting in a transparent and fair manner for producers, stopping the centuries-old, systematic and abusive use of chemical inputs, to move towards organic and regenerative production practices, in order to sustainably preserve cocoa production and impact the life of the community.

Hortense is one of KANY’s first producers and mother of 6 children. With her husband Bédel, she takes care of over 3 hectares of organic cocoa.

Thanks to KANY and its partners, Hortense participated in several training courses on organic production, cocoa quality and agricultural diversification. Hortense is one of the trainers that was trained by GIZ to improve cassava and plantain production. Hortense and Bédel are a hardworking couple, committed and open to innovations. They represent the farmer model that KANY promotes.

Founder

Louise Topé is Ivorian, a mother of 6 children, an agronomist with more than 15 years of experience in agriculture, certification and development of rural areas.

Throughout her career, she has been touched by the conditions of rural women and concerned by the lack of commitment from operators for more transparent and fairer supply chains which benefit farmers.

The KANY initiative stands out for her, as a living corrective measure to all the inconsistencies in the cocoa sector.

The March Torwards Certification

As organic and fair trade were a part of KANY’s founding principles, certification was predestined. On May 1, 2016, the constitutive general assembly was held in Séguié with 14 farmer members who had reservations about certification. Intense awareness-raising and training sessions were the start to changing farmer and community mentalities.

By 2019, the women and men of Séguié had welcomed the project and KANY achieved organic and fair trade certification, with 116 farmers

Challenges

Despite achieving certification, major challenges remained to be overcome by the young startup: the lack of cooperative spirit among the farmers, the lack of financial means to run operations, a marketing system that is quite unfavorable for small operators and primarily, the lack of buyers for the certified product were part of the problems which almost pushed KANY to close its doors.

A New Chance with ALL-ONE

At the end of 2020, KANY had the extraordinary chance to be connected with the soap company, Dr Bronner’s, and become one of its suppliers for its new Magic Chocolate brand – and the magic works!

KANY is now the main supplier of cocoa beans for Magic Chocolate.

KANY is very proud of this important partnership, which operates beyond fair trade standards and directly impacts the preservation of the environment and the life of communities.

We invite you all to join us in this march for the construction of clean and sustainable supply chains.

We invite you all to join us in this march for the construction of clean and sustainable supply chains…