# Divine Chocolate > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Divine_Chocolate > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Divine_Chocolate.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_Chocolate > Source revision: 1356461338 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) **Divine Chocolate Limited** is a British purveyor of [Fairtrade](/source/Fairtrade) chocolate. It was originally established in the United Kingdom in 1998 as a company limited by shares co-owned by the [Kuapa Kokoo](/source/Kuapa_Kokoo) cocoa farmers' co-operative in [Ghana](/source/Ghana), [Twin Trading](/source/Twin_Trading) and [The Body Shop](/source/The_Body_Shop), with support from [Christian Aid](/source/Christian_Aid) and [Comic Relief](/source/Comic_Relief_(charity)). The Body Shop subsequently handed their shares over to Kuapa Kokoo which increased Kuapa's share of Divine Chocolate Ltd from 33% to 45% [1] ## Trade practices Divine Chocolate claims that its trading system is unique in that farmers own the biggest stake in the company and share its profit.[2] Divine delivers four streams of income to Kuapa Kokoo: 1. the Fairtrade minimum price for its cocoa, or world price if that is higher, 1. the Fairtrade premium of $200 for every tonne of cocoa, 1. 2% of annual turnover for Producer Support & Development, 1. 44% of distributed profit.[citation needed] ## Ownership Following The Body Shop handing all their shares in the company over to Kuapa Kokoo in 2007, Divine Chocolate Ltd was then owned by the following organizations: - 45% owned by [Kuapa Kokoo](/source/Kuapa_Kokoo), a Fairtrade cocoa farmers cooperative in Ghana. - 43% shares owned by [Twin Trading](/source/Twin_Trading), an [alternative trading organization](/source/Alternative_trading_organization) based in London. - 12% owned by [Oikocredit](/source/Oikocredit), a Dutch [microfinance](/source/Microfinance) institution.[3] In 2015 UK and US businesses merged, giving Kuapa Kokoo a 44% share of the new company - still the biggest share. Divine Chocolate Ltd (UK) has acquired the 69% of Divine Chocolate Inc (USA) that was in other ownership, through a mutually agreed share swap, resulting in Divine Chocolate Ltd owning 100% of Divine Chocolate Inc., whilst bringing in some minority shareholdings to Divine UK. 2025: Ghanaian cooperative Kuapa Kokoo maintains a 20% share in the company. German company Ludwig Weinrich is the new majority shareholder of Divine Chocolate. ## Awards Divine Chocolate was a runner-up in the 2002 [Worldaware Award](/source/Worldaware_Award) for small businesses. The nomination recognized Divine Chocolate for "its courageous and creative marketing stance in favour of fair trade in the highly competitive chocolate confectionery market".[4] Divine Chocolate was voted [Observer](/source/The_Observer) Best Ethical Business in 2008,[5] and Best Social Enterprise in 2007. Divine was also voted Favourite Fairtrade Product by [Good Housekeeping](/source/Good_Housekeeping) in 2008. Two Divine products have received 2013 Great Taste Awards ([Guild of Fine Food](/source/Guild_of_Fine_Food)). Most recently Divine was named Favourite Fairtrade Product in UK, awarded Social Enterprise of the Year 2014,[6] and won the 2015 [Guardian](/source/The_Guardian) Sustainable Business Award for Social Impact Innovation.[7] ## References 1. "Not Just Heavenly, It's Divine". *[Sojourners Magazine](/source/Sojourners_Magazine)*. May 2007. pp. 30–35. 1. ["This page has been removed | The Guardian"](https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/fairtrade-partner-zone/beans-bar-cocoa-traceability-supply-chain). *The Guardian* 1. Divine Chocolate Limited (2007) [Leading Fairtrade Chocolate Company Becomes Even More Divine](http://www.divinechocolate.com/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=90867&strAreaColor=) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20071017134110/http://www.divinechocolate.com/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=90867&strAreaColor=) October 17, 2007 at the Wayback Machine. URL accessed on January 15, 2007. 1. [Worldaware Business Awards 2002 – The Trade Partners Award for Small Businesses in Africa](http://www.worldaware.org.uk/awards/awards2002/daychoc.html) 1. Siegle, Lucy (8 June 2008). ["Observer Ethical Awards 2008: Green at heart"](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/jun/08/ethicalliving.lifeandhealth1). *[The Observer](/source/The_Observer)*. [Guardian News and Media](/source/Guardian_News_and_Media). Retrieved 30 November 2012. 1. ["Sue Perkins announces winners of UK Social Enterprise Awards 2014 / News / Social Enterprise UK"](https://web.archive.org/web/20150516110023/http://socialenterprise.org.uk/news/sue-perkins-announces-winners-social-enterprise-awards-2014). Archived from [the original](http://socialenterprise.org.uk/news/sue-perkins-announces-winners-social-enterprise-awards-2014) on 2015-05-16. Retrieved 2015-05-14. 1. Wills, Jackie (30 April 2015). ["Cocoa farmers spread the taste for Divine Chocolate"](https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/apr/30/cocoa-farmers-spread-the-taste-for-divine-chocolate). *The Guardian*. [ISSN 0261-3077](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0261-3077). Retrieved 2019-09-06. – via www.theguardian.com. ## External links - [Divine Chocolate UK](http://www.divinechocolate.com/uk) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Divine Chocolate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_Chocolate) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_Chocolate?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.