This last Tuesday we had an incredible opportunity to speak with a woman named Musu Flomo whose parents were cocoa farmers, and who is, coincidentally, working in the cocoa industry right now. This was a great experience considering the fact that Musu is not only from one of our two target countries, Liberia, but is also involved in the cocoa industry. This gave us the chance to ask questions regarding almost anything we desired, such as questions pertaining to Liberia and the cocoa industry, as well as the civil war, and her stories from those times.

After the crew arrived we began to set up for our meeting with Musu over skype. Despite a few technical difficulties, and about ten minutes of 20 some odd people gathering around Shawn’s iPhone on speaker attempting to hear what was going on, we received a skype call from Mr. Ed Seguine (MARS) and we were finally ready to get started.

Shawn opened up with telling Ms. Flomo about our group and what we were doing. He also thanked her for this wonderful opportunity, and then our sourcing team took the floor and the Q&A was finally in session. After finding out much information about the civil war, the cocoa industry, life in Liberia, and many other interesting facts the floor was opened up to whoever had any additional questions, and luckily we had one more very important question. “Can we get a sample?” and we were answered with an excited “of course.”

We are currently one step closer to finding Askinosie Chocolate’s brand new, first ever, African single origin chocolate bar. Now comes the hard part: deciding between Tanzania and Liberia.

Don’t miss our article in the News-Leader!
Students speak with a student from Liberia