W4 Video case study

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Seattle's Theo Chocolate is more than a chocolate company—it's a philanthropic venture. Founder Joe Whinney believes that every member of the company's supply chain—especially cocoa farmers—should have a higher quality of life as a result of partnering with his business. Whinney pays up to three times more than the going rate to buy cacao from poor farmers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). According to Theo's visionary leader, Americans will pay more for chocolate bars when they know that impoverished farmers benefit from the sale. The decision to work with farmers in Congo stems from Whinney's interactions with The Eastern Congo Initiative, a community partnership founded by actor Ben Affleck to provide aid to the impoverished nation. In 2009, Affleck led a group of philanthropists to the jungles of Congo to visit the nation's farmers and to see the cacao trees. Today, Whinney and Affleck train Congo farmers to develop their local communities while supplying Theo Chocolate with its core ingredient—hundreds of tons of delicious cacao.