Starting an Indigenous Chocolate Factory

Original Chocolate from the Source

Piaroa Organic Wild (POW) Cacao from the Amazon

Globcal International is starting a new sustainable development project with Ecology Crossroads of Kentucky to help establish the first indigenous owned and operated chocolate factory in Venezuela under the observation and guidance of the international community through our organization.

Piaroa Organic Wild Cacao from the Guiana Highlands grown by the Guardians of the Forest.

The new venture will offer true wild forastero 'chocolate of origin' harvested and crafted by the indigenous Piaroa tribe of the Guiana Highlands in Amazonia's Orinoco River watershed, one of several potential original sources of the cacao tree. It is from the Orinoco and Black River (Rio Negro) that the tree may have made it's way north to the Caribbean, Trinidad including Mexico and south to Brazil by river, further through the indigenous peoples that have used and traded beans for thousands of years.

The project will be developed online as a crowdfunding campaign to form a social enterprise and will feature cocoa beans that are wild collected and harvested, then cured and sun-dried before being transformed into an amazing flavorful aromatic chocolate bar by members of the indigenous Piaroa tribe of Amazonas, Venezuela. The chocolate will be offered for direct international shipment using EMS (Express Mail Service) and made available through a distributors network for resale.

Cacao Piaroa

The Piaroa are new to the chocolate making scene, but they are not new to growing, harvesting or curing cacao beans, they have been propagating and planting cacao trees as a forest crop at least "since the late 1950's," according to tribal elders; they have been practicing ecologically sustainable agriculture for over 1,000 years. Cacao represents a major portion of their income with some communities producing several tons each per year. Agriculturally they are one of the most autonomous indigenous societies in Venezuela. The Piaroa also harvest other non-wood forest resources like fruits, nuts and honey as well as make handicrafts.

Traditionally (with cocoa beans) the Piaroa have not been treated fairly in the marketplace (selling their beans for a mere fraction of their value to predatory middlemen), this caused our organization to take an interest in their case in 2018. We were pleased to discover after doing research that their beans were being produced into premium craft chocolates by several bean-to-bar entrepreneurs in North America and were prized and cited with recognition internationally. Now because of governmental imposition into the cocoa trade it is difficult for anyone to purchase their beans.

"Knowing the importance and quality of their beans after receiving a sample and investigating other companies who have purchased their beans for making bar chocolate we came up with the ideal of them taking their operation one-step further by helping the Piaroa make the chocolate themselves here in Venezuela for international distribution and sale, which will ensure a them a fair-trade price to the grower and new work opportunities for the community." - David J. Wright

This year because government interference in the cocoa trade and changes to the local economy the Piaroa have not been able to find a fair price for their beans so they consulted with our organization to help them develop a crowdfunding project to both ensure them that they will get a premium price for their excellent beans in coming years and so they can earn more by producing the chocolate themselves, in our view by using the beans themselves they can increase the cacao farmer's income by 6x which is welcome news to the producers and creates new employment opportunities for others in the community.

Objective: Build a Chocolate Factory

The objective is to build a chocolate factory with international cooperation efforts and goodwill in the social media through a crowdfunding campaign to find investors, members and partners for the program.

The crowdfunding project we are developing with chocolate company involves the use of up 49% (49,000 shares) of the company being cooperatively (collectively) owned by independent investors while the other 51% will belong to members.The preferred shares are valued at $10 each and will be sold for $11-$12 each to cover funds transfer fees and crowdfunding commissions. The funds are needed in order to have adequate operating capital to start the business and operate for two years until such time the company can become solvent.

In a the business plan being crafted the preferred investor is offered a 15% return over their investment after one calendar year or they can wait until the third year to double or perhaps triple their original investment with when the company is valuated. The calendar year begins once the first 30,000 shares are sold, the equipment is installed and the factory is opened. We are looking to fund the program by May of 2020, begin the project before the end of the month and start producing chocolate by early July of 2020.

The other 51% of the company belongs to the De'Aruhuä Cacao Cooperative & Trust (in formation) through Ecology Crossroads who is legally responsible for the delivery, development and execution of project, providing management and oversight is our organization Globcal International.

The Piaroa recently brought us 2.9 metric tons of cocoa beans from the Amazon to the factory location in the city of Caracas, which will soon be under construction. In the coming months (now in less than 1 year) using state of the art stainless steel pots and high-impact chocolate molds the Piaroa will begin to make their own fine chocolate. Several members of the tribe will be attending bean-to-bar chocolate workshops in Venezuela to learn about making chocolate.

Its not unusual for Venezuela to offer such exquisitely good chocolate considering that it is believed the cacao tree holds its origins there, some say in the Orinoco basin which is where our chocolate originates. Different original cultivars and varieties of cacao are also grown throughout Venezuela. One of the oldest companies in Venezuela, Casa Franceschi has been growing and supplying cacao beans to European chocolate makers since 1830, they also have a genetic collection of different sub-species, varieties and strains used in the industry.

Chocolate is an excellent business, according to the Internet there will be over 130 billion dollars worth of chocolate sold this year worldwide, about 30 billion dollars of that is in the craft chocolate bar industry.

Chocolate as a Financial Solution for Globcal

Globcal International has been looking for a method of producing income without depending on donations and we think we found our way with chocolate as our fundraiser. For the past several years we have wanted to become more sustainable and earn a transparent income from our non-governmental activities, the problem has been that most of the programs we have offered are provided for those who have no money or in need our assistance. The time between program development and the effort it takes to subsequently raise funds often stalls or slows program formation.

The remedy is to have a constant source of funding (from business) so the organization can administer its programs quickly, efficiently and constantly develop new missions. Our involvement in the chocolate business will help us create such an annual funding source, fill social needs and being in a profitable business with the indigenous Piaroa tribe which will complement our international non-government organization profile with the United Nations.

Join Us as an Investor

We believe these are the best cocoa beans in the world, there are many factors that we can attribute to their taste and special flavor as well; unlike other cocoa beans these beans are from 'wild' forastero cacao trees, the trees do not receive any pesticides or chemical fertilizers, moreover they are harvested and cured using natural ecological methods.

Join our chocolate factory venture with the Piaroa tribe in a 'forest-to-bar' single-origin organic chocolate business. Our organization is providing operations and oversight management as well as operating the marketing/sales aspect of the business. Private shareholders and members are being accepted now by Ecology Crossroads, preferred shares are $10 each via Credit Card or by PayPal, investors can buy from 100 to 1,000 shares to become a shareholder or a member. You can read more about the opportunity online at the De'Aruhua Cacao website.

An invitation letter was delivered to all Globcal International members in late September several of them have signed onto the program development as investors or members including Maria Veneke-Ylikomi, Luis Cruz Diaz, Maya-Lis Wright, Nicholas Wright, Xi 'Alfred' Ng, Sonia Ceballos, and Clay Gordon; thank you all for joining the project. We are still expecting others to join us. You can learn more about the project and how the project came to be and how it is shaping up on their blog,

No One Left Behind, Arriving at the Crossroads

SDGs Are an Opportunity to Ensure That We Leave No One Behind

By Tom Caiazza, Center for American Progress

Washington, D.C. — Next week, at a U.N. Summit that is likely to be the largest gathering of global leaders ever convened, nations will adopt the Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs, a set of global goals intended to end poverty, combat inequality, and tackle climate change and environmental degradation. Ahead of the summit, the Center for American Progress released an issue brief calling on global leaders to ensure that every person, including the poorest and most marginalized, is able to reap the benefits of global prosperity and freedom. The brief calls for leaders to enshrine this promise in a “leave no one behind” charter and to fulfill the promise through policy changes.

The past several decades have shown unprecedented levels of global growth with decreases in chronic poverty, child death rates, and HIV infections. Despite these improvements, too many are still left behind in cycles of poverty, disease, and injustice. The SDGs must give impetus to the concept that all people deserve a basic universal standard of well-being and acknowledge that no country has completely succeeded in achieving fair opportunity for every citizen.

“The SDGs represent one of the best opportunities we have to bring the international community together to end extreme poverty and combat structural inequalities,” said Molly Elgin-Cossart, CAP Senior Fellow and author of the brief. “But without political will and concrete action, the lofty rhetoric behind the SDGs risks being little more than words. Leaders must define what it means to leave no one behind and be held accountable for designing policies at home and abroad to fulfill this commitment.”

The concept of leave no one behind rests on a few basic principles, including that every single person on the plant deserves a fair shot at life; that the current way of doing business does not promote universal prosperity; and that progress is possible if we make progressive changes to the way countries grow and develop to ensure that the most vulnerable among us are included. While enshrining these principles into the SDGs will not solve all the world’s ills, it will amount to concrete action toward a better, safer, more just world. As global leaders meet to adopt these goals, it is critical to galvanize political will to see that no one is left behind.

Click here to read the brief “Leave No One Behind: Taking Action to Combat Global Poverty and Inequality” By Molly Elgin-Cossart

From the Globcal International editor: We began our development of Ecology Crossroads Cooperative Foundation and Globcal International based under the concepts of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Rio Declaration on Sustainable Development and the Environment. Since the time we were founded to this time is exactly 21 years have passed, we have reached the crossroads, its time to follow an ecological path. Join us now at the crossroads. 

Introducing CiNGO Cooperative Development through Globcal International

The Development of the Cooperative International Non-Governmental Organization (CiNGO)

Imagine a world that is cooperative, tax-exempt, self-governing, ecologically sustainable, with abundant resources and plenty of jobs. Perhaps its not possible everywhere or just too complicated, but it is possible in the most critically endangered areas and ecosystems in absence of government integrity and presence of poverty. The United Nations has been working toward similar goals in recent years, now today they are in control territorially of hundreds of world heritage landmarks through UNESCO demonstrating sustainable models and ideals.

Twin Pines. Symbol of Cooperative Societies

Through cooperatives the people of a particular region, town, city, village or territory can do the same thing as the United Nations by transforming their societies into ecologically sustainable human settlements under the protection of Agenda 21.

Most countries in the world and most states in the United States have an act or statute that provides for the development of locally owned cooperative enterprises. Cooperative law from country to country varies greatly relative to governmental involvement, empowerment, and protection, but in essence are the same in function, are mostly nonprofit, nontaxable, and are all owned, operated, and benefitted from by their own members.

People benefit by being members of cooperatives through the new markets they create, dividend sharing income, and if they work for the cooperative a regular paycheck. In most countries cooperatives pay tax to do business with the public, but in the case of large cooperatives that are self-sustaining and multi-stakeholder in nature there is mostly complete tax exemption when doing business with fellow members.

In some countries cooperatives must be incorporated in others they are registered or chartered when they are constituted under guidelines established by the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) in Geneva. Additionally best practice cooperative development guidelines are assimilated and strengthened through several departments of the United Nations which are committed to promote the benefits of cooperatives over corporations.

All cooperatives once registered or incorporated enjoy the same general privileges as private companies, large corporations, churches, non profit organizations, and are they are empowered to trade internationally under admiralty and maritime law from their seaports and airports. Normally this type of trade is regulated by nation's customs laws with taxes or duties; however there are very great exceptions for cooperative trade because of the cooperative member beneficiaries impunity to government regulation working within the nationally owned cooperative as someone exempt of customs as a national member.

Cooperatives are always managed and regulated by the members through their bylaws and usually made up of people from within the communities or regions which they are founded. Some countries will only permit their own regulated national citizens to be the founding members.

In 1994 I founded Ecology Crossroads Cooperative Foundation in Lexington, Kentucky as an organization empowered to develop/operate cooperatives and promote charitable works involving communities and ecology. We distributed 10,000,000 trees for planting to our members and supporters during our first years. We were successful in the reforestation and beautification of over 50 US cities through community participation and cooperative spirit.

Today we are working through Globcal International (a cooperative development established in 2009) to bring eco-socioeconomic collectives and model cooperatives that are self-governing, sustainable, nonpartisan, and nonreligious to communities around the world through "international cooperation."

The ideal we have been working with and researching is the development of an international non-governmental corporation that is independent from the state and capable of partnering internationally as if it were a sovereign entity. Now through Globcal we are managing this through the development of a model "Cooperative International Non Governmental Organization" (CiNGO).

Poster with 10 reasons "Co-Ops Rock."

The CiNGO we are overseeing is being developed to result in a transparent formation of integral self-governing self-sufficient communities, ecological villages, and sustainable human settlements under international treaties and conventions with the United Nations, international non governmental organizations, governments and intergovernmental organizations.

Currently we are primarily working with rural projects and peoples with the potential to become self-reliant working to provide ecosystem services, cultural tourism, and sustainable agroforestry production; however the model is adaptable for fishing villages, islands, indigenous reservations, cultural regions, isolated towns and even small countries with the right participation and cooperation principles in place. Successful semi autonomous thriving populations exist and thrive using these cooperative community oriented ideals within nations, a good example are the Mennonites of Belize, Canada and Mexico, there are quite a few others too if you look for them.

People generally associate with organizations and associations because they provide them with social groups that share their interests or fulfill their needs in other ways through their beneficial work. They support corporations for their jobs and to fulfill their basic needs in a mass society without limit. With the cooperative its deeper than that because the cooperative participant is a vested shareholder, investor, employee, participant, and protagonist fulfilling his or her own needs.

In January 2015 Globcal is making the CiNGO transformation practical with the incorporation of two, perhaps three model international cooperatives. The organizations will be multipurpose, multi-stakeholder, have charitable community integrity, be nongovernmental, nonpartisan, nonreligious, nonmilitary, nonprofit and nondiscriminatory in nature. The beneficiaries will be the cooperative members, employees, associates, volunteers, and the communities that support them.

One is located in Venezuela and the second is in Belize, these two nations were selected because they have special favorable diplomatic commercial and political relationships that are interdependent and involve commerce as well as barter, trading sugar for oil. The other nation that is drawn into the fold is the United States through the development of an international travel cooperative in Puerto Rico in the short term, once we find an appropriate endowment or establish a charitable foundation there.

Similar multistakeholder developments exist in England, Sweden, China, the Philippines, and even Russia now, but few are developed to the extent that they empower themselves to operate banks and become capacitated self-governing autonomous entities within states.

Currently we want begin a project to teach others online through open-sourcing and sharing our actual experience with our projects in formation through the social media. We are authoring a manual now and preparing a video for release in the immediate future to demonstrate step-by-step the process for creating your own independent society and autonomy through the development of an international cooperative to satisfy the real need to take control of our destinies.

It's my personal hope that groups of people who suffer under oppression or who are threatened by cultural assimilation can use our CiNGO model system under their own governments laws to gain personal autonomy, empower themselves, and gain equality through new treaties or agreements with government and through other treaties and conventions already established as members of the United Nations. The only requirement is a sustainable commitment and the desire to remain culturally independent and in this case cooperative with your international neighbors.

Globcal has taken this to the next level under Ecology Crossroads by developing an international cooperative system that is full circle in small autonomous communities capable of self-sufficiency and becoming ecologically sustainable.  Please join us as an ambassador of Globcal International or as a patron of our cooperative foundations in Belize and Venezuela.

We have many new opportunities for those who are highly motivated to succeed, committed to their communities, and dedicated to living sustainably with the environment.