Tony’s Chocolonely - 2023 impact report review
Tony’s Chocolonely is a leader in terms of being an impact-focused business. Their impact report is always a long read (!) but worth it for getting into the detail of what they’re up to.
👍🏻 Three things I like:
1. CLEAR ON THE DIFFERENCE THEY WANT TO MAKE
Tony’s is an example I always use to demonstrate a crystal clear impact vision. They are super-specific about the difference they want to make - “to make 100% slave-free the norm in chocolate”. And they now have a new broader impact promise - “together we’ll end exploitation in cocoa”.
It’s clear they’ve taken the time to understand the complex nature of this problem and understand (and keep evolving) the role they can play to bring about meaningful change.
2. TONY’S MISSION LOCK
It’s pretty rare for an impact report to say much about governance, especially anything particularly interesting / novel.
Tony’s Mission Lock bucks that trend – they are leading the way in creating a new ownership model which has the potential to create much wider change if adopted by others.
3. COLLABORATION - TONY’S OPEN CHAIN
Through collaboration, Tony’s are bringing on board other ‘Mission Allies’ so they can share their approach to the cocoa supply chain and catalyse wider change within the market. This means they can have much wider impact than as just their one business.
❓Three questions it raises:
1. HOW DO THEY SUPPORT FAMILIES OF CHILDREN WHO’VE WORKED ON FARMS?
Child labour is a hugely complex problem, and the symptom of much deeper issues. They touch on this but don’t go into detail. I’m curious at how they ensure the child’s family don’t suffer when the child labour is stopped – as they were presumably reliant on that income.
And how do they help provide holistic support for the children?
2. HOW ARE THEY MITIGATING CLIMATE CHANGE RISK?
Cocoa beans are already being impacted by extreme weather and are forecast to be heavily impacted by climate change. How are Tony’s supporting farmers to mitigate the effects and also prepare for a different future?
How is Tony’s in turn managing its own supply chain risks to ensure its business remains viable?
3. HOW MIGHT WE MAKE ‘GOOD’ CHOCOLATE AVAILABLE TO ALL?
I love that Tony’s is demonstrating that it can be commercially successful whilst not causing exploitation. BUT their chocolate is expensive. For very valid reasons - a lot of chocolate production is reliant on exploitation of people and the environment.
But it makes be wonder who their consumers are? And how we make ‘good’ chocolate available to all without putting chocolate out of reach of the average person on the street.
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You can read the report for yourself here and let me know what you think.
If you’re preparing to write your own impact report, you might find my FREE Impact Reporting Roadmap helpful: