Nigeria
With the company's core value – Reverence for Life – on their minds, four team members from Endangered Species Chocolate (ESC) arrived in Nigeria on Feb. 3, 2006, to document ethically traded farming practices in the villages where ESC sources the cacao that makes the nation's leading brand of all-natural chocolate.



ESC representatives visited the villages of Etung L.G.A. and Bendeghe Ekiem in the Ikom region of Nigeria, which is located about 30 miles west of the Cameroon border.

Taking more than 600 pictures and logging hours of video footage, the team followed the journey of its cocoa beans from the cacao trees on which they grow to the ocean vessels that transport them to the chocolate production facilities in Europe. Each step of the way, ESC representatives were able to confirm firsthand that the chocolate used in Endangered Species Chocolate products is ethically traded. The crops are harvested by adult workers who are paid a fair wage, and the money spent by ESC for the crop is used by the owner/farmer and benefits the village near the farm.



As part of its Nigerian experience – and further underscoring the company's mission – the ESC team dedicated water pumps and educational materials to the villages near the farms. Through its export partner, Saro Agroallied Ltd., ESC contributed more than $52,000 to purchase and install heavy-duty UNICEF filtered water pumps and supply much needed school textbooks, desks, chairs and chalkboards to more than 4,000 schoolchildren in Etung L.G.A. and Bendeghe Ekiem.