Lawrence R. Kunkel | CEO, WhiteCap Cocoa Holdings LLC
1. Can you explain the genesis of your idea for a 3,000-acre cocoa farm in Ghana? Ghana is the world’s second-largest exporter of cocoa (behind the Ivory Coast) and exports have been declining in recent years. Ghana does not have any large-scale cocoa farms but the commodity is an important source of employment for women. [The project] … will have a positive social, economic and environmental impact on communities in the western portion of the country.
2. You’re involved in a crowdfunding effort to raise $500,000 for the project’s first phase. What happens if the crowdfunding effort falls short? Harvest Returns, a crowdfunding web-platform specifically for attracting investment capital in global agribusiness, is running the seed round for our first phase. To date $60,000 has been raised … and our firm is talking to additional equity providers. The Harvest Returns effort is an all-or-nothing arrangement, so if the $500,000 is not raised by Aug. 1, then all the committed funds must be returned to the investors.
3. What’s the target market for the cocoa product? Ghana has created a unique market arrangement for cocoa aimed at protecting farmers by instituting a floor price for cocoa beans of $1,600 per metric ton. The Ghana Cocoa Board purchases the annual crop (at $1,782 per metric ton) and exports the cocoa worldwide. The government also supplies free hybrid cocoa tree saplings, farm inputs, technical assistance and logistical support. … The target market will allow WhiteCap to significantly reduce the average cost of production per metric ton [and] dramatically increase yields per acre.
4. You once served as a senior adviser to former Gov. Donald L. Carcieri on renewable energy. How does your background in energy and environmental issues help you in this new venture? When people realize that you played a role in developing the country’s first offshore wind farm, they tend to take you seriously. Gov. Carcieri was prescient with his vision of offshore wind. … If the resource is available, and you believe strongly it will improve the economy and the environment, the effort is worth your time, talent and capital.
5. When did you form WhiteCap Cocoa Holdings LLC? Is it involved in any other projects? WhiteCap Cocoa Holdings LLC is a Delaware-registered holding company. … The company was formed recently as a Special Purpose Vehicle to be the project’s capital provider and corporate governance entity.
