How Africa News
Ella Livingston is the founder of Cocoa Asante, a company she founded in 2018 with the goal of bringing high-quality chocolate to everyone.
Livingston, who was born in Ghana, immigrated to the United States when she was three years old. According to Chattanoogatrend, she attended Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, then moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 2016 to pursue her passion for teaching.
The Tennessee-based entrepreneur became interested in chocolate production after studying in Japan and witnessing the global influence of Ghana’s chocolate. She then made the decision to move on with her aim of introducing high-quality chocolate to Chattanooga. Cocoa Asante was born in this manner.
She established her chocolate brand while working full-time as a teacher, and later worked part-time to devote more time to growing her cocoa business. The goal was to expand her business so that she could hire more employees, teach, run her business, and, most importantly, be a parent.
Running Cocoa Asante was not easy because she faced numerous challenges. According to her, she began selling chocolates from her house, but the business quickly outgrew her kitchen. But, she was unable to raise the necessary funding for expansion.
This forced her to relocate to a shared cooking facility, which was no longer safe to operate in when the epidemic struck. She currently works in a commercial kitchen that follows COVID-19 procedures, thanks to the INCubator.
Livingston recently struck gold when her firm saw quick success following a review by food critic Keith Lee. According to the black businesswoman, her products were totally sold out in just 33 minutes after being reviewed.
According to Business Insider, Lee is well-known for his assessments of small-owned or struggling enterprises. His reviews frequently go viral, attracting new clients for the business owners involved.
He reviewed four varieties of Cocoa Asante chocolate and rated each of them between 8.5 to 9.5 out of 10. According to Lee, he was “pleasantly surprised” by how much he liked them, although he didn’t like sweet foods. His review generated over 3.5 million views.
