fairafric becomes an AG
A lot has happened at fairafric in the last few years. Today we have exciting news: fairafric is becoming a public limited company. Today we want to take you on a little journey through time and tell you about the background of the transformation.
Let's look back a little bit. The idea for fairafric was born in 2013, when Hendrik was traveling in East Africa armed with backpack and tent. THere he met coffee farmers who roast their own coffee directly on the farm. After this experience, Hendrik kept thinking about what a huge difference it would make to produce finished products in Africa instead of just exporting raw materials. Determined to make a real difference and create jobs with a sustainable income, Hendrik started learning everything he could about chocolate and cocoa farming. A year later, after countless phone calls, hours of research and negotiations, the first bars of chocolate rolled off the production line at our then-partner CPC in 2015. Just one year later, we launched our first major crowdfunding campaign. With these funds and the increased motivation, it only took 4 months until the first bars were produced in August. After our first chocolate bars made their way from Ghana to Germany, we realized: we want more! So in 2017, we launched our second Kickstarter campaign! The goal: Seven varieties of organic chocolate Made in Africa. Thanks to our partners, the Yayra Glover cooperative and Niche Cocoa company, we held our first bars of milk and dark varieties in our hands in the fall of 2017. This year, we have not only managed to become certified organic, but also a recognized supplier of the World Shop Association. In 2019, our idea of our solar-powered chocolate factory in Amanase, Ghana took shape. There is also the first fairafric bond to subscribe, which will help us continue to raise capital to build the factory. In 2020, our planned construction of the factory in Ghana is becoming more concrete and thanks to another successful bond and Kickstarter campaign, the foundation has been laid. A subsidiary in Ghana, fairafric Ghana Limited, is been established to better manage matters around the factory.
So here we are: November 2020. On November 20, 2020, we officially initiated the transformation of fairafric GmbH into a stock corporation. The company and its employees are still the same, so don't worry. We now have a board of directors with Hendrik as the CEO. There are several reasons why we converted fairfric GmbH into a public limited company. One is that by selling shares instead of bonds, we can now get investments on board easier and faster. Thus, we have increased our share capital and created new shares. The legal form of GmbH vs. AG has absolutely no profit-making intentions. The reason why large companies are almost always an AG is because they had to organize capital in order to grow. That is also the same for us. Whether profits are to be made and in what amount, and whether they are distributed, is no different. Are we now becoming a "hardcore corporation" à la SIEMENS - a very emphatic NO! fairafric is now simply owned by many stakeholders. Doesn't that suit us much better? Our motivation: We want to make our customers and our network co-owners.
The newly formed supervisory board of fairafric AG consists of 7 women and men with two women as chair. The supervisory board is appointed for 5 years and its main task is to control and advise the management board. You may be wondering who has the final say in the company? The supervisory board or the management board? Our answer: both! The structure is designed to allow communication and compromise for optimal decision-making. Operationally, the management board is more involved, while the supervisory board is more involved in strategic matters.
At invest.fairafric.com you will find all the information you need to participate financially in fairafric. Find out now about social and sustainable investments without obligation and create a fairer chocolate world with us!
