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Our prices will increase on May 15th due the global Cocoa Crisis –

Our Team

Ingrid Karera

Founder

Ingrid Karera is a Rwandan-Swiss businesswoman and the Co-Founder, Shareholder and Director of the family-owned business AFRIKOA Chocolate.

Ingrid returned to Africa after spending nearly 3 decades outside the continent, when she answered the call to actively partake in the reconstruction of her country of origin, Rwanda. Her passion for Social Impact Business was ignited when she became involved in small scale farming with the collaboration of Rwandan farmers.These early days led her to finding her true purpose and life mission: to become an advocate for farmers and marginalised communities through the creation of an ethical and holistic business model that treads lightly on its entire supply chain. From healthy soil to happy people, one chocolate bite at a time.

As a result, Ingrid relocated to Cape Town, South Africa and founded AFRIKOA Chocolate with her late husband Dr. Thomas Eisenring, a company that now provides the much-needed transformation in the holistic chocolate value chain in Africa. AFRIKOA chocolate has thoughtfully addressed each stage of the value chain, with the view of creating upliftment and impact and is the single biggest reason why AFRIKOA Chocolate is of a quality that rivals European brands.

Kyle Hickman

Head Chocolatier

Kyle earned a qualification in Professional Cookery and Patisserie at the South African Chefs Academy and went on to work with international brands known for culinary excellence such as One&Only Resorts and Lindt Chocolate.

Despite these dazzling achievements, his love for all things chocolate grew out of the special times he spent in a kitchen baking with his mother and grandmother as a youngster. Kyle now channels all that love into creating Afrikoa Chocolate delights that light up people’s eyes.

Mellissa Leslene Bussey

Operations Manager

Mellissa is an ‘all-or-nothing’ kind of person, who takes each day on with commitment and with an incredible work ethic that she learned from an early age working alongside her father in his business. She has faced and overcome many of life’s challenges, but has not allowed these to change her deep rooted sense of kindness and compassion. These life lessons serve her well in her role as the Operations Manager at Afrikoa Chocolate, where she expertly juggles financial aspects of the business, operational planning and efficiencies with supporting our staff in the business as well as keeping an keen eye on our online store.

Mellissa says she has found a family at Afrikoa Chocolate, and is deeply inspired by the mission and vision of the business. She has dreams of travelling to Switzerland to see the snow fall. But we believe she wants to show them how amazing chocolate made in Africa really is.

Charmion Marlize Booysen

Sales Manager

Great creativity and agility is required to excel in the multi-disciplined role of Sales Manager at Afrikoa Chocolate, where an average day entails liaising with internal teams, developing client relationships, supporting retail partners and the CEO, to name only a few of Charmion’s responsibilities.

She credits her love for dance, and the journey of self confidence, expression and discipline it taught her from a young age, as the reason why she has adapted so well to this high-pressure role. With over 12 years of corporate experience, Charmion has a solid foundation in sales and reporting. This experience is evident as we see her ability to think on her feet, engage with people and most of all, enjoy the experience as the key hallmarks of her work. She would describe herself as someone who has big dreams, who dares to imagine the extraordinary and strives to achieve greatness, which is precisely why she fits in so well at Afrikoa Chocolate.