Growing Together

Environmental, Financial & Social Impact Combined

Finca Chocolat is a 515 acre cacao, timber and spice farm in southern Belize. Established in 2015 we are seeking outside investment to capitalize on our success to date by expanding more rapidly than we can do alone.

Farm Overview

Finca Chocolat's foci are high-value agricultural products which can be dried or processed for ease of storage and export. This removes short-term price fluctuations and perishability issues that impact most farms from our model.

  • History 

    Operating for 9 years, zero debt, established sales

  • Hardwoods

    Salmwood, Rosewood and Mahogany

  • Clients In:

    Asia, Central America & North America 

  • Lemongrass

    Lemongrass oil via steam distillation

  • Cacao

    Cacao, Nibs, Butter, Powder and Mass

  • Spices

    Vanilla, Cardamom, and Turmeric

Our Impact

1

Social

2

Environmental

3

Financial

4

Educational

Living Wage & Benefits

In an area with very high unemployment and poverty, Finca Chocolat provides steady employment, vacation pay, sick leave, retirement benefits, and an above-average wage. This may seem mundane if one has not spent much time in a truly impoverished area with limited opportunities. However, for the 15+ families that work with us at Finca Chocolat a steady and fair paycheck allows them to send their children to school and live beyond mere subsistence. 

Finca Chocolat also directly supports the school in our neighboring village financially and with manpower when necessary and we contribute to a local children's home feeding program with fresh fruits from the farm.

Agroforestry in Action

The 515 acres Finca Chocolat is situated on had been largely cleared by the previous owner for ranching. We are actively reforesting this land with hardwood trees to form a canopy under which we plant cacao as a midstory crop along with lemongrass, turmeric, and vanilla for the understory.

This system not only ensures we maximize the value per acre but sequesters significant amounts of carbon, provides an hospitable environment for wildlife, and improves soil health dramatically.

Finca Chocolat is also one of the very few producers of biochar in Belize. We work with local sawmills to produce biochar from their offcuts rather than them simply burning the wood. This not only sequesters substantial amounts of carbon in the soil but improves air quality, decreases the amount of water required for use in the fields, and provides a natural biome for soil biota rather than being dependent on chemical fertilizers.

We Are Proven Capitalists

While financial return is not our sole goal, Finca Chocolat is a for-profit business first and foremost.  Achieving our non-financial goals hinges on profitability and a good return for our owners. 

Finca Chocolat has zero debt and enough cacao trees in the ground today that when they are all mature we will be able to implement our plans without additional funding.

We are, however, not the most patient team and are looking to capitalize on our success to date to bring in additional investment in order to move our plans forward more quickly than our internal cash flow allows. 

Walking the Walk

There is no lack of NGOs and non-profits in Latin America telling farmers to move away from slash-and-burn agriculture. There are very few of us actually showing how to do it and proving it can be done.

As one of the largest farms in southern Belize neighboring farmers and communities have kept an eye on our progress. Initially, most in our area expected us to fail but they have since become engaged and now question our process, ask specifics about why we do what we do, and are starting to emulate some of our strategies. 

In a community that has practiced slash-and-burn agriculture for millenia, it takes someone (Finca Chocolat in this case) proving the benefits of an agroforestry model both to the environment and to the bottom line to increase adoption in neighboring communities. 

Paths to Investment

Investment in Finca Chocolat is only suitable for those with a mid to long-term investment horizon.

PPO InformationDirect Investment

  • 506(c) PPO

    In 2023 Finca Chocolat registered a 506(c) Private Placement Offering with the SEC in the United States. This allows a straightforward path to investment via a U.S. based LLC for accredited investors. Units are currently priced at $20,000 with projected average annual returns of 12% over the lifecycle of the investment. 

  • Direct Investment

    We have one stake for a 5% position available for $450,000 U.S. via a direct investment into  Finca Chocolat. We are making this position available with the goal of using these funds to build an HAACP certified processing and storage facility. This would allow us to move into more value-added products for sale in the U.S. 

Have Questions?

I would be happy to have an in-depth conversation while we are in Aspen but if we run out of time please reach out directly.

Alternatively, join us on our next Investor Webinar on September 25, 2024 at 7:30PM EST.

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