Chocovision conference will take place in Davos, Switzerland, from June 17-19…
Following on from the success of Chocovision 2012, the 2nd Chocovision conference will take place in Davos, Switzerland, from June 17-19, 2014. One of the most important outcomes was the desire to work better together in order to make the cocoa sector more sustainable and to achieve more impact, and faster.
Three distinct sessions, stimulating discussions on strategic topics of common concern
Thus, the theme of the conference will be “FAST FORWARD. From cocoa to chocolate – Inspiration. Innovation. Impact.” In light of a possible cocoa shortage of 1 million tonnes by 2020, speed is of the essence when it comes to closing the existing and known gaps in the cocoa supply chain, such as the knowledge gap, the materials gap and the funding gap. Speed is also of the essence in all other aspects of business: Product life cycles that used to be years have shrunk to months. Social media have made our communication real-time. Risks seem to grow exponentially. And so do opportunities – with almost 3 billion people, or more than 40 percent of today’s population, forecasted to join the world’s middle class by 2050. In three distinct sessions, Chocovision 2014 will explore what these challenges mean to the global cocoa and chocolate industry, and how we can successfully deal with them.
High-level speakers and panelists will provide inspiration
Guest speakers include political leaders from cocoa growing countries, experts such as Dr. Graeme Codrington (Trend Strategist), John Andrew Morris (Partner, Sector Head Consumer Markets, KPMG ELLP,) Damien Courvalin (Senior Strategist in Commodities Research, Goldman Sachs), Prof. Aalt Dijkhuizen (President & Chairman of Wageningen UR), students from Jacobs University as representatives of Generation Y, stakeholders along the cocoa value chain, industry representatives from Mars, The Hershey Company, Olam International, Barry Callebaut and others, as well as senior business executives, including Paul Polman (CEO Unilever), Gabino Gómez Carbajal (Director General, Barcel-Ricolino, a member of Grupo Bimbo), Yoshitaka Ebihara (Chairman of the Board and Representative Director, Fuji Oil Co. Ltd.), Dr. Ian Roberts (CTO, Bühler), Aldo Uva (President, Flavor Division, Firmenich), Gary Smith, Vice President of Innovation, Flavor Division, Firmenich).
Other highlights of the conference will be the keynote addresses by Leymah Gbowee, Liberian peace activist and 2011 Peace Nobel Prize Laureate, who will talk about the importance of harnessing the power of African women to effect change, and by Dr. Auma Obama, Founder and Director of the Sauti Kuu Foundation based in Kenya, which is trying to give a perspective to disadvantaged children and youth, who will talk about the need to redefine poverty and aid in order to achieve sustainable economic development.
Registration open as of now
Chocovision targets international senior business leaders from the cocoa, chocolate and retail industry as well as influential politicians and key representatives from national and international institutions as well as NGOs. Registration is open as of now via the conference website: www.chocovision.ch