Professor William Coffie, the Managing Director of the Cocoa Processing Company (CPC), has urged distributors and sellers of the company’s Gold Tree products to properly handle the products to ensure their safety.
Prof. Coffie cautioned that poor handling practices could have serious implications for product quality and brand reputation and therefore urged them to adhere strictly to recommended storage and handling guidelines.
He gave the advice during a maiden engagement of CPC’s management and the Tema Distributors Association of Golden Tree Products.
He highlighted the nutritional value of Ghana’s premium-quality cocoa, which he said is the key ingredient in all CPC’s Golden Tree products, encouraging distributors to play an active role in promoting cocoa consumption through community-level sensitisation campaigns.
Prof. Coffie said such initiatives would complement CPC’s efforts and further drive domestic cocoa consumption, enabling the public to benefit from the numerous nutrients contained in cocoa.
He asserted that distributors play a crucial role in CPC’s business ecosystem, emphasising that his leadership would prioritise enhancing product handling and storage to tackle issues like pest infestations that threaten chocolate quality.
Prof. Coffie said key policy decisions had been made by his outfit aimed at repositioning the company for growth and ensuring that distributors and other value chain actors benefited from the transformation agenda.
He also announced the Board’s approval of a 15-day credit policy for distributors to enhance business flexibility, adding that special concessions might be granted in exceptional cases.
He said to ensure steady product supply and shortage avoidance, distributors must balance their orders and requests.
Prof. Coffie commended distributors for their continued loyalty and partnership, assuring them of his outfit’s commitment to building a mutually beneficial and sustainable relationship that supports both the company’s growth and the distributors’ success.
Madam Evelyn Ofosu Kunadu Yiadom, the President of the Tema Distributors Association of Golden Tree Products, urged members of the association to intensify public awareness of the health and nutritional benefits of cocoa consumption as a strategic way to boost sales and promote the brand.
Madam Kunadu, who is also the Managing Director of KrysCharles Enterprise, stated that Golden Tree’s flagship brand, Royale, possessed superior health attributes compared to many competing products on the market.
She emphasised that consistent and widespread education coupled with sensitisation campaigns in schools, markets, and churches, among others, remained the most effective tool for positioning the brand as the preferred choice among consumers and promoting the health values of cocoa.
Mrs Doris Annan of Cimthog Foods Enterprise, Tema, expressed concern over the recurring practice of introducing new products to the market without adequately involving distributors in critical activities such as tasting and sampling.
“In most cases, new products developed by CPC are simply sent to us to sell. But we are the ones on the frontline; we interact directly with consumers. Our feedback must be sought and factored in to help new products succeed,” she said.
Mrs Annan stressed that feedback from distributors is vital for policy reform and data accuracy and therefore called for deeper collaboration between CPC and its distribution network. During an open forum, distributors raised concerns on the need for public education on cocoa’s health benefits, price reductions, increased advertising and brand visibility, as well as persistent product shortages, customers buying directly from the factory, church and institutional outreach opportunities, and training on safe handling and storage of products, delayed responses to feedback and complaints, and others.
