Sheikh and Liberation Chocolate attended the 2012 Unreasonable Institute. If you want to read more and connect with him click here to see his Unreasonable Profile.
Sheikh A. Turay: Sheikh is a social entrepreneur striving to help his fellow men get out of poverty. In his home of Liberia, 76% of the population lives below $1 per day. At the same time, as one of 60,000 former child soldiers left from the war, he was sent to the Ivory Coast for 14 years as a refugee. And as a result, he strives to help these people live dignified lives. But before starting Liberation Chocolate, Sheikh was an elementary school teacher in a refugee camp in the Ivory Coast. Since starting Liberation Chocolate, his company has revived abandoned farms and employed 50 former child soldiers.
Liberation Chocolate: After 14 years as a refugee in the Ivory Coast, Sheikh returned to Liberia and saw overgrown farms as far as the eyes could see. He also saw former child soldiers turning in their guns in order to receive $US150. But these children had nothing left once the $150 ran out. With no plan, the former child soldiers were not making Liberia safer. So, Sheikh decided to tackle these two problems by creating job opportunities for former child soldiers through the revitalizing of cocoa farms. With one bag of rice in 2004, Sheikh worked with a singe community to clean the first farm and make it farmable. From here, Liberation Chocolate generated the first capital of their venture. Today, profitable, Liberation Chocolate employs 50 former child soldiers and has partnered up with Nova Monda Chocolate in Colorado.