The second talk is focused around Mandala Chocolate and the effect it had on his life.
“Redefining Business
In a world challenged by fragile ecosystems, dwindling water, and human disempowerment, we believe business has the power and responsibility to help transform our planet.
At Mandala, our business model empowers our customers and suppliers, connects with the land, and uses radical accountability, integrity, and transparency as a beacon towards a better future.
We are proud to be amongst the pioneers of the rapidly growing Certified B Corps using business as a force for good.
Our goal is to be a positive influence on the systems we depend on.”
The core of his business is to create a system that supports the future generations. Change the “I want to get money now” mentality, that is so focused on making profit of everything ASAP and forgetting that when the resources are gone the income is gone too. E.g. clear cutting big parts of forests. Those forests can generate wealth for hundreds of years through recreational activities, food sources etc. But if you cut them you’ll get cash once and then it’ll be a desert with nothing to live from.
Rob was allergic to chocolate and did not have a bite of chocolate until his 20is. The story for the first bite is great. A mountain tour with extra obstacles and no food left but a bar of brownies the night before pick up. As it was he had no allergic reaction to the bar. The start of trying all kinds of chocolate. About 6 months later he was in LA among key players of the Raw Food movement. There the cacao plant chose him. He learned a lot what cacao is and started making raw chocolate with superfoods. The profits went to children charity. That then lead to create raw cacao pies with superfoods for ceremonies and events. He even was presented as an expert and fast moved into that role which was not comfortable for him.
Through that he became chocolatier. Most are working only from the cacao butter and create desserts but Rob is not only chocolatier but a Craft Chocolatier interested in the whole value chain from farmer, plant to the end product, growing certified organic healthy and tasty beans. As an early adapter he also started to pioneer harvesting of superfoods in Mandala Springs forests. How to harvest on public lands in a sustainable way and helping the herbs, mushrooms to spread wider and have a healthy ground.
His path as a Craft Chocolatier brought him to Guatemala were he saved a big part of the cloud forest from being clear cut. He saw a clear cut in the heart of the forest which hurt him so much that he organised a few friends which then lead to a Crowdfunding campaign. He asked for 1500 $ and raised 1.2 Mio $ during the first year. Now in 2020 they got 7 mio $ being able to buying forests, protecting them and giving the locals sustainable jobs. The cloud forests are a very important player in the ecosystem for km.
More we talked about:
- Holistic Circle of life
- Raw Fooders in LA. Dave Asprey, David Wolfe etc
- Convergence Lifestyle
- Being hit by lightning
- Earthing by connecting to nature
- Wearing no shoes
- Food as medicine
- Cacao as superfood
- Cacao is called Theobroma - Food for the Goods en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theobroma
- Saving Craggy mountains wilderness
- Wind River Mountain Range
- Saving Paraguays Cloud Mountains: www.forestprimeval.org Many of the photographs from caves are form Rob
- Why the Fair Trade Stamp is insufficient for supporting farmers
- How to ensure a good business culture
- Google removing “Do no Evil” from their core values
and more…
Mandala Chocolate & Rob Lenfestey
www.mandalanaturals.com/lifestyle/
www.facebook.com/mandalachocolate/
www.instagram.com/mandalasprings/
Importance of Cloud Forests: www.conservation.org/blog/cloud-forest-protection-critical-to-keep-tropical-dams-running
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