Noted Social Entrepreneur Visits Hawken

Shawn Askinosie, founder of Askinosie Chocolate of Springfield, MO, spoke to Hawken Upper School students and faculty about his work as a social entrepreneur during an engaging assembly on Feb. 28. While at Hawken, Shawn also met with students in Hawken's Entrepreneurship Honors class to discuss his business and social entrepreneurship in more detail. 

Askinosie is a small-batch, "bean-to-bar," award-winning chocolate manufacturer. It sources its cocoa beans directly from farmers in the Philippines, Equador, Tanzania, and Honduras. Askinosie then shares its financial results with its farmers, and pays them a share of the profits. These small, independent farmers are taught how their cocoa beans are made into the finest chocolate, and they also learn about financial statements and business practices. Askinosie goes even further to help the communities in which its farmers live: it works with parents of schoolchildren in those communities to develop sustainable business models, which then finance school lunch programs. As a result of these efforts, Askinosie Chocolate will help fund thousands of school lunches this year for nutritionally at-risk students.

Shawn was named by O, The Oprah Magazine as "One of 14 Guys Who Are Saving the World," and his social business model has been featured on the TV program Venture, and in The Huffington Post. For more information, go to www.askinosie.com.
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Early Childhood, Lower, and Middle Schools, 5000 Clubside Rd, Lyndhurst, OH 44124
Birchwood School of Hawken, 4400 West 140th Street, Cleveland, OH 44135 

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Mastery School of Hawken, 11025 Magnolia Dr, Cleveland, OH 44106

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