Using Chocolate To Pull People Out Of Poverty  Africa makes a
lot of chocolate, but not a lot of chocolate bars, which are
assembled in America. That means the money from selling them
stays in America. Brooklyn’s Madecasse is attempting to change
that by creating a vibrant chocolate culture in Madagascar.
Africa produces 70% of the world’s chocolate and 60% of the
world’s vanilla crop, yet the continent makes just 1% of
finished chocolate bars, with very little profit getting back to
the farmers themselves. Now, an innovative company is disrupting
the market and using limitations to their advantage to make some
of the world’s best chocolate--and make a difference in
Madagascar.  Madecasse started in 2008 to do just that. It was
started by former Peace Corps volunteers who had seen the
farmers in action, and who knew the global marketplace brought
just a small percentage of the profits from chocolate back to
the farms.  The company, which was one of [i]Fast Company[/i]'s
Most Innovative Companies in 2011, has