#024: Tim McCollum: founder & CEO of Beyond Good, a chocolate company, on sourcing direct from farmers in Madagascar and manufacturing at origin

Tim McCollum is founder and CEO of Beyond Good. In 1999, Tim traveled to Madagascar as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Twenty years later, that experience still colors Beyond Good’s mission and model.

Today, Beyond Good is the only brand in the U.S. making chocolate at source in Africa. Beyond Good recently celebrated one year and one million bars at Africa’s most modern chocolate factory. Beyond Good sources organic, heirloom cocoa from 100 farmers and employs 42 full-time employees at origin in Madagascar. By manufacturing finished product in Africa, Beyond Good is redefining quality and sustainability for the global chocolate industry.

Prior to Beyond Good, Tim spent several years at the American Express Company. He managed a team in global marketing, but often found himself on uninspiring conference calls, gazing at the world map in his cubicle, eyes and mind inevitably landing on Madagascar. While formative experiences, neither the Peace Corps nor American Express left him particularly qualified to run a start-up, much less challenge the status quo in the global chocolate industry. Most of Beyond Good’s success can be attributed to an outsider’s perspective, never giving up, and the ability of a dedicated team to do things differently.

Tim has been recognized by Food & Wine Magazine’s 40 Under 40 list of Americans “changing the way we eat and live” and named a Leader of Change by the United Nations. Fast Company recognized Beyond Good as one of the 50 Most Innovative Companies in the World.

For the first 10 years of Beyond Good’s existence, Tim’s favorite chocolate bar has been Beyond Good Sea Salt & Nibs, 63% cocoa, heirloom chocolate from Madagascar. That status is now threatened by the new Beyond Good Crispy Rice, 73% cocoa, single origin chocolate from Uganda. Always, he rations himself to 1/3 of a 2.64 oz bar per day, the exact serving size in the nutrition facts. Almost always.

Resources:
Beyond Good
US report: Much of the world’s chocolate supply relies on more than 1 M child workers  (Washington Post)
Cocoa: a Bittersweet Supply Chain (visualcapitalist.com)

Tim’s book recommendations:
Tao Te Ching (Lao Tzu, translated by Stephen Mitchell)
The Snow Leopard (Peter Matthiessen)
Zero to One (Peter Thiel)