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SBA Disaster Business Loan

In the spirit of helping as many people as possible, I’m sharing my experience applying for the SBA Disaster Business Loan.

Steven C Wallace, Founder, The Omanhene Cocoa Bean Company.

This EIDL (Economic Injury Disaster Loan) seems to be the primary source of small business assistance extended by the federal government.

The application process demands patience above all else.  The website is understandably under stress and pages take a long time to load.  You must apply online; unlike other SBA loans, you cannot apply via your local business banker. 

I completed the application on March 24, 2020 after two days of work.  I’d allow 5-7 hours to complete the application — part of this time is devoted to the actual work of assembling supporting financial material and part is due to the wait times as the site accepts your data and moves you along to the next page of the application.

Good luck. Stay safe.  I’m happy to offer encouragement and assistance if you need help.

Steven C Wallace

Re-Thinking Cocoa From The Ground Up

Specialty cocoa products for the specialty coffee industry

In 1991, our founder was a newcomer to the world of cocoa processing; he had many questions for this centuries-old industry:

  • Why were there so few “clean ingredient” statements on products that should be simple and natural?
  • Why were there no “single origin” cocoa products showcasing attributes of cocoa beans cultivated in a particular country?
  • Why were cocoa-growing countries content to export only raw beans, allowing other countries to capture the profit sitting atop the cocoa value chain?

And so, years before the terms “fair trade” or “corporate social responsibility” held any currency, our founder started a modest cocoa company named after the Ghanaian word for “paramount king.” He named the company, Omanhene.

Re-Defining Value

More Flavor to Savor

Re-defining value

Our single origin cocoa products offer a compelling freshness advantage, employ the simplest and cleanest ingredients and are produced using our “beyond fair trade” business model. Surely, our cocoa powders cost substantially more than competition, right?

Actually they don’t.

Because our premium beans have superior flavor and most significantly, because our hot cocoa mix contains more cocoa powder (and less sugar per serving) than your everyday hot cocoas, you actually use less Omanhene Hot Cocoa Mix per serving than you do with other brands — and you get a superior chocolate flavor profile. Many customers report that they use 50% less Omanhene hot cocoa mix than other brands because our flavor is so concentrated. Because you use less product, you save money.

That’s how Omanhene re-defines value.