Chiinga Musonda, a pioneering artisan chocolate brand builder — Lionesses of Africa

Why should anyone use your service or product?

Our chocolates are made from carefully selected single origin cocoa beans to preserve the flavors of the country of origin. We are constantly fine-tuning our chocolate making process to ensure that you get premium quality chocolates.

We sell handcrafted chocolates and chocolate products that are made from natural ingredients with no artificial flavors, no artificial colors, and no preservatives.

Tell us a little about your team

Savanna Premium Chocolate has two Zambian co-founders (Lynn Musonda Phiri and myself, Chiinga Musonda) who manage the daily operation of the business and do everything from design, marketing, production, sales, etc. We wear many different hats at any given time, as this is the life of the entrepreneur. We also have few people that help us with the factory production. In addition, we have a group of dedicated ladies whose role is to sort all our cocoa beans to ensure that we only use the best cocoa beans to make our chocolates. They are also in charge of the roasting and shelling process. They are passionate about what they do and we couldn’t be happier to have them as part of our team and in turn to be making a difference in their lives. This is one of the reasons we love what we are doing. It’s about making a difference right here in Africa while creating great products for our customers!

Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And, do you come from an entrepreneurial background?

Both Lynn and I do not come from an entrepreneurial background.

I (Chiinga) have a completely different background. I have previously worked in banking with JP Morgan Chase and UBS in NYC. Most recently, I worked with the scientific publisher / information services provider Elsevier in The Netherlands. I also have an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a BA in Economics and in Computer Science from Smith College in the USA.

Lynn previously worked for the Zambia Telecommunications company. She is currently pursuing an MBA in International Business and has a BA with honors in Business Studies with Marketing from University of Greenwich.