Four years ago entrepreneur and former investment banker Dennis Melka spied an opportunity in the cocoa market.

The vast majority of the world’s crop, indigenous to South America, was being farmed in West Africa, dominated by small, poor growers. Estates were tired and inefficient and employed what Melka called “horrific labour practices”. Weather was not ideal either: this corner of West Africa is susceptible to drought and disease – cacao trees need lots of rainfall – and is never far from political unrest.

Melka, a former investment banker at Credit Suisse, decided to repatriate production to the homeland of the cacao bean. He targeted the source of the Amazon in Peru, where wetter climes and large-scale corporate cultivation were more favourable. There were also lucrative tax advantages. At the time, Melka called it “the best place on Earth and the lowest-cost location to grow cacao”.