Kivu Origins / About

An origin company, not a trading desk.

Our mission is to connect the volcanic soils of North Kivu with chocolate makers around the world through transparent, direct trade — and to keep more of that trade's value in eastern DR Congo.

Where we come from

Kivu Origins is the export brand of a partnership between two businesses that each solve half of a hard problem. Ets Kambale Machozi is the production and export side: based at 80, Bd Nyamwisi in Beni, North Kivu, it runs the farms, the collection network, the fermentation and drying infrastructure, the warehouse and the export licence. Golf Trading is the commercial side: a single, accountable point of contact for international buyers, handling prospecting, negotiation and order follow-through.

That division matters more than it sounds. Buyers who source from eastern DR Congo usually face one of two failure modes: an excellent producer who cannot answer an email in a buyer's language or timezone, or a slick intermediary with no real control over what happens at the fermentation box. We were built specifically so that neither is true here.

Golf Trading
Ets Kambale Machozi

What we actually do

We own and operate cacao farms in North Kivu, and we work with a supervised network of family growers and cooperatives across North Kivu and Ituri. Our own estates set the protocol — variety selection, pruning, harvest timing, fermentation regime — and our field teams carry that same protocol out to every partner plot. Beans are collected, fermented for six days in wooden boxes with turning every 48 hours, dried naturally on raised racks under shelter, then graded, cut-tested and bagged at our Beni warehouse before export.

Why we use the name Kivu Origins

Cacao is our flagship, but it is not the ceiling. Eastern DR Congo also grows exceptional arabica, vanilla, and specialty spices, and the infrastructure that moves a container of cocoa to Mombasa moves those too. Building as an origin company rather than a cocoa exporter means the relationships, compliance systems and traceability spine we are laying down now will carry whatever we add next.

PHOTO — the team outside the Beni office
PHOTO — Beni warehouse interior, palletised lots

How we work

Ownership at the origin

The company selling you beans is the company that grew and fermented them. There is no anonymous aggregation step where quality and traceability both quietly disappear.

One accountable contact

You deal with a named person on our commercial desk who can reach the warehouse manager the same day. No broker chain, no forwarded emails.

Documentation as a habit

Geolocation, cut tests, moisture logs and lab bulletins are produced because we run on them internally — not assembled retroactively when a buyer asks.

Long horizons

We would rather hold a smaller book of buyers over multiple crops than churn spot cargoes. Field visits and third-party audits are welcome, and we will help arrange them.

Where we are

Beni, North Kivu — DR Congo

Operations, warehouse, quality-control laboratory, export desk and sample library. 80, Bd Nyamwisi, Commune Mulekera.

Boston, Massachusetts — USA

Commercial office for North American buyers. Contracting, documentation and buyer relationships.

Kinshasa — DR Congo

Golf Trading SARL's legal registered office. Company registration and legal correspondence.

Paris — France

European sample depot. Whole beans and powder held for immediate dispatch to EU buyers.

The company in numbers

2,500 t
Average annual volume
~208 t
Monthly capacity, season-dependent
2
Provinces sourced: North Kivu, Ituri
0
Commercial disputes to date
Start a conversation

Send us your specification. We will send back a lot that matches it.

Tell us your target profile, volume and destination port. Our export desk replies within two business days with available lots, a cut-test report and an indicative offer.