Niche Cocoa Industry Limited, a Free Zone company wholly owned by Ghanaians has joined the league of internationally certified food and beverage companies in Ghana.

Presenting the certificate to Niche, the Certification Manager of SGS, Gauri Bhagwat commended Niche for going through the process within a short space of time and describes it as an achievement.

Speaking at a colourful ceremony in Accra, the Managing Director of Niche Cocoa Industry Limited, Mr Edmund A. Poku said that the certification will create international market access for the Niche Cocoa and it shows that the company is processing according to international standard.

On his part, Mr Frederick Gyamera-Owusu, an International Expert in Quality Management Systems,a representative of United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) says the eighteen months period the company took to get certified is a real feat and the first among the African countries selected to benefit from the West Africa Quality Programme. The programme which is supported by UNIDO is to enable companies within Africa which meet certain criteria acquire international certification partly funded by UNIDO.

Presently the company produces high quality natural and organic cocoa liquor to customer specifications. Mr Poku hinted that, within the next three months, Niche will be producing industrial bulk chocolate for the local market in addition to natural and deodorized cocoa butter, natural and alkalized cocoa cake all from Ghana cocoa beans.

Niche has two processing plants-Niche Liquor and Niche Press and Confectionery Plants.