{"version":"1.0","type":"rich","provider_name":"Acast","provider_url":"https://acast.com","height":250,"width":700,"html":"","title":"Dimitri Moreels - Creating a chocolate factory with Congo's oldest national park","thumbnail_width":200,"thumbnail_height":200,"thumbnail_url":"https://open-images.acast.com/shows/6717621530187dfb6c592c03/1740036317902-a47b4733-58fc-453f-ad72-9ae9535d16a3.jpeg?height=200","description":"

In today's episode, we are interviewing online with Dimitri Moreels. Dimitri’s entrepreneurship journey started 20 years ago, and took him from Belgium to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where he currently lives. Today, he is the founder and co-CEO of Envirium Life Sciences, a group that encompasses several businesses : Virunga Enzymes, COPAK and Virunga Origins.


Dimitri shared his story of building business ventures in Congo, the challenges of building for the long run in a place where basic infrastructures and safety are not a given, but also the rewards of being able to make a difference for the communities and for nature with the Virunga National Park (the one that made it on Netflix)


Our discussion explored the role of economic development and for-profit companies in the preservation of nature. Here’s the angle of an entrepreneur who believes that sustainability starts with profits, and that the restauration of the park is deeply rooted in the economic development of the region. We also talked about Dimitri’s latest venture Virunga Origins, where he got onboard a famous Belgian chocolatier, Dominique Persoone, and the Virunga National Park itself as co-founders. 


For a deeper dive in Dimitri's world, order a piece of Virunga Origins Chocolate here to chew on while you watch the Virunga documentary on netflix






","author_name":"Khanh-Linh "}