Willie Harcourt-Cooze
For all speaker enquiries, please contact Alice Saunders on: +44 (0)20 7471 7900
Meet Willie Harcourt-Cooze, the man for whom chocolate is a way of life. Willie was catapulted into the limelight after Channel 4's fly-on-the-wall documentary, Willie's Wonky Chocolate Factory. The four-part series tells the story of Willie's passion for cacao and the hardship he encountered along the way as he tried to manage his cacao supply, set up his chocolate factory, keep afloat financially and find outlets for his product. As a result of this, his chocolate bullion is the first 100% cacao to be sold in the UK. His story demonstrates how courage, conviction, vision and sheer dogged determination can make the dream of a lifetime come true.
He is a uniquely charming character, a great cook and raconteur. Charismatic, engaging and extraordinarily energetic, he is full of compelling anecdotes about his life and work. It takes a serious amount of endurance to succeed in an industry that doesn't always play by the rules and he's become an expert at finding inventive solutions to problems when all other avenues have been exhausted. Willie's passion is utterly infectious and his story-telling reminiscent of the Victorian explorer raconteur. A hugely likable, fascinating character with a wealth of knowledge at his fingertips, he's a human whirlwind wherever he goes, from the wilds of Venezuela to the gentle rolling hills of Devon via the teeming metropolis of London or Caracas.
ThemesAdventure, Business, Entertainment, Entrepreneurs, Food & Drink, Motivation