Jonas Mva Mva

Jonas Mva Mva likes to say he was born under a cocoa tree, and cocoa has shaped his working life. A Cameroonian rural economist with nearly four decades in rural development and agricultural value chains, more than thirty of them in cocoa, he is known for getting farmers, cooperatives, governments and chocolate companies to work on one agenda that leaves growers better off.

He began in 1980 with Catholic Relief Services in Central Africa and rose to Country Representative. He then led INADES-Formation in Cameroon, presided over COPAD, the apex network of Cameroonian development NGOs, and co-founded ODECO, where he facilitated the workshops that helped Cameroonian cocoa producers build their national confederation. From 2000 to 2010 he managed the Sustainable Tree Crops Programme in Cameroon, set up by the cocoa industry and the World Cocoa Foundation. At IDH, the Sustainable Trade Initiative, he built between 2010 and 2015 a portfolio of more than twenty cocoa projects with Mars, Cargill, Barry Callebaut, Nestlé, ADM and others, with EUR 10 million from IDH drawing in EUR 20 million from industry. After a year as Director of Sustainability at Cemoi, he returned to IDH in 2016 as Cocoa Programme Director and from 2021 served as Africa Regional Director.

Since December 2024 Jonas advises independently. He helps companies, donors and public institutions build partnerships that work on the ground, from living income strategies to EUDR readiness and first-mile traceability. Facilitation is his main tool: he brings regulators, development partners and private buyers to one table and keeps them there until farmers see the results. He holds an MBA in Law and Economics from the University of Yaoundé and works in English and French.