What was your first-ever job? Washing dishes at a small university. We had some fun water fights with the spray guns.

What’s been your worst job interview? An interview with 10 members of the foreign service following two years in the Madagascar bush. I could hardly speak a sentence of English without a mistake and went around the room to shake hands with a bow of respect the way I’d been taught in my village!

What was the first music single you bought? Thriller. The first time I listened to it on my headphones I didn’t completely understand how they worked and thought everyone could hear the music.

How do you describe your job to your mates? I collaborate with cocoa farmers and chocolate makers to make chocolate in Madagascar and then tell the story to sell it abroad.

What is the most rewarding part of your job? Being able to implement decisions that have an immediate and real impact on the flavour of our chocolate and our partners in Madagascar.

What is the least rewarding part? Having to compete against a lot of profit-driven mass-market products.

What is your motto? Stay in the present and do one thing at a time.

What’s your nickname? Crazy Legs from high school teammates, and Sweets from my wife and young son.

If you were allowed one dream perk what would it be? A café-quality coffee machine without the guilt of using loads of energy for one coffee a day.

What’s your favourite movie and why? The English Patient because there is a sense of adventure, love and loss.

Do you have any phobias? Snakes. I always had nightmares of epic battles with serpents as a child.

If you could change one thing in grocery what would it be? More emphasis on flavour and quality and less on price.

What luxury would you have on your desert island? That coffee machine, some chocolate and a nice hammock.

What animal best reflects your personality and why? A cat, because I prefer to observe until I know people. And because cats are independent but need a home and company at the end of the day.

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