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On Nov 15th, Cookshop CEO and co-founder Charles Dorme Cooper led a workshop on "Customer Acquisition Strategies" at the Liberia Entrepreneurship Summit. Pulling from his experience building Cookshop, he guided the attendees through the process of calculating the lifetime value of their customers, and shared strategies for identifying, engaging, converting, and retaining customers.

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Download our new app on your Android or iOS mobile device: https://cookshop.biz/app

Cookshop continues to pave the way for tech entrepreneurs in Liberia:

Feb 2014 we launched our on-demand food delivery service, becoming Liberia's first internet startup.

May 2015 we successfully relaunched after the Ebola crisis, proving the resilience of the market.

Feb 2017 we debuted Liberia's first truly local online payments with a local bank.

Nov 2017 we surpassed 1 Million USD in sales for vendors on our platform.

Dec 2018 we surpassed 70,000 completed deliveries through our service.

Mar 2019 we launched our grocery delivery service featuring products from local vendors.

Jul 2019 we launched our made-in-Liberia app in both the Google and Apple App stores!

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Congrats to Sianna, our Cookshop Monthly Giveaway Winner

Invite your friends to use Cookshop and you could WIN $50!!

Just go to Cookshop.biz/invite or click "Invite a Friend" in the admin menu of our mobile app.

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Enjoy a 20% refund on your order when you pay with MTN MoMo from September 27-30! Visit Cookshop.biz/app

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Introducing Our $4 Menu! Enjoy FREE delivery on a daily selection of Liberian cuisine. Order now at https://cookshop.biz/4dollar

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Anglers Bar and Grill is Liberia's premiere seafood restaurant featuring a spectacular view of the Atlantic ocean. Located on a beautiful stretch of beach, our menu showcases a variety of international cuisine.We're not only a great place to eat, relax and take in a sunset, we also turn up the fun at weekly events like our wildly popular Thursday night karaoke party.

Cookshop.biz is an online food delivery service based in Liberia that lets you browse and order food from the best restaurants in Monrovia using a mobile device or computer.

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Show your appreciation this Mother's Day with Liberian Gift Packages from Cookshop Market: Cookshop.biz/Mama

Featuring products from: Terravilla Gardens, Uhai Haircare, Naz Naturals, J-Palm Liberia, Brisco, Liberia Pure, LICC Redimere Chocolates, Pape Natural Foods and Fabrar Liberia.

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Cookshop Market Spotlight: J-Palm Liberia

Meet Mahmud Johnson, the founder of J-Palm Liberia, a social business that turns previously wasted palm kernels into organic beauty products.

In 2013, Mahmud created J-Palm Liberia with a mission: to make premium consumer goods while creating income-earning opportunities for Liberians through sustainable oil palm production. Oil palm trees grow naturally throughout West Africa, and yet 90% of smallholder oil palm producers in Liberia lived on less than $1.25 a day. Mahmud learned this was mainly because inefficient production methods resulted in 35% of palm fruit going unharvested yearly, and a 50% lower oil yield than possible. He also noted that farmers were discarding 98% of the palm kernels in the process.

In response, J-Palm manages and operates mini oil palm mills in partnership with rural communities, reducing processing time by 90% and increase extraction rates by 50%, and in return farmers pay J-Palm 10% of the oils produced. J-Palm then purchases the palm kernels from the farmers, and processes them into oil to create a range of beauty products. As a result, over 500 smallholder farmers have seen their incomes increase by up to 264%.

Cookshop Market ( Cookshop.biz/market ) allows social businesses like J-Palm to increase their impact in our communities. We serve your usual grocery shopping and delivery needs with a focus on products from local agropreneurs like Mahmud who are creating sustainable markets for rural farmers.

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Cookshop Market Spotlight: Fabrar Liberia

Meet the family-owned business that's unlocking the global market for Liberian rice farmers.

Continuing the legacy of her father Julius Cooper, who improved production of Liberian Red "Country" Rice by establishing rice farms and cooperatives in the 60s and 70s, Jeanine Cooper and her son Fabio Lavelanet created Fabrar Liberia in 2009.

Their goal: to empower smallholder farmers to harness the market potential of Liberia's local rice which they argue is the world's healthiest whole grain. In fact, Liberian red rice is proven to have the lowest percentage of carbohydrates per 100g, the lowest glycemic index, and the highest fiber, protein and antioxidant content of any rice in the world!

Even given Liberia's historical relationship with its staple food, the road to revitalizing this sector has not been easy for Fabrar. With VC backing they began building a state-of-the art rice milling facility in 2013, but their plans were stalled until 2015 due to the EVD crisis. Yet, through perseverance, their dream of bringing Liberia's rice to the world is finally coming to fruition. Having amassed a consortium of farmers to produce 1,000 acres of rice this year, Fabrar is now Liberia’s largest rice producer and has begun exporting Liberian Red Rice to the USA.

Manufacturers like Fabrar Liberia are why we created Cookshop Market. We serve your usual grocery shopping and delivery needs with a focus on products from local vendors like Fabrar who are daring to transform entire sectors of our economy.

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Cookshop Market Spotlight: Browne's Red Palm Oil

Meet Dutor Browne, a local trader of natural red palm oil and a Cookshop alumnus.

Before he joined the Cookshop team in 2015, Dutor worked as a commercial motorcyclist in Monrovia. The country's economy was reeling from the previous year's crisis, and we were taking on the challenge to create Liberia's first viable e-commerce business. Dutor came along for the ride, and, as Cookshop grew so did he, expanding his skills first as a delivery agent, then as a call center agent, and lastly as an office manager in charge of our delivery team and vehicles.

Inspired to apply his skills to his own venture, he founded Browne's Red Palm Oil in 2018, currently serving four major clients in Montserrado with natural palm oil sourced from Grand Bassa, Bomi, Bong, and Rivercess counties. Taking advantage of our online marketplace to offer his product to customers previously out of reach, Dutor has made a major leap from employee to vendor!

Cookshop Market ( Cookshop.biz/market ) create's access for local traders like Dutor to bring their products to high-value customers. We serve your usual grocery shopping and delivery needs with a focus on goods from entrepreneurs like Dutor who are building Liberia's middle class.

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Cookshop Market Spotlight: Careysburg Vegetable Cluster

Meet Augustine Otas, the lead farmer in a collective that set out to transform their lives in 2014.

When 20 farmers from Dennis Farm village in Montserrado County first formed the Careysburg Vegetable Cluster, it was because they were struggling to find consistent markets and attract decent value for their produce. Low prices had caused high wastage of their harvest, which in turn had led many of them to shift towards subsistence farming rather than engage in trade.

By combining their output, they were able to seek more stable, higher-value buyers, and attract opportunities that boosted their revenues beyond their expectations. According to Augustine, as a result “our income is growing and our lives are changing. We are able to send our children to school, continuously feed our families and take care of other things that our families need.”

Market linkages like Cookshop Market allow local farming groups like the Careysburg Vegetable Cluster to scale-up high-value vegetable production and increase their incomes. We serve your usual grocery shopping and delivery needs with a focus on produce from local growers like Augustine who are the roots of our economy.

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Cookshop Market Spotlight: Naz Naturals

Meet Satta Wahab the founder of Naz Naturals, a local manufacturer of natural hair-care products.

After embarking on her own journey to embrace the natural texture of her hair, Satta recognized a huge gap in the market for natural hair-care products for Liberian women.

Starting with just US $100 dollars, she established Naz Naturals in 2016 to produce locally-made natural beauty solutions. She quickly went from testing formulas in her kitchen and selling her first product to friends, to a full-fledged venture with 3 employees and 6,000 units sold to date.

Local vendors like Naz Naturals are why we created Cookshop Market. We serve your usual grocery shopping and delivery needs with a focus on products from local manufacturers like Satta who drive real change in our economy.

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Introducing Cookshop Market

Cookshop Market serves all your grocery shopping and delivery needs with a focus on local vendors. We provide an instant storefront for local farmers, food manufacturers and retailers, with on-demand delivery and easy payment options.

Since launching Liberia's first dot-com company in 2014, we've committed ourselves to lead the way, pioneering on-demand eCommerce and creating a new range of job opportunities for Liberian youth. We're proud that Cookshop has come to represent local innovation, created a paradigm shift in the food and ICT sectors, and inspired other online businesses to follow suit.

Cookshop Market is the next step in our mission to use tech to resolve challenges in Liberia's food value chain, and to increase market access for Liberian businesses.

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Show your LOVE this Valentine's with UHAI Gift Packages delivered by Cookshop: cookshop.biz/promo/uhai

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Introducing the Healthy Choice Menu at Cookshop.biz , a selection of the best food for you, curated from the menus of all your favorite restaurants by Liberian fitness trainer, Rima Lakkis.

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Team up with Cookshop and Monrovia Football Academy to impact our community! When you checkout at cookshop.biz, click to add 5% to your order and your contribution will go to help the Academy in their mission to develop Liberia's future leaders.

Monrovia Football Academy is the first school in Liberia to combine high-quality education with professional sport training. They use football as a positive-incentive mechanism to improve academic performance, and break down gender barriers. Learn more at monroviafa.com .

Cookshop.biz is an online food delivery service based in Liberia that lets you browse and order food from the best restaurants in Monrovia using a mobile device or computer.

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Cookshop Co-Founder, Mlen-Too Wesley, Named Obama Foundation Africa Leader

Mlen-Too Wesley has been named as an Obama Foundation African Leader. Wesley, the Co-Founder and Director of Technology at Cookshop Food Services, and Principal Adviser for Program and Policy at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, was picked from over 10,000 other applicants across the continent.

Wesley will be entering the astute inaugural class of the Leaders Africa Program which will convene in Johannesburg, South Africa from July 14 through July 18, 2018, as well as participate in robust online activities throughout the year.

The Obama Foundation identified 200 emerging African leaders from all sectors — government, civil society, and the private sector — who have demonstrated a commitment to advancing the common good. The objective of the program is to build a growing network of innovative and ethical changemakers, who seek to drive positive change in their communities. Successful candidates demonstrated a potential for impact, and a clear commitment to integrity.

The Obamas announced that through the Obama Foundation, they will be training leaders across Africa who work in government, civil society, and the private sector. The training will continue for another year in which participants are provided with online resources, including webinars from industry experts.

“The Obama Foundation Leaders Program: Africa represents our largest and most ambitious international program to date,” said Bernadette Meehan, Chief International Officer of the Obama Foundation. “In bringing together 200 young leaders from across Africa, we hope to begin a conversation about how each of us can create positive change in our communities.”

Cookshop Food Services, also known as Cookshop.biz, launched in 2014 and is an online food delivery service that lets you browse and order from the top restaurants in Monrovia via a mobile device or computer. A homegrown enterprise, it was founded by Mlen-Too Wesley and Charles Dorme Cooper, another Liberian ICT professional. Cookshop.biz is funded by Liberian investors, powered by local food vendors, and represents the evolution of the ICT sector in Liberia.

At the Ministry of Finance, Wesley works to promote coordination between government, development partners, civil society, and the private sector towards the successful implementation of programs and policies in alignment with the new pro-poor agenda for development in Liberia.

Wesley holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics, Political Science, and Philosophy from the University of Rochester, and studied Computer Science at Penn State University.