Ashley Parasram is a graduated at the University of Edinburgh (UK) in Environmental Sciences and has worked for a range of organisations and institutions in the field of sustainable development and trade policy. This includes the European Forest Institute (Finland), UK Department for International Development, Centre for International Forestry Research (Indonesia), International Institute for Environment and Development (UK) as well as many other development and research organisations. Recently Ashley has been assisting the European Union’s Intellectual Property Programme throughout the Caribbean with emphasis on brand protection and marketing.

As Founder and Director, Ashley established the Trinidad and Tobago Fine Cocoa Company Limited (TTFCC) in 2013 as a public-private partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture of Trinidad and Tobago.The Company’s mission is to support the rehabilitation of Trinidad and Tobago’s cocoa sector as well as promoting biodiversity, pollinators in farming and climate sensitive farming systems. The Company provides cocoa and chocolate products for the industrial, culinary and retail sector both locally and to overseas markets such as the United Kingdom and China.