About Quality Roots
Founded by Alphonso Broderick and Stephen J. Toomay to build a trusted trade corridor between Canada and Liberia.
The founding story
Quality Roots was not built in a boardroom. It was built across two countries that two people already called home. Our co-founder Alphonso Broderick was born in Liberia, raised partly in Canada, and speaks Bassa and Gio, two of Liberia's indigenous languages. Stephen J. Toomay is a current officer at the Liberian Ministry of Health, with over seven years of institutional experience at Partners In Health and embedded relationships across Liberia's business and government community.
We started with a simple conviction: the right relationships transform natural abundance into shared prosperity. We spent years building those relationships in Liberia and Canada before we ever framed them as a business. We are not prospecting a market we researched. We are formalizing a corridor we have been living in. Quality Roots exists because the relationship was already real.
The team
Co-Founder and CEO
Born in Liberia and raised partly in Canada, Alphonso speaks Bassa and Gio, two of Liberia's indigenous languages. His family and community roots span both sides of the corridor. He built the Canadian side of Quality Roots not as a market opportunity, but as a natural extension of relationships he had already spent years cultivating. Alphonso leads client relationships on the Canadian side and oversees business development.
Co-Founder and Liberia Partner
Stephen is a current officer at the Liberian Ministry of Health and M&E Expert on a WHO-aligned national health committee. He holds an MPH in Epidemiology from Cuttington University and spent over seven years with Partners In Health building institutional knowledge and relationships across Liberia. He does not represent Liberia from a distance. He is embedded in it. Stephen manages Liberia-side sourcing, buyer relationships, and in-country coordination.
In Liberia
Quality Roots works with Liberian cocoa farmers and cooperatives through relationships built by people who know the country from the inside. Our co-founder Alphonso Broderick speaks Bassa and Gio. Stephen J. Toomay is embedded in the Liberian Ministry of Health and knows the country's business network at a depth that cannot be replicated from a distance.
In Canada
Quality Roots works with Canadian chocolate makers who want a direct, traceable origin relationship without building their own sourcing infrastructure in Liberia. We are the corridor. You focus on your craft.
Our vision
Quality Roots invests in Liberia's economic future through fair, traceable trade relationships. Every transaction is structured so both sides of the corridor come out ahead: Canadian chocolatiers gain a direct origin relationship with honest volume expectations; Liberian farmers and cooperatives gain a traceable supply relationship with buyers who understand where the product comes from.
We are not building a logistics operation. We are building an economic corridor designed to outlast a single transaction. Done well, trade is one of the most durable forms of trust between countries. Quality Roots builds sustainably, ethically, and through the empowerment of the people on both sides of every deal. We are pursuing B Corp certification because we believe how a business is built matters as much as what it builds.
Common questions
Quality Roots was co-founded by Alphonso Broderick and Stephen J. Toomay. Alphonso was born in Liberia, raised partly in Canada, and speaks Bassa and Gio. Stephen is a Liberian national and current officer at the Liberian Ministry of Health with over seven years of institutional experience at Partners In Health.
Because that is where our founders are from and where our relationships exist. We did not pick these countries from a market report. Alphonso Broderick has personal and linguistic roots in Liberia. Stephen J. Toomay has seven years of embedded institutional experience there. The corridor exists because the people who built it are the corridor.
We structure every cocoa transaction to benefit both sides. Canadian chocolatiers gain access to a traceable origin relationship. Liberian cocoa farmers and cooperatives gain a certified supply relationship with buyers who understand where the product comes from. We earn a commission only when a deal closes, which aligns our interests with both parties.
Yes. Quality Roots is a registered Canadian enterprise operating as a trade brokerage. We are a small, focused team. Every engagement goes through Alphonso Broderick and Stephen J. Toomay directly. You are not dealing with a department or a junior account manager.
Use the contact form to introduce yourself and describe your interest. We respond within 2 business days. If there is a fit on either side of the corridor, we will schedule a short call to discuss next steps. There is no cost to reach out.
Tell us where you fit in the corridor. We respond within 2 business days.
Contact us