“Cacao and me”: the story that gave rise to Somos Cacao
Words from Érica Belén Sánchez Ríos, founder of Somos Cacao. A testimony about the inspiration, the challenges and the soul of this project.
I have always been driven by the adventure of knowledge, of feeling, of the emotion I get from doing and generating ideas that become structured projects, with the creation of jobs, possibilities and a meaning that embraces everyone involved, passing those sensations on to everyone who comes to know it or live it.
I have developed several projects since I was very young. I have never been easy to understand, because of my fast pace, my emotions, my perseverance, my almost obsessive focus and the constant stream of ideas that, even if they sometimes seemed crazy, ended up being viable. Many of those ideas were even taken up and developed by others, which does not bother me: it proves that it can be done.
That is how Somos Cacao was born: from constant observation, from deep questions like “why?” and “what for?”, from an intense emotion the first time I came to know a cacao tree, more than 15 years ago. At the time I was a mother, a wife, an engineer and a dreamer. Cacao became a spark that my eldest son later picked up in a school project at age 9. He concluded that the world needed more cacao... and that making chocolate was fantastic. That school project was forgotten, but life, as it tends to do, kept sending me signs.
The El Porvenir farm: where it all began
In the middle of a construction project, my site foreman asked me for permission to go sell a farm he had inherited. I decided to go with him, and what I found was a magical piece of land. I proposed that instead of selling it, he become my partner. That farm was special. So a new adventure began, with my foreman Luis as an ally, and my obsession with learning took me to Venezuela, where for three years I studied cacao and its transformation into fine-flavor chocolate.
A project that transforms and grows
Poets, filmmakers, entrepreneurs, researchers and friends have passed through the farm. We managed to carry out DNA analysis of our crops. Beyond the farm, the project expanded into chocolate making, involving my family in every stage of the process.
From Cúcuta, we have also worked to bring together Venezuelan know-how and Colombian potential. Thanks to alliances with international experts and tasters, we have taken part in business rounds in Europe and Asia.
Supporting the countryside with meaning
My commitment to cacao is also a commitment to the peace process, to equity and to trust. On the farm, alongside our cacao-growing neighbors, we keep learning, sharing and building. Because this project has room for many. Like Lucy, daughter of the first planter of the El Porvenir farm, who today works with us with renewed passion.
Chocolate with identity and belonging
Today we make chocolates that have nothing to envy the Europeans. Chocolates with a country brand, certificate of origin, traceability, history and love. We want to connect with chocolatiers, pastry chefs, cooks and chocolate lovers from the very birth of the cacao tree to the finished product.
May the adventure continue. Today more than ever, let's support what is ours!
Follow the whole journey in our story and taste the result in the bars.
