100% natural table chocolate, with no additives or preservatives. It provides good energy and calories. Afromuvaras is a women’s organization dedicated to the production, purchasing, and transformation of cocoa via artisanal techniques. With their organization, which was founded in 2018, they aim for the socioeconomic development of more than 580 women belonging to Las Varas Community Council in Tumaco.

With a texture similar to that of custard, Casabe Candy is a product based on corn, cinnamon, coconut, milk, and panela, a combination that yields a very typical and pleasant flavor. Casabe Candy is a product elaborated by the communities of the Colombian Pacific since ancestral times, and July has been making it for as long as she can remember.

Colada flour made from plantain. Plantain is a product that is abundantly present and grown in this territory. Traditionally, it has been used for the preparation of many dishes, among them coladas, which are highly nutritious and beneficial for children’s development. Moreover, plantain is produced in their family’s farm.

Tasty and delicious bowls made with natural milk and harvested fruits. “My startup was born from two opportunities: first, we live in a very hot zone; and second, I am located near a school. When they went out for their physical education class, the kids always came to my house to ask for water. In that moment, I had the idea of making refreshing bowls. Later, with my family’s support, I could broaden my business: we bought a larger freezer and decided to make the bowls with harvested fruits instead, since they are more natural and nutritious for the well-being of everyone who consumes the product.

Natural product with fresh and delicious fruits from the region. There are many flavors to delight the palate: salpicón, pineapple, coconut, arequipe (caramel), peanut, bubblegum, mango biche, cheese, and guanábana. “Los Supremos Ice Cream, in addition to being a startup, was an opportunity for me to recover from my mother’s death. After this sad event, I was depressed, from which I slowly recovered as the ice cream sales increased. I started to sell them in the football matches that take place in the townships of my Community Council (Alto Mira y Frontera) to contribute to my family’s economy.”

We are cocoa producers. Selling it generates important income for us to support our project, complementing the direct sale of our products. In the same way, we can promote cooking workshops for youths and children, seeking to preserve our traditional legacy.

Motivated to innovate within our municipality’s association, PROASIV, we focused our efforts on a project that allowed bringing women and family members together around a common objective of active participation, which, apart from providing them with opportunities to move forward, allowed projecting and improving their quality of life. We sell pre-cooked patacones. We sell them already frozen and in two main sizes: a cocktail size, whose packaging contains ten small patacones; and another medium-large size, which comes with five patacones in each package. The advantage of our product is that it is easy to cook and it maintains the natural qualities of its artisanal production.

Pitaleño Chocolate is a natural product made with the best hand-picked almonds, with chocolate being one of the most consumed foods, given its extraordinary flavor and the properties it has to offer. Steps for manufacturing a high-quality product, aiming to delight various palates with exquisite, preservative-free.

I used to work in the restaurant of a women’s association, where vacuum-packed bread slices were sold, but, due to the pandemic, this restaurant closed in June 2020. Then, I decided to create my own startup. Vacuum-packed salty and sweet chips.

In this startup, we want to employ only women, aiming for their empowerment and financial independence, as this is a region where masculine work and sexism have prevailed. Three years ago, we started out with the dream of being entrepreneurs, and we went from making cookies for family meetings to innovate in a startup with a lot of love, using the experience of our mothers and grandmothers.

Arepas are sold directly in El Mellito village, Necoclí. They are delivered to farms and households. However, we believe that stores and supermarkets are the best means to commercialize our arepas, as well as hotels and restaurants.

We are young people eager to contribute to the community. We are part of the Proasiv Entrepreneur Committee, and we want to help local brands by means of commercial strategies, contributing to improve the quality of life. SUPERTODO LA PRINCIPAL is a minimarket that offers basic products from the family basket: home and personal cleaning elements, fruits and vegetables, cold beverages, snacks, and candy. SUPERTODO is a company of young country people who mainly place their bets on rural, clean, artisanal, and always available products for our community. With our self-service modality, which is unique within our action radius, where the tradition and the norm are neighborhood shops, our customers are more satisfied.

I am the daughter of entrepreneurs and grandchild of artisans. Thanks to their beautiful teachings, today I can replicate all their experience in my products. I admire my mother because, as a widow, she got by with eight children. Upon that path, she set out to be the best confectioner in the municipality, making the best foods, cakes, and cucas in our town. I thank God for my family, for our history, and the love and tradition with which we do things.

The Blíniz confectionery elaborates high-quality products, using the best ingredients, with good technique, and innovating in flavors and recipes, always aiming to provide its customers with an unforgettable experience on any occasion.

Sportswear, sports footwear, purses, and accessories. Sicruz sports shop was born in 2021, in light of the fact that the people of San Luis Robles and the neighboring townships really liked sports clothing and shoes. There was no business that sold this type of product in the territory. The idea materialized thanks to the training provided by Manizales Más within the framework of The Cacao Effect project, which encourages entrepreneurial thinking and action.

Artisanal, eco-friendly basketwork made from rampira natural fiber. “Historically, our grandmothers and great-grandmothers have been in charge of weaving different products using rampira fiber. Among them are the baskets used to carry and take out the products from the farms and the fans used for ventilation, for blowing the firewood, and for decorating the walls of our houses”.

“This company was born out of love for tailoring clothes and serving others. There was a particularly great driver for me: the need to Make my daughter’s school uniform. From that moment, I started to make uniforms for friends and neighbors. Since that moment, my work was acknowledged and, given the increased demand, I could include women heads of household (seamstresses) to participate in this startup, with the purpose of improving quality of life for all of us”.

“We believe in our ability as country women to admire and recognize each other, as well as to work as a team to improve our life conditions and contribute to the community”. We offer an innovative product by women who are victims of the armed conflict, with exclusive designs filled with color to transmit the beauty of the countryside to every home.

We, three women from El Agrado, Huila, have come together out of love for art, culture, and family traditions. We became partners to depict, in hand-made products, the soul of our communities. Our passion motivated us to organize a startup and begin to elaborate different products, especially in artisan seasons. Nowadays, we stand out in our municipality for the elaboration of artistic costumes and a diversity of products for decorating spaces. It has been eight years since we are working in the commercialization of crafts and artistic products.

Lupita Lupe allows their customers to participate in the creative process for designing their purses. According to their wishes, tastes, and dreams, a collective story is created. Lupita Lupe is a custom purse brand born in 2016. At that time, Carolina used to manufacture cloth bags. However, one day, she had the idea to disassemble a purse she had bought in order to customize it to suit her tastes. Then, she redesigned it and posted it on her Facebook account, hence her two first sales. Other customers asked her for customization in different colors to suit their tastes. From this experience, she had the idea of starting her own customized purse business, which were tailored to the customers’ needs.

I am Diego, a professional dentist. I had my practice, and, in the waiting room, I used to have game to entertain the patients. It was a lot of fun. Hence, the idea of creating games to stimulate thinking was born. This startup is led by Yarley, my wife, and me. In addition, we seek to bring families and friends together, focusing on having fun and promoting a healthy coexistence.

Commercialization of clothing, footwear, hardware products, and others. Ceci Store, formerly known as Nail Shaicec, started out as a nail salon. When she saw business opportunities, she started to explore clothing, footwear, and accessories, broadening her service portfolio to the commercialization of products. She is a woman with the drive to move forward, seizing any opportunities that arise. She has studied the different markets in her village, which has allowed her to diversify her products to meet the needs of the whole population. Her store is currently undergoing renovations, given the rapid growth and good reception of her business.

I am very passionate about creating household items based on dry woods that are discarded by woodworkers and chainsaw operators who make furniture with trunks and roots. We make decorative furniture, exterior furniture, tables, dining tables, beds, and we also take individual commissions tailored to the requirements of our customers.

Since I was only 10 years old, my parents started to get me involved in their learning and work processes as entrepreneurs. Mother Laura’s Missionaries arrived  to our township and taught us many things, among them making soap based on recycled kitchen oil.

Avícola Dorada offers eggs of different sizes and live, smoked, and fresh, pre-cooked chicken. Chickens raised naturally and with the best conditions regarding hygiene and care. “I am an entrepreneurial woman dedicated to the different tasks of the fields, among them raising chicken and laying hens. We started this business with my husband four years ago, with the support of several organizations.”

We offer various products derived from bee honey, such as: 100% natural bee honey, pollen, propolis, royal jelly, virgin wax, preparations to decongest the respiratory tract, for fertility, sexual enhancers, and treatments for the hair and skin. We have 14 years of experience in farming bees and transforming their benefits into products which, in turn, are healthy natural, and sustainable.

We are a company characterized by taking care of, rescuing, and relocating bees. For us, it is fundamental, apart from obtaining products of  good quality and excellent flavor, to work towards the preservation of our fauna and flora. We van provide home services and accompaniment for the needs of each customer.

Our startup arose as a solution to several issues, such as the inadequate management of solid waste, the lack of environmental education in the community, the precarious work conditions of recyclers and the lack of job opportunities for young people.

Our startup was born during the pandemic, when we were all speaking about reinventing ourselves. We answered by trying to take coffee processing a little bit beyond we have done generation after generation in my family for more than 60 years of tradition: producing dried coffee and selling it to the highest bidder. Our coffee is toxic-free and the grains come from excellent species such as bourbon, tabi, and supreme.

I utilize natural resources in a responsible way, in order to improve the well-being of my family and my community. My product has 100% pure fruit pulp , with no preservatives or additives. We produce passion fruit, guava, mango, cholupa, and grape pulp.

We want to create jobs and promote adequate practices regarding the environment. In addition, we hope to leave our children a strengthened business, so they can live off it in the future.

This project was born from the academic scholarships offered by Enel Colombia (an ally of The Cacao Effect) to the young people in the municipalities surrounding their hydroelectric projects, aiming to foster touristic development in the area. Since then, we enrolled in tourism training and organized our business, Nact Tours, accompanied by The Cacao Effect.

Transformation and commercialization of table chocolate. Abuelo Romero Artisanal Chocolate was born thanks to the training provided to Enémber regarding cocoa farming. Since he was a kid, his family has dedicated to cocoa farming by tradition, and they used to transform cocoa by hand for their own consumption. Thus, Enémber decided to consider this knowledge as an opportunity for commercialization. He currently processes the Criollo cocoa cultivated by his family and turns it into table chocolate.

Tejidos Verdes is a youth organization whose mission is to conduct environmental management in the territory, by implementing strategies, programs, and projects that allow reaching sustainable development, fostering the preservation of natural resources.