The environmentalist and founder of The Cacao Project talks about her guilty pleasure—chocolates, duh—and why she sees cacao as the solution to helping farmers in the Philippines build more resilient livelihoods
Growing up in Swansea, in the south of Wales, Louise Mabulo was known as the “brown girl from Southeast Asia” at school. She didn’t know what it truly meant to be Filipino despite her parents’ teachings until her family decided to return to the Philippines when she was 10.
Then, her father joined politics—and that was when she got exposed first-hand to the social issues faced by her community and fellow countrypeople. When she followed her father on his business trips or walks around town, she recalls seeing the effects of poverty. But instead of feeling helpless or turning a blind eye, Mabulo decided to find a way to help.
Her first initiative was to start a fundraiser at her school to get school bags, clothes and items for the children in the community who needed them. She managed to raise enough money for two truckloads of these items. And from there, she recalls thinking, “It was my first time thinking that I could do something personally. It wasn’t something I’d leave to someone else to fix.”
Her journey after that included participating in MasterChef Junior Pinoy Edition at 12 years old, being a TV presenter and winning several food awards including the Best Dessert in Asia Award at the Disciples des Escoffier Young Talent Trophy. This would all lead her to combine her love of food with her interest in caring for her community and start a social enterprise.
Mabulo started The Cacao Project not only to fulfil her childhood dream of becoming a chocolatier but also to change the traditional ways of the local farming industry. The Cacao Project’s goal was to introduce cacao to local farmers to grow alongside their other crops, as it was more climate-resilient, unlike rice or corn.
Mabulo shares more about her journey, speaking about her work on the Ted Talks stage and her vision of bringing pride back to farming in Asia in the latest episode of our Crazy Smart Asia podcast. Below are a few excerpts from the conversation. Click the audio player to listen to the full episode.
On the resilience of cacao
“I recall my grandmother and her cacao in her backyard. I was walking around and saw these cacao trees were regenerating faster than other crops. Corn, coconut and rice would experience significant losses [whenever a storm hits] and had a long recovery time, whereas cacao wouldn’t get cut down by the high winds.”
On her ‘Frankenstein’ business model
“We’re helping farmers plant the seeds in the ground and plan their farms from the beginning. We get to watch the trees grow, we get to work with the farmers, and build and cultivate that community alongside the agroforests that we’re building.”
On what young people think of agriculture
“Young people think agriculture is synonymous with failure or poverty. Through our work, we want to show them it’s not just [about] farming in a field. It’s also building economic resilience; it’s a green job. Technically, it’s land stewardship. And it can intersect with the arts, design, entrepreneurship and community development.”
Read more: How this banker joined the sustainable food revolution and got his groove back