There are very few people in the world who don’t have an emotional affinity with chocolate. For the majority, this delicious treat is associated with important life rituals, celebrations, and relief from stress or emotional anxiety, yet very few would be able to describe the cocoa plant or the process necessary to go from plant to cocoa and chocolate.
Over the years chocolate production has undergone changes that while necessary to meet global demand have also bastardised the product that is increasingly made with less chocolate and more filler ingredients.
At the same time, cocoa is undergoing a little renaissance, being rediscovered by the many healers and spiritual practitioners who are so keen to include it in their practices and a little more curiosity has emerged towards pure sources and raw material.
When I met German Santillan, who introduced himself as a Cultural Chocolatier, I could read in his sparkling eyes that he was the keeper of lost traditions.
German was born in Mexico, one of the cradles of cocoa, and his life was turned upside down when at the tender age of 6 his grandmother Josefina introduced him to the secret of chocolate making.
Maybe a little mystified by the loving grandmother’s process and the excitement of learning firsthand, truly making it, to him that experience felt a little bit like magic and that feeling never left him completely.
After studying business in Mexico City, he decided to move back to his grandmother’s village and turn her old little home into what is now Oaxacanita Chocolate.
This was a heart-driven venture, with nothing to do with business, to begin with, and all to do with preserving the past while making some impact in a community that was losing youth to idolized narco-traffickers as role models.
With just 150 dollars Oaxacanita Chocolate began as a homegrown venture that started with making chocolate for friends and families while figuring out its place in the community and its role in local impact.
Cocoa is traditionally infused in all the local celebrations in Mexico, so many families while not producing in quantities, would either have cocoa plants in the backyard or some knowledge on how to make cocoa from the beans.
German connected on the ground door to door with the communities that had cocoa trees and started collaborating buying from them and then employing some women from the community and use their skills and knowledge to create the chocolate.
Oaxacanita chocolate started in 2015 and in just 8 years not only grew its’ production year after year but won prestigious prizes, and German has been invited to speak about his work and to present its impact all over the world.
“Chocolate Unites People”
German Santillan
There are now almost 30 families directly impacted through the work in collaboration with Oaxacanita Chocolate, and the pride that comes from their work being acknowledged internationally has shifted some important local dynamics.
German said: “It’s not just that the women have work and earn, which in itself is empowerment, it’s that the way we treat them at work, with dignity and respect, listening to their ideas, taking in consideration their opinion, has created a stronger sense of self. Some of the women tell us that now they feel they can say NO to their spouses, and stand up for their ideas”.
The work is not just in the chocolate production, it’s also with the cocoa tree farmers who are now part of something that has a vision for growth, and expansion while maintaining them in power and supplying a financially viable operation.
When I asked German what is the biggest impact he has observed and that made him reflect he said: “These women that work for us, they have become family, we celebrate their achievements, we witness their families’ struggles and successes and personally I was asked to become godfather to one of their children, something that made me realize the community sees me as a role model, and these kids see farming and chocolate making as a potential for a dignified life”.
With the look on the next generation and the intention to create more education about the potential of farming cocoa to lift up the reputation and income of still a very poor region in Mexico, he decided to start “ La escuelita del cacao” ( the little academy of chocolate), an opportunity to enter schools, to grasp kids imagination and educate them about an important part of their culture and an opportunity for their future.
“The kids love it,” German said” They recognize the trees, and the beans and often say they have them in the backyard but didn’t know they could make cocoa from them”.
Shifting communities with socially driven enterprises is very different from running a for-profit business, the delicate dynamic within the community represents a threat and an opportunity at the same time, but chocolate unites people, as German says, and having to bring them together for discussions, and opportunities and education has improved some of the old and stale rivalries between communities.
Excited by the success of the Little Chocolate Academy, a friend of German, created a similar pilot in Kenya to test the viability of the premise, and that too resulted in an incredible success.
The future is certainly chocolate for him, as he is totally committed to staying in the village and doing all he can to lift up the community and with a bit of luck the entire region of Oaxaca, but in order to do that he needs some support and the scaling of new ideas to attract more people and become popular. The first way to support them is to become customers, head to their website, and order from them, they ship all over the world. You are also welcome to write to them if you are visiting Mexico and want to stop over for a full chocolate experience that includes visiting the farmers, and hands-on making the chocolate yourself.
I cannot wait to see what Oaxacanita chocolate will become in another 8 years!
Listen to our podcast for an energizing conversation with German and don’t forget to follow, share, and like, as this is the first form of support for small and honest businesses.
