Cocoa to cash: How two 32-year-olds build a global chocolate dream

Cocoa to cash: How two 32-year-olds build a global chocolate dream

The brand has just secured a three-star provincial rating under Vietnam’s “One Commune, One Product” initiative.

Processing cocoa beans at the venture. — VNA/VNS Photo

Two 32-year-old ethnic minority entrepreneurs from the southern province of Lâm Đồng are turning backyard cocoa into a chocolate empire called Ban Cacao, now shipping premium bars, butter and powder worldwide.

The brand has just secured a three-star provincial rating under Việt Nam’s “One Commune, One Product” initiative.

Founders Lương Thị Duyên, a law school graduate, and Bế Thị Thu Huyền, trained in finance and accounting, first connected while working in HCM City. Huyền's early foray into online cocoa sales ignited the spark for the pair to return to their hometown and launch a cocoa enterprise.

Cocoa has been widely cultivated in their hometown thanks to a 2009 State-backed project, but falling prices and limited processing capacity left most growers offloading raw beans or fresh pods to middlemen.

“We kept questioning why such prime raw material should fetch rock-bottom prices instead of becoming a product that embodies our hometown,” Duyên reflected.

Determined to change that, the duo crisscrossed Việt Nam, from Bến Tre and Tiền Giang to Vũng Tàu, to master the art of cocoa processing. They pored over manuals in Vietnamese and English before acquiring equipment and heading back to rural Cát Tiên District, as the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in 2020, to pioneer a business in their homeland.

In 2023, they formally established Ban Cacao Co Ltd in Cát Tiên 2 Commune in Lâm Đồng Province.

At first, local farmers were reluctant to sell to them. Many worried the fledgling outfit would flop, jeopardising their longstanding trader ties. To win trust, the pair went door-to-door, offered prices VNĐ500–1,000 per kg above market rates, and opened their workshop for inspection.

Bit by bit, partners signed on. Now, 15 households deliver 2–3 tonnes of cocoa weekly, rising to 4–5 tonnes in peak season.

The path was far from easy. Initial trials often failed, draining time and capital.

“There were nights we stayed up, just hoping the first batch would set,” Huyền recalled. They worked late into the night preparing for trade fairs in Đà Lạt, determined to make the brand known.

Now, Ban Cacao churns out over 15 chocolate bar flavours and assorted cocoa grades, from 72 per cent to 100 per cent, alongside cocoa butter and powder. Offerings stock shelves in Hà Nội, Đà Lạt, Hồ Chí Minh City, Phú Quốc and Nha Trang, plus e-commerce sites like Shopee, Lazada, Facebook and TikTok.

From scrappy origins, Ban Cacao has matured into a solid operation, keeping more than 20 local ethnic minority staff on stable wages. The venture even clinched a top prize in Lâm Đồng's 2022 "Creative Startup Ideas" contest. 

Bizhub