Fundación Cacao Hunters

CONTEXT

Cacao Hunters is a Colombian company internationally recognized for its work with specialty and fine-flavor cacao. Over the years, it has built strong relationships with producer communities across Tumaco, Sierra Nevada, Cauca, and Arauca—generating local impact with global relevance.

With a deep sense of purpose and a strong territorial identity, the company decided to take the next step: launch a foundation to better coordinate its efforts, scale its model, and elevate Colombian cacao as a global symbol of quality, sustainability, and inclusive development.

CHALLENGE

Sustainability was always present in Cacao Hunters’ DNA, but the initiatives were diverse, often intuitive, and lacked a unified strategic structure.

“We've been doing this for years, but we needed structure and direction. We wanted to connect our purpose to clearer, more measurable decisions.” – Cacao Hunters Team

The challenge was to translate that scattered impact into a clear and actionable strategy—with narrative, focus, and measurable outcomes.

SOLUTION

Together with Actual, Cacao Hunters co-created the sustainability strategy for its new foundation through a participatory and inclusive process.

We began by deeply understanding their business model, their post-harvest practices, their work with cacao-producing communities, and the vision of their leadership team.

From there, we co-developed a sustainability narrative aligned with their identity and purpose—organized around three core pillars:

• Regenerative agriculture

• Cacao pride and cultural heritage

• Rural entrepreneurship

We also designed a roadmap with short-, mid-, and long-term milestones, developed a theory of change, defined impact indicators, and built a structure to help prioritize initiatives and communicate results to allies, funders, and communities.

IMPACT

Cacao Hunters transitioned from a collection of independent efforts to a clear, cohesive sustainability strategy embraced across the organization.

Defining pillars, goals, and action lines that now guide decision-making and help focus resources. The Foundation found a clear path to strengthen the Cacao Lab and the Farm Schools as engines for transformation.

Their sustainability narrative is now a living part of how they engage with strategic partners — and a competitive advantage in the global market.

CONCLUSION

The story of Cacao Hunters Foundation shows that sustainability doesn't always start from scratch—it often already exists and just needs structure, focus, and shared intention to scale.

By aligning their purpose with their operations, the team now has the clarity and tools to take their impact further.

When sustainability becomes a shared and living strategy, purpose turns into long-term value.