Meet the maker
Conexion
About Conexion
Conexion, founded by Jenny Samaniego in 2016, was rebranded as “Conexion” from its original name, Chukulat, to pay homage to its mission of ‘connecting’ local cacao farmers with lovers of fine Ecuadorian chocolate. Conexion’s mission is to make great quality chocolate while building bridges between chocolate consumers and farmers – Conexion, making its chocolate at origin, works directly with cocoa farmers, which not only strengthens those farmers’ contributions to sustainable agriculture in Ecuador, but also empowers and supports them. Today, Jenny works alongside Pablo Torres, Conexion’s business strategist and financial wizard.
How they became makers…
Jenny grew up in Ecuador, studying and working in hospitality, but it was a move to New York City in 2008 that led her to start a career within the chocolate industry. Whilst then travelling around her home country and sourcing cacao for others, Jenny fell in love with Ecuador’s diverse landscape and its fine-flavour crop. Having worked for well known cocoa and chocolate companies, Jenny now focuses on sourcing the best Arriba cacao for her own chocolate. This involves partnering with farmers from Manabi and Los Rios, and working together during post-harvest processes, such as fermentation and drying, to ensure Conexion obtains the best cacao possible.
Conexion’s Sourcing
Jenny has spent a lot of time getting to know the farmers of Fortaleza Del Valle from Manabi and APOV from Los Rios, and works closely with them in all post-harvest production processes. As of mid 2019, Conexion has been in partnership for a year with the new generation of cacao growers, ages 18 to 35, from UOPROCAE Association in Esmeraldas. In partnership, Conexion will launch a chocolate bar made exclusively with the cacao beans UOPROCAE are growing.
Conexion’s goal had been to inspire this generation with personal growth, and avoid the uncertain immigration of young farmers to other cities. Conexion created an equal profit sharing program, with the aim to give the young farmers a better quality of life and to nurture long-term, sustainable farming of fine cacao for their generation. Jenny and her team have started with this association, and are striving to strength the model and be able to work with other cacao co-ops in the future.
Check out this interview Spencer did with Jenny:
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