NuCoconut founder Ricky Santos grew up in the Philippines, mainly in the area of Metro Manila where the coconut industry is of vital importance to millions of its people. His family saw poverty and viewed firsthand the struggle of the Filipino coconut farmer. Although they were fortunate to thrive, the desperate and unjust wages coconut farmers were paid, tugged at their hearts. So, they made it their mission to change and positively alter the economic landscape of the Filipino farmer. As a result, NUCO organic and natural coconut products was born.
Coconut production plays a critical role in the Philippine economy.
• It is among the country’s leading export.
• 23% of the Philippine population is somehow directly or indirectly involved in the coconut industry.
• More than 90% of those working in the coconut industry live below the poverty line. Tragically millions of Filipino coconut farmers are trapped in working poverty, considered modern day slaves. They are paid paltry wages, not because their product has so little value, but because the value is added later in the production chain.
NUCO is in the business of transforming lives. NUCO’s passion is to benefit the local Philippine coconut farmers through the sale of their sustainably-grown, organic and natural coconut products. The company only partners with mission-minded businesses that support local and global communities. One of these companies is Dignity Business Partners – a company dedicated to building “community transformational plants”, each of which will buy fresh coconuts from a network of 500-600 surrounding family farms, and hire local plant operators from within the community.
A portion of NUCO’s profits go directly to social, economic and environmental projects. The end result is changing the economic landscape of the Philippines through business and job creation, strengthening community values, and improving their role as stewards of the land through modeling sustainability and care for the environment.
Its strategy of selling high value coconut products will help increase profit margins for farmers which in turn will provide a direct positive impact on their finances and their communities as a whole.
As NUCO strives to grow, so will its efforts towards providing a better future for farmers and their communities. For more information please visit nucoconut.com.
