Business lessons we can learn from Philippine cacao entrepreneurs Ken and Shiela Reyes-Lao

Editor’s note: This content is sponsored by Shopee and was handled by BrandRap, the sales and marketing arm of Rappler. No member of the news and editorial team participated in the publishing of this piece. 

In business, success is often taken as a contest among those who can move faster and outthink, out-strat, and outwork the competition. But for Cacao Culture founders Ken and Shiela Reyes-Lao, growth does not always mean getting ahead of everyone else. Sometimes, it means helping an entire ecosystem move forward together. 

Their story is featured in Shopee Kultura+ presents Grit Expectations, a docuseries by FEATR that spotlights Filipino MSMEs turning Filipino craftsmanship into meaningful livelihoods. 

For the Reyes-Laos, cacao became a way to champion Filipino farmers and the Philippine chocolate industry as a whole. 

Lesson 1: Grow the market, not just your market share

One of the best examples of this mindset emerged during the pandemic. As businesses grappled to find stable footing online, Cacao Culture was already reaching customers nationwide through Shopee. The platform allowed people from different parts of the country to discover Davao-made chocolate products even outside Mindanao. 

Instead of using that advantage to grow just their own sales, the company made a surprising move to sell products from other local chocolate makers through their Shopee store. “Of course, the initial reaction of some people was, ‘Are they going crazy? Why would they sell other chocolate brands on their own online store website?’” Shiela recalls.

For the Reyes-Laos, however, the decision made perfect sense. “If we could help move products, then more chocolate makers could keep going. If more brands could keep going, then more employees could keep their jobs. And if those brands continued buying cacao, then the different farmers they were sourcing from could still earn an income,” she said. 

The couple realized early on that Philippine chocolate is still in its early stages. The work ahead wasn’t about outdoing one another, but helping more people fall in love with and discover what local cacao could become. 

Lesson 2: Build around a purpose bigger than the product 

Long before they became known for Philippine craft chocolate, Ken and Shiela were building careers in Manila. Ken came from a corporate and operations background, while Shiela worked in technology and project management. They eventually launched a tech startup in 2013, but a chance encounter with cacao, years later, changed the direction of their lives. 

“We discovered that chocolate was not just a product. It had a story — farmers, communities, culture, and Filipino identity.” That realization eventually led them to Davao, one of the country’s most important cacao-growing regions. Neither of them grew up there, but the city became the place where they learned about an industry they were only beginning to understand. Much of what they know today came through seminars, experimentation, and the generosity of people willing to share their knowledge. 

Those early experiences helped them to believe that businesses are stronger when they’re rooted in something larger than just lucrative goals. For Cacao Culture, that means helping tell the story of Philippine cacao and the communities behind it.

Lesson 3: Use technology to connect people to your story 

For many entrepreneurs, technology is viewed as a tool for business optimization. But for the Reyes-Laos, it became a way to bring more people into the story of Philippine chocolate. 

Before building a large retail footprint, Cacao Culture relied heavily on Shopee to connect directly with customers all over the country. “Someone who has never been to Davao can still taste Davao cacao.”

Shopee has also helped the company better understand customer preferences, reach gift buyers looking for locally made products, and make Philippine craft chocolate more accessible to Filipinos nationwide. More importantly, it allowed them to continue advancing the mission that has guided the business from the beginning, which is to create greater appreciation for Philippine cacao. 

“We do not see other Philippine chocolate makers simply as competitors. We see them as part of the same movement to make Filipino chocolate known.” Today, that philosophy remains visible in Cacao Culture’s stores, where products from other Philippine chocolate makers continue to share shelf space alongside their own. 

For Cacao Culture, growth has never been only about selling more chocolate. It is about helping more Filipinos discover the value of local cacao, the communities behind it, and the makers working to bring Philippine chocolate forward.

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Watch the full story of Cacao Culture’s journey in Shopee Kultura+ presents Grit Expectations, a docuseries by FEATR. – Rappler.com