The award is a product of years of hard work; not only by the business owners but the workers behind Varraco Inc. Together they not only aspire to bring the best coffee to their consumers, it also works hard at providing sustainable livelihood to women and disadvantaged members of the community.
Learning from experience
The business idea is a product of two life experiences; with Kat Manto a mother and business woman and Ariestelo Asilo, an energetic young man with lots of ideas and a failed attempt at starting his own business.
In 2013 Ariestelo “Aries” Asilo started his own agricultural company, he had the vision and the motivation but did not have the right formula to succeed. He did not lose hope and ventured into another small business focusing on the accounting aspect of small businesses and pursued further studies. It was in 2018 that he crossed paths with Kathleen Manto who was working with a group of mothers producing coffee.
highlights
- Varacco delivers supplies and picks up packaged products from their workers respective homes, making it COVID safe for their contractors
- Their coffee 'Circa 1740' pays tribute to the year the Spaniards brought coffee to Lipa, Batangas
- Varacco, Inc was among 2,000 finalists at the Best Small Business: Good Food For All at the UN Small Business Awards 2021
Team work
Their common interest in coffee gave birth to Varracco Inc, a company built by dedicated workers with very little resources. Teamwork is the key to success. They are now a team of 15 office workers with most of the packing outsourced to mothers, persons with disabilities and contracting farmers for the coffee beans and suppliers for roasting. ‘The ripple effect, every single coffee you buy helps not only our business but the mother, the person with disability, the farmer, the supplier and roaster and so on’ says co- founder Aries. ‘This is how you know your business’ purpose, your supply chain grows, sharing the profits as the circle grows larger and stronger, from planting up until it the reaches the consumer’ he adds.
Planting the beans for the next step
‘This is how you know your business’ purpose, sharing the profits as the circle grows larger and stronger, from planting up until it reaches the consumer' A Asilo Source: supplied by A Asilo
For Aries the next step towards a sustainable livelihood is planting coffee beans in Batangas. ‘We have started planting, maybe in three to five years’ time we will have our own coffee from our own farms. We are currently relying on coffee farmers from other areas of the country as Batangas coffee farmers were affected by the recent Mayon eruption’ He is also looking into the bigger picture, helping Filipino coffee farmers in the Philippines improve post-harvest quality of coffee. He was recently granted a yearlong funding to do research on ‘improving productivity and post-harvest quality of coffee using COVID safe and climate adaptive techniques’ his research will focus on farmers in Cavite and Davao. The ultimate goal is to improve local coffee production and ultimately help Filipinos achieve a sustainable livelihood.
