Louise Mabulo of The Cacao Project Gamechanging Producer Louise Mabulo is a chef and the founder of The Cacao Project, an initiative that seeks to help farmers work sustainably and make a profit. The social venture came about following a typhoon in Mabulo’s home of San Fernando, Camarines Sur in 2016 when Mabulo, just 18 at the time, saw the impact of the typhoon on farmers’ livelihoods. Identifying that cacao plants were among the few crops still standing post-typhoon, her disaster relief assistance stretched into the longer term as she encouraged the planting of more resilient crops. The Cacao Project has helped more than 200 farmers plant 80,000 trees across 70 hectares to date and Mabulo hopes to extend her scope of work to include a series of chocolate products. In addition to her agriculture advocacy, Mabulo runs The Culinary Lounge, a farm-to-table kitchen space, which hosts workshops, pop-up dinners and other events.