Inaru Empowers Dominican Farmers

Cacao farmers are treated as partners at this chocolate company

Photo courtesy of Inaru

Valentine’s Day is next week and with that holiday come thoughts of love….and chocolate.

According to the National Confectioners Association, in 2022, “Seasonal Valentine’s Day items generated $729 million in the seven week period leading up to the holiday. Chocolate was, by far, the biggest seller in seasonal items, at $613 million.”

This year, why not choose a chocolate that also practices mindfulness and empowers women and local farmers?

Founded by sisters Erika and Janett Liriano, Inaru Chocolate not only sources cacao from the Dominican Republic but also makes bars at its factory just outside of the country’s capital of Santo Domingo. The farmers, considered partners, receive a share in the company’s revenues. The chocolate factory is run by a female general manager with a goal to empower local women with employment opportunities and room for growth.

Inaru’s Seema Kedia says the minority-owned, female-owned company’s goal can be summed up as this: “What we focus on is strength of opportunity”.

The Liriano sisters’ combined business backgrounds aren’t in culinary: Janett was named on the 2019 “Forbes 30 under 30 for Manufacturing and Industry” list and Erika has served as chief of staff and project manager at various startups and venture funds.

Their hearts, however, are deeply rooted in the Dominican Republic and its cacao.

Cacao farming runs in their family. Their father has a farm in the Dominican Republic and, after they started several successful ventures in the United States, he asked if they would ever do anything that had a tie to family and the Dominican people. By forming Inaru, they are honoring their roots in the sweetest way.

Inaru offers the chocolate online in three-bar bundles. The bars are available in 70% dark cacao or blended with fruits and florals such as vanilla and chamomile and auyama seeds and cranberries. The bars are sold in a mixed set of three or as three packs of one flavor. The chocolates are vegan, gluten-free, and tested safe from heavy metals.

The chocolate is also available at a pop-up shop at the Oculus in New York City and at the Canvas, a shop that offers sustainable products. Inaru is also available through the OneKin app.

The company also offers ingredient chocolate to bakers and restaurateurs who want to work with its products. As Kedia notes, “The cacao from the Dominican Republic is regarded globally as some of the finest in the world.”

Since the company’s inception about three years ago, Inaru has been working to set up the factory and create meaningful partnerships with farmers. The company’s been producing chocolate successfully for about a year and is now poised to grow. Kedia sums it up, “Now we can start to tell people our story and share more of our products.”