Programme: Postgraduate Diploma in Entrepreneurship 2017
Country: Ecuador
Nationality: Ecuadorian-British
Sector: Consumer and retail entrepreneurship
It was an incredible experience that changed my mindset.
How did you benefit from the programme and how is it helping you today?
“It fully changed my perception of how my business can have an impact on society and the environment. It’s helping me through the extraordinary network of Cambridge Judge Business School.”
Biography
Susana is a cacao curator and the only Latin American member of the Academy of Chocolate of London. She comes from Manabí Province in Ecuador, a cacao-growing region with a longstanding history of Arriba Nacional cacao cultivation. Susana has been a journalist for many years, writing for Spanish and Latin-American publications such as El Pais and El Universo. Over the last seven years, based in London, she has worked in the chocolate and cacao industry, as a journalist, a chocolate taster and as an entrepreneur. In 2013, she returned to Ecuador to found Montecristi Chocolate, which won several awards at the Academy of Chocolate. In 2017 she launched Cárdenas Chocolate, her new venture, as a result of her studies at Cambridge Judge Business School. She is committed to creating chocolate with precious and heritage cacao that preserves primary forests, regenerates vintage cacao plantations and empowers local communities. Currently, she is leading a team of 25 small-scale cacao farmers, talented craftsmen, sustainable wood producers, designers and chocolate makers from five regions in Ecuador in order to create the ultimate chocolate experience.