About us

Juan Rafael Trigueros Hill

🇸🇻 co-founder

Hi, I'm Juan Rafael, born and raised in San Salvador and today I divide my time between El Salvador and Sardinia.

After my studies in economics, I started my career in the beverage industry with SABMiller for Coca Cola. Later, I worked for Lenzing AG, representing textile raw material producers, and Coconut Cartel Ltd in Miami.

Since 2006, I have dedicated time and energy to valorizing the ancestral cocoa of our small family plantation, Finca Cuyancúa , and contributed to the creation of the first cooperative dedicated to the regeneration of Salvadoran fino de aroma cocoa, ES-CACAO.

This experience has prepared me to better understand the agricultural part and subsequently the artisanal primary processing, known as "bean to bar": all in compliance with ethical and sustainable practices, as I have always thought was the most correct way to have cocoa for the future.

My commitment is to ensure that every VAICACAO product carries with it our dedication to authenticity, which has a positive impact in my country of origin, El Salvador, in addition to high quality and sustainability in all its facets.

Elisa Parriciatu

🇮🇹 CO-FOUNDER

Hi, my name is Elisa, I am Sardinian and like all the people born on this island, I am very attached to my roots and my territory.

My education in Political Science and International Development Cooperation at the University of Bologna and the Master's degree in Cooperation and Development at the University of the Basque Country in Spain led me to work with relevant NGOs , from Spain to Burkina Faso, up to a decisive chapter in El Salvador in 2011. Here, collaborating with the UN and in particular with UN-Women , I was the coordinator of projects for the economic empowerment of women in conditions of poverty, human rights and women's human rights.

During the years spent in San Salvador (El Salvador), I met Juan Rafael, who introduced me to his initial project of redemption and reactivation of the ancestral Salvadoran cocoa, leading us to lay the foundations of the Vaicacao project in 2015.

My commitment is to ensure that each of our products is the result of sustainable farming practices, the highest quality, authentic craftsmanship and ethical values, to further the transformative and regenerative power of cocoa.