WIDE SELECTION Chocolate, coffee and cereals are only some of the products produced by Nacional de Chocolates.
How Compania Nacional de Chocolates became Colombia’s most international company.
BY JOHN OTIS AND JOACHIM BAMRUD
BOGOTA – After expanding in Latin America, Colombia-based Grupo Nacional de Chocolates is now exploring business opportunities in Asia and Africa, CEO Carlos Enrique Piedrahita tells Latin Business Chronicle in an exclusive interview.
“We see ourselves as a “multi-Latin” business,” he says. “But we’re also exploring business opportunities in Asia and Africa.”
Grupo Nacional de Chocolates is one of Colombia’s most ambitious and outward-looking businesses. Founded as a chocolate company in 1920, Nacional de Chocolates has moved beyond candy bars and now makes everything from sausage and pasta to ice cream and crackers.
Through an aggressive strategy of acquisitions and mergers, Grupo Nacional de Chocolates has also expanded overseas and now operates eight production facilities in Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama, Peru and Venezuela; has its own distribution network in the United States and 10 Latin American markets and exports to 70 countries worldwide.
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