Founders

Founders of Coconut Republic

LALAINE VILLAFUERTE-ABONAL

Lalaine, a Business Economics graduate from the University of the Philippines and a foreign exchange student high school graduate from MountLake Terrace Senior High in Washington State, in the US  - has more than twenty-one (21) years of experience as an export-manufacturer and export-trader. The foreign buyers she represented in the past and present include: importers, wholesalers, traders, retailers who distribute products through supermarkets/ groceries, mail-order catalogs and online stores. Lalaine’s experience also includes setting-up (from product sourcing and development, vendor selection and follow-up, product procurement, shipping and actual setting up of the product displays) a whole showroom of high-end, Philippine-made furniture, gifts, houseware, decorative accessories, fashion accessories at the nationally renowned LA Mart in downtown Los Angeles, California from the year 2001 to 2003. LA Mart is the West Coast's premier wholesale mart encompassing the western states' most comprehensive collection of world-class, regional, and national showrooms available to the trade buying community.

Lalaine was elected and served as the youngest member of the Board of Directors and was the Public Relations Officer and Treasurer of the Foreign Buyer’s Association of the Philippines (FOBAP) from 1996 to 1998. Lalaine is also the Founding President of the Organic Farmers and Processors Association of the Philippines (OFPAP) from July 2009 to the present (2023). OFPAP consists of fourteen (14) community grower group members - mostly growers of coconut sap and moringa farms and processing facilities that are located all over the Philippines. OFPAP directly and indirectly provides livelihood and income generating opportunities to at least 2,000 people in the Philippines. 

Lalaine authored the following books which her father, Luis R. Villafuerte, ( a former Minister of Trade of the Philippines; a former Governor of 15 years, and was also a Congressman of 9 years in the Province of Camarines Sur, Philippines)  edited and published.

The book titles Lalaine authored, are as follows : 1) “MORINGA (Malunggay Philippines) (published in January 2009), a 9" x 12" hard bound, 350 page; full color coffee-table book, printed in Singapore. 2) "COCONUT Philippines" (published in 2007), a 9"x 12" hard bound, 550 pages; full-color coffee-table book, printed in Singapore. 3) "ABACA Philippines" (published in January2006), a 9" x 12" hard bound, 300 pages, full-color coffee-table book, printed in Singapore.

4) "101 Lessons of a Buying Agent of Foreign Companies" (published in 2001; soft-bound); 5) "IT Outsourcing Opportunities in the Philippines" (published in 2002; soft-bound).

Lalaine Villafuerte-Abonal was the only Filipino author who made it to the Winner Circle of the US based 2009 Green Book Festival competition as an Honorable Mention winner for her 550 page, full-color book entitled “Coconut Philippines”. All the rest of the winners were US and UK authors. The 2009 Green Book Festival based in the US,  is an annual competition honoring books that contribute to greater understanding, respect and positive action on the changing worldwide environment.

Today, the COCONUT Philippines book, an awardee of the US-based  2009 Green Book Festival is considered the most comprehensive visual reference guidebook on coconut and its by-products. The other books authored by Lalaine such as the ABACA and MORINGA books are the first-ever, hard-bound, full-color book publication on said topics in the world. The Moringa Philippines book was translated in Korean and a condensed version was published and distributed in Korea .

Lalaine exported the original and first commercial quantity of  organic-certified and kosher-certified coconut sap-based products such as the coconut aminos seasoning, coconut syrup, coconut sugar, coconut teriyaki sauce, coconut sweet chili sauce, coconut vinegar, coconut balsamic vinegar, coconut barbecue sauce and others, mainly  to the US  since 2009 to the present , in Australia since 2010 to the present and in Germany in 2011. Said export products were sold under the private labels/ brands of her buyers in said countries and were distributed in major supermarkets/ groceries, restaurants, online stores, etc.

Lalaine’s exclusive distributor in Europe on Feb 14,2014 bagged the prestigious WELLNESS INNOVATION AWARD 2014 in Germany. This international award covers the whole range of Philippine-made coconut sap-based products supplied and exported by Lalaine to Europe, that includes : coconut sugar, coconut syrup, coconut balsamic vinegar , coconut vinegar with coconut light syrup and toasted coconut chips sweetened with coconut sugar ,etc . The WELLNESS INNOVATION AWARD 2014 is an international competition initiated by the German Wellness Association (DWV). The German Wellness Association (DWV) is considered the leading organization of the wellness movement in Europe. There are six (6) Award Categories and the Philippine-made coconut sap based products exported by Lalaine to its European distributor won under the category of “FOOD and BEVERAGES” garnering 61.78% of the votes in its category which was the highest percentage of votes garnered in all 6 categories..

In October 2011, Lalaine’s organic coconut sugar through its exclusive distributor in Europe was also awarded in 2011 the “Anuga Taste 11 Award.” The first and only Philippine coconut sugar to receive such an international award. ANUGA, is the largest food and beverage fair in the world, annually held in Cologne, Germany.