Sococo Oil was originally the brainchild of Çhanna Senaratne. Desiring to help poor communities in Indonesia, Channa recognised the growing popularity of coconut oil and sought to use this increasing demand to empower people in poor villages where coconuts were easily grown.

After the tsunami devastated communities surrounding the Indian ocean on December 26, 2004, Channa realised that establishing a coconut oil factory on the Hinako Islands, off Nias in Sumatera Indonesia, would help these devastated communities rebuild their communities. Nias and the nearby islands were ravished by the second major disaster in 3 months. A 8.7 earthquake destroyed Gunning Sitoli, the capital of Nias, killing 600 people, levelling homes and severly restricting infrastructure and trade.

The area was now in even more desperate need, so the Senaratne family arrived in the area aboard their vessel, the Indo Jiwa, to work with the communities to rebuild their lives.

The coconut oil factory was established and the local people were trained in all aspects of the business. A fibreglass boat factory was also established to provide small fishing boats to replace the fishing canoes that were destroyed by the tsunami. A early-childhood learning centre called Coconut Kids Club was begun to help the many young people who were unable to attend school.

Midway through 2009 the coconut oil factory was handed over to the fully trained local staff. Now four families who had survived the Tsunami and earthquake own a fully functioning business and have the skills to sustain it.

Sumatera Oil is the direct market for this factory, subsequently distributing the oil around the world, in bulk and under their label "Sococo". Sumatera Oil donates 100% of its profits to LEAP (www.leapin.org) who are an aid organization committed to empowering people in this remote region.

However, the ‘Aid Through Trade’ concept doesn’t end at that point. The new owners are committed to donating 30% of their profit to the early childhood learning centre (Coconut Kids Club) to cover the wages of the locally trained educators. A second learning Centre was also opened late in 2008 on Asu Island and the increasing sales of coconut oil mean that expenses there are also covered by the Hinako factory.

 

Nutritional Information

	Per 100g	Per 15g
Energy in kCal	900	135
Egg White	0g	0g
Carbohydrate	0g	0g
Sugars	0g	0g
Fat	100g	13.7g
Saturated Fat	92.1g	13.7g
Medium Chain Fatty Acid
Caprylic C8	8g	1.2g
Capric C10	10g	1.5g
Lauric C12	48g	7.2g
Myristic C14	17g	2.6g
Long Chain
Palmitic C16	9g	1.4g
Steric C18	2.0g	0.3g
Unsaturated Fat	6.2g	1g
PolyUnsaturated Fat	2.1g	0.3g
Sodium	0g	0g

Note: Coconut Oil will become solid below 24⁰ Celsius. To liquify, place container in warm water