Mom’s Love Leads to Virgin Coconut Oil Business

A virgin coconut oil (VCO) business was born out of a mother’s love for her sick son and is thriving in the province of Antique.  Dr. Clarissa Esmenos, a dentist and owner of Ariana Coco Products, said her son was suffering from skin asthma back in 2012, and their regular visits to a hospital in Iloilo City were draining their family’s income.  In one of these visits, however, a fellow patient recommended to her to try rubbing VCO on his son’s skin which she took seriously. 

From coconuts in their backyard, she researched and tried to make VCO.  She found the VCO effective in treating her son’s skin asthma until she made more batches of the oil and gave those to their relatives. “I was surprised that those I had given the VCO (to) kept coming back inquiring if they could still ask for more,” Esmenos said.
In November 2013, upon the invitation of the Department of Trade and Industry, she joined a trade fair at a mall in Antique bringing with her only 15 bottles of VCO to see if they would sell. To her surprise, it was sold out. “As of now, we already have our production center and we are selling in outlets even in Iloilo City and Boracay island,” she said of the business named after her daughter.