I admire local talents. I sincerely do. I am very proud of the various aspects, fields, genres and overall perofrmance this country has. Let alone women who have nearly done it all.
As you all know this segment is a spanking new entry that started last week with Maha Al-Omaim and now it continues with another show stopper, the wonderful Nada Al-Jouan’s “Kakao” chocolatier. She is the daughter of former Member of Parliament, Mr.Hamad Al-Jouan & wife of Mr. Osama Al-Furaih, has two kids Othman & Azzam.
I have been introduced to her by Reem, one of the readers here. A connection was made, I called her & really had no expectations at all, WRONG was the shortest thing you can throw at me, the way she said HELLO, said it all, she was a breath of freshness, kindness, total class & elegance. We had a conversation & as soon as i came close to hanging the phone she said ” Wait ! oh no your not going anywhere, hand me your home address, I have something for you .. ” . I thought oh well, she’s probably sending me some small samples. Oh small samples ? have a look at what I got.
She sent me “THE” samples that kept me gasping the whole time, my hands were itchy to open up everything because the packaging screams ” wana see what’s in ?” Extremely generous, her packaging must have refleted her open, colorful personality as the packaging was very self explanatory. I loved every bit of the wrapping, packaging, details, color, contrasts, materials, just so wonderfuly put together.
To me, the wrapping felt very “Switzerland” like when it came to quality, I dont know, just my two cents.
Having said that, I move to the choco’s themselves. Its a bit sensitive for me, but the moment I opened one of the boxes, my eyes got teary for i remembered my late grandmother’s sweets that are not available no more until i saw these lovely small heavenly pieces of choco, blended with coffee, sesame & ohh so fresh cardamom (Hail). I felt the original local kuwaiti creativity hands that blended all these magnificent fusions to create this small mouthful piece of excellence. Everything else was different all by its own rights none the less. I loved it with a capital V.
Well enough of what I think, lets get you guys to the
INTERVIEW
Well Nada, Introduce yourself ?
My name is Nada Hamad Aljouan. I am a wife and a mother of two kids, Othman and Azzam Osama Alfuraih. Ages 5.5yrs and 20 months.
Graduated from University of Massachusetts Lowell majoring in Finance and MIS. I work as a Senior Vice President of Aljulai’a Touristic and Entertainment Enterprises, which is specialized in the field of Hospitality as it owns and operates Sea Shell Hotel and Resort Previously known as “Kempinski Hotel and Resort”. Beside that, I am the founder of “Kakao” Chocolates , Confections and Desserts. I also own Kajal Beauty Center in Kuwait and Fadia El Mendelek and Kajal Salon in Lebanon and our fisrt Franchise will open soon in qatar.
What inspired you to be the owner of “KAKAO” ?
I am Totally into products and production exploration which I found my self fascinated about from start to finish, especially in the food & Beverage sector. And I always envision my self creating such a product. Beside that, Packaging really attracts me and I am obssessed with the way things looks. Through researching , I found that most of the gourmet chocolates in the market of kuwait are either imported or produced modestly and I was eager to create modern chocolate creations with many references to traditional kuwaiti and arabic flavours with international standards in terms of production and packaging.
What differs you from other competitors ?
Team work, including all of my family members, Noor & Hanan in creative directions Abdulla and Abdulrazaq in support and logistics – have a distinctive role in the process of making the chocolates to the packaging development, in which we have a lot of fun in choosing the color scheme, boxes, bags, ribbons…etc.
I proudly can say that the look you see is a result of a team work made by us. Except for the logo, we have outsourced an international design house to execute it. The directions came from my sister hanan in which she has a unique style and we really wanted something that represent our name in arabic and be written in Arabic calligraphy.
My first tasters and critiques are my mother, my sister noor, my husband and my little angel othman.
Support ? family & friends ?
My two dearst : Mother – Nawal Alkhaled and Husband Osama alfuraih. Without them, there would never be “Kakao” .They feed me with support and encouragement and if I get back one step they will push me harder thousand steps. I have invested a lot of time in the process of creating “Kakao” concept in the central production Kitchen with my mother to come up with new chocolates items and developing recipes that I like a lot.
This has a toll on my social networking with friends, I spend months not being able to see them and I really appreciate their understanding of my passion in business and forgiving me . which comes out of love and deep connections that we share together, That’s what I call true friendship.
Where do you see yourself 5 years from now ?
Lets say an international chain ENSHALLA! Ambition has no limits.
Throw something in for p0ach readers !
Believe in yourself. Never consider failure as a major obstacle, it is a crucial part of success!
Take it as a learning curve, building block and move on. You have to be adventurous in order to initiate your first step in creating a concept or a business. Think international with national taste and directions. Reseach and take your time.
Contact Info:
E-mail: info@kakao-kuwait.com
Office: +965 97162323
P.S: Photos are taken by the talented Mr.Fahad Al-Nusif. I usually do the photography, but the guy puts me to shame. HAH!
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loved the interview! keep em comin lol!
Mashallah 3laiha its very inspiring to see ambitious and talented women. Ow you’re right the packaging is fantastic very Swiss-y looking.
I LOVE IT!!!! And I love it when people get creative with food and stimulate all your senses
Allah ywafijjha, and thank you for the interview
Love at first sight, Good luck
nice interview Abdullah ya36eek il3afya, can’t wait for the rest ;*
ilkuwaitii anfaa3 5laa9 lazm nshtrii mnhaa ;D
I wish her all the best.
Wow!! I’mmm loving the interviews!!! minsijiii… more more and more please!!
mashallah! she’s very impressive!
wish her all the best..
great interview!
loved the presentation.. will order tomorrow inshalla.. never get enough sweets
I loved the interview kila, and the intro is hilarious (which u witnessed first hand) and the pictures are just amazing!!
I applaude Nada for doing such a great job, the designs are amazing and the chocolate she sent (a7im a7im Nada i was one of the tasters, Abdulla made us try EVERY piece!!) were very delicious and different from whats out there. Wish u the best of luck!!
woooooow
i ordered min gabel from them she is the sweetest person ever
i hope she does weell testahel bent deeratna
7araaam 3alaaaaaaaik !! fee nas 3ayshen bil ’3urbaaa etha be7aloon yaklon nutella ;p w int 7a6lee kil hal yummmmm yummmmmmmmm!! ma yseeeer 7araaaaam allah ma yrthaaaaa ;p
Nice like like and like no I think its love , I’ll order for ramadan and eid sweets .. and abdullah keep the interviews coming
Great job Abdullah, I really love the way ur introducing creative Kuwaities…
Nada,KaKao looks amazing…wish i was in q8 to give it a try.
to nada elyo3an : zgert walla zgert ela al2amam, etha 3endy monasaba ra7 a6leb menech
to 3baid : chak chak chack chak (la ywagef la ywagef)
kather men hal interviews
Loved it, o allah ewafigha enshala!
Dear Abdullah,
It took me a while to digest the words you have put wonderfully in your amazing blog, I am astonished by your marvelously organized interview and your professional way of presentation and narrating that I enjoyed a lot. I am really honored to be your Second guest in you respected blog, and especially to be critiqued by a talented gentleman as you.
Thank you for your great introduction, I appreciate your kind efforts.
Keep it up!
THANK YOU ALL!!
I am so flattered with you kind comments and wishes that just keeps me go on, I really appreciate it
Thanks again for your support
Wish you all the best
winni3im fi Nada and her family. I love their work and admire it so much
O 3ashan ma tiz3al… a clickable comment with a link to my blog
Dear Nada,
everything was divine! from packaging to taste!
loved the brownies and Oreo cluster the most..
ham mula7atha, only 9 out of all the boxes were labeled, I had to carefully peek into the rest to see which is which. I didn’t want to ruin the packaging cuz it’s beautiful! thanks again.. o 3asach 3ala ilguwwah
Thaaank u Nada matga9reen, thats very kind of u!
hehe, ur welcome
god we studied in the same university with the same major!! woooooow what a coincedence… cool
hi madame nada
really great carier ,and nice intialities you have , its not eazy to work in that field at all especialy for an unprefessionel
mashalla
allah izid wibarik
Ofcourse ! Never stop supporting local talents !
She is just amazing, the packaging is superb
Im super glad you liked it, she deserves the best
Inshalla when you come back na6liblik minhom cuz you’d love it im sure
Thank you demolii
Wish granted ya zaina
Thank you for your support !
Kafo Kafo !
Hey Miznah ! Glad you liked it !
ohh and you”’ fall in love, just imagine, coco with a traditional twist.
3baid !
AWW thanks ! about the hillarious part, what can i say, i just pour in how i feel
The photos are taken by Fahad Al-Nusif, you can find a link to his flicker account in the bottom of the post.
ee ish3alaik, ma36eenik first seat review PLUS
Dear Abdulla,
yesharifny inik tekon one of the tasters o zain sawa 3bdullah faikom wel7imila you liked it:-)
Thanks for your kind wishes
Great ! so you did have a taste of whats happening out there & yes she is super sweet.
i3yalnaa gabil kil shay
LOOOOOOOL !! awww you make me feel so bad ! 3a6eena 3inwanich o in6arish lich, ishtabeen ba3ad ?
Thank you il dileee, will keep them coming for sure, but before ramadan comes, you have to have a preview, order now ! LOL
Hey there M.Q, Thanks for dropping by and your very kind words.
Keep coming
ilsalam 3omree wallah thank you ;**
THANK YOU !!
khanshoof bacher.. mmmmm..
mula7atha.. some of the items pictured have no names, it was difficult for me to explain the “Respberyy + marshmellow + simsimiyah + topped with fistiqiyah”.. the women was like.. aaah.. wait.. (pause, Filipino talk) aaah madame.. which one again.. I repeated the above.. same reaction.. then I had to explain how it looked.. “you know the pink cone with a round pistachio thing on top”
she was like “pink? what pink? mmmmm.. wait wait madame please..”
Please name them so it would be easier for us to order. Thanks!
Dear Miznah,
You are absolutely Right!
We are working on it wenshala soon will name them. I think that I have been busy a bit with recipe development o nisait masamy….mako wagt;-)
Thanks Dear
Dear Nada,
Thank you for your prompt reply.
Allah yi3eenech, I know setting a new business isn’t easy and I’m sure you’ll come up with wonderful names, hopefully soon
Best of luck to you, Allah yiwafgich o keep it up!
p.s The pink Raspberry coned one reminded me of little girls with pink dresses.. coco ballerina mathalan? lol
NADA !
Ohh no no need at all, im so glad you liked my crazy, freaky, abnormal brain damaged signals. Overall, you deserve the highlight you got & dont ask me but you can look at the reader’s reaction, its just sweet and overwhelming.
I wish you nothing but joy & success.
More power to you !
itloomene 3aad ??
mo ilee i7ibich idawer masla7tich 
lol lakin seriously, thanks for dropping by and for supporting Nada
mashala nice site
Thanks alot Zaina, waaaaayed 3ajabni coco ballerina:-)
Hala Miznah,
I am so glad that you liked it dear, and If you liked oreo cluster and brownies, I am sure that you will like more our famous New Turtle (cause we’ve developed the recipe and added almond biscuit and cheese to the original one ).
Sorry ta3abnach! bs we are working on the labeling system
Bel3afya:-)