Cordillera Chocolate’s Natalie Quintero Zuluaga joins WCC event

Fresh from gaining an accolade at the World Confectionery Conference, Colombia’s Cordillera Chocolate has been confirmed to play its part in our Q&A on sustainability for our 2026 event, writes Neill Barston.

Natalie Quintero Zuluaga, marketing director for the company, will be representing the business, having attended this year’s event in Brussels to claim the company’s award.

The business gained its honours at this year’s event for its Atenea programme in its native Colombia, assisting dozens of women cocoa farmers gain entry into the industry, as well as additional training to help progress their respective ventures.

As Natalie explained in an exclusive video report (below) the award-win was very much for all those connected with the business, which has placed ethical sourcing at the heart of its operation.

Notably, the cocoa sector will be prominent within the mix of topics for the nexts edition of our World Confectionery Conference, as it moves to The View, London, on 10 September 2026.

Last month, we confirmed our first keynote speaker, Tobias Bachmuller, president of the Caobisco European confectionery trade organisation, who is a managing shareholder of the Katjes group in Germany.

Editor Neill Barston commented: “We’re very much looking forward to seeing Natalie take part in our 2026 event’s Q&A panel, which is set to place sustainability within cocoa, and the wider confectionery supply chain firmly in the spotlight.

“With the pace of regulatory change proving exceptionally rapid this year, it is widely anticipated that next year will continue very much in that mould, with notable challenges and opportunities that we will discuss during our panel, which has remained one of the key highlights of our event.”

Registration for the 2026 World Confectionery Conference is now open, with early bird rates for attending, exhibiting and speaking available via confectioneryconference.com