Mikuna was founded by Ricky Echanique, a fifth generation farmer from Ecuador. Ricky grew up working on his family farm in Balao, a small town known for banana production and cacao. As he got older, Ricky became a world-class, professional tennis player but later developed an autoimmune disease that left him unable to train. In his recovery, Ricky realized that his body didn’t react well to eggs, dairy, and meat, and as a result he started following a plant-based diet. While he was rapidly regaining his health through plants, Ricky realized that he was missing a protein source. He had always felt bloated and slow after consuming whey, pea, and soy protein and wondered if there was a better alternative.

Through his own exploration over the next few months, Ricky discovered chocho, a natural and complete plant protein that grows at 11,000 to 14,000 feet in the Andes. Almost immediately, he knew he had stumbled upon something special in the one-ingredient protein. Ricky spent the next several years building a supply chain and figuring out how to process the chocho beans into a powder form, ultimately turning his findings into Mikuna’s whole-food chocho protein powders. Through the power of chocho, the Mikuna team is working to change the future of food with a positive and lasting effect on the planet.