Built With Purpose: How A Family’s Experience With Diabetes Inspired Olivia Ipsioco’s Award Winning Siocolat

For many entrepreneurs, a business begins with an opportunity spotted in the marketplace. For Olivia Ipsioco, the idea behind Siocolat began much closer to home.

Diabetes has affected three members of her immediate family. Her father, Oscar Ipsioco, a former architect, lives with diabetes. Her late mother, Georgina, also lived with the condition. Olivia herself has diabetes.

It is an experience that has shaped the way she thinks about food, sugar and the simple pleasure of enjoying something sweet.

Rather than believing that reducing added sugar should mean abandoning indulgence altogether, Olivia began asking a different question: could the comforting drinks and flavours people love be reimagined with less reliance on added sugar, without losing the sense of enjoyment that makes them special?

That question became part of the inspiration behind Siocolat.

“Diabetes is very personal to me. My mother had diabetes, my father has diabetes, and I live with it myself. I understand what it's like to look at something you would love to eat or drink and immediately think about the sugar. I wanted to explore alternatives that could still feel special and indulgent.”

An Idea Rooted In Family

Family sits at the heart of the Siocolat story.

Olivia's father, Oscar, was an architect, and she sees parallels between his work and her own entrepreneurial journey: creativity, attention to detail and the persistence needed to turn an idea into something tangible.

Her late mother, Georgina, is equally important to the brand's purpose. Although she did not live to see Siocolat's achievements, her influence remains central to what Olivia is building.

“My parents are a huge part of the reason Siocolat exists. My mother is sadly no longer here to see how far the brand has come, but I carry her with me in what I'm building. My father is still here to see this journey unfold, so being able to share this achievement with him makes it incredibly special.”

Turning Personal Experience Into A Brand

The idea behind Siocolat was never simply about removing sugar.

Olivia wanted to preserve something equally important: pleasure.

A warming cup of chocolate, the ritual of preparing a latte or a comforting dessert can be about far more than nutrition. These are small moments of enjoyment, nostalgia and connection.

Siocolat therefore approaches reduced sugar indulgence from a different perspective, not by asking consumers to give up the experiences they enjoy, but by exploring how those experiences can be recreated differently.

That philosophy can be seen across the brand's growing range, which includes hot chocolate, ube latte, matcha based drinks, protein beverages and Filipino inspired desserts, with vegan and no added sugar options forming an important part of the collection.

The products also reflect Olivia's interest in combining familiar concepts with flavours that may be less familiar to mainstream British consumers.

And that is where another important part of her identity enters the Siocolat story.

Bringing Filipino Flavours To Britain

Olivia's Filipino heritage gives Siocolat a distinctive point of difference.

Alongside universally familiar ingredients such as cacao and increasingly popular matcha, the brand has embraced ube, the vibrant purple yam deeply associated with Filipino desserts and cuisine.

For generations of Filipinos, ube is hardly a trend. Its distinctive colour and gently sweet, earthy flavour can evoke memories of celebrations, family gatherings, cakes, ice cream and traditional ube halaya.

For many British consumers, however, it is still a discovery.

Siocolat brings these worlds together by presenting ube in contemporary formats such as the ube latte and ube protein drink, making a distinctly Filipino flavour accessible through products already familiar to the modern wellness and café market.

The brand has also explored champorado, the Filipino chocolate rice porridge traditionally associated with comfort and home.

“My Filipino heritage is something I want Siocolat to celebrate. Some of the flavours that are becoming fashionable internationally have been part of Filipino culture for generations. I love being able to introduce those flavours to new audiences while respecting where they come from.”

For Olivia, this cultural connection helps distinguish Siocolat in an increasingly crowded functional beverage market.

Rather than following wellness trends alone, the company can draw upon a genuine personal heritage while giving traditional inspiration a contemporary interpretation.

Recognition In London

In 2026, Siocolat's development reached an important milestone when the brand received recognition at the Greater London Enterprise Awards, being named Best Functional Beverage Brand 2026.

For a growing independent brand, an award provides valuable external recognition. For Olivia, however, this particular achievement carries a more personal meaning.

It represents how far an idea rooted in her family's experience has travelled.

“Receiving this recognition means much more to me than having an award to display. Siocolat grew from something incredibly personal, my parents' experiences and my own experience with diabetes. My mother isn't here to celebrate it with us, but she remains part of this story. And having my father here to see what Siocolat is becoming makes the achievement even more meaningful.”

The award also comes at a time when consumers are becoming increasingly interested in what goes into the products they buy.

For Siocolat, that presents an opportunity, but also a responsibility.

Choice Without Making Promises

Olivia is careful about the distinction between being inspired by diabetes and claiming that a particular food or drink can treat it.

Siocolat's family story explains why the company was created. It does not mean that its products are intended to treat, prevent or manage diabetes.

Likewise, “no added sugar” does not necessarily mean “sugar free.” Some ingredients can contain naturally occurring sugars, and individual nutritional requirements vary.

That distinction is particularly important to Olivia because she understands the issue personally.

“I don't believe one product is the answer for everyone. People have different dietary needs, particularly when they're managing a condition such as diabetes. What I want Siocolat to do is give people more choice and make it easier to find interesting products that don't automatically rely on lots of added sugar.”

It is a refreshingly straightforward philosophy for a sector sometimes dominated by exaggerated wellness promises.

Siocolat is not trying to position indulgence as medicine.

It is trying to rethink indulgence itself.

A Business With A Wider Purpose

The values behind Siocolat extend beyond the products.

The brand has also connected its commercial journey with a commitment to giving back, supporting the United Nations World Food Programme's ShareTheMeal initiative.

For Olivia, maintaining a connection to the Philippines is particularly meaningful, with the company's social impact ambitions reflecting the same heritage that influences many of its products.

It creates a thread running through the business: family, heritage, food and purpose.

These are not separate marketing concepts added to the brand after its creation. They are interconnected parts of the reason Siocolat developed in the first place.

Building The Next Chapter

Winning Best Functional Beverage Brand 2026 marks an important moment for Siocolat, but Olivia views it as a milestone rather than a destination.

There is still much she wants to build.

She sees opportunities to introduce more consumers to flavours such as ube, expand Siocolat's functional beverage range and continue exploring ways of creating products that combine indulgence, convenience and a more considered approach to added sugar.

And as Siocolat grows, Olivia wants to retain the personal story at its foundation.

There is something particularly fitting about celebrating this stage of the journey alongside her father.

Oscar spent his career as an architect, turning ideas into things that could be built. His daughter has ultimately followed that principle in her own way, only instead of designing a building, she is building a brand.

Georgina remains part of that story too.

“When I look at Siocolat today, I think about where it started and why I started it. I think about my mum, my dad and my own journey. Winning this award is wonderful, but what matters most to me is continuing to build something with meaning behind it. I hope my mother would have been proud of what we've achieved.”

For Siocolat, the Greater London Enterprise Award is recognition of what has already been created.

For Olivia Ipsioco, it is also a reminder of who inspired her to begin building it in the first place.

About Siocolat

Siocolat is a British food and beverage brand founded by Olivia Ipsioco, offering a growing collection of no added sugar, vegan and functional food and drink products. Drawing inspiration from chocolate, contemporary wellness and Olivia's Filipino heritage, its range includes hot chocolate, ube and matcha beverages, protein drinks and reimagined Filipino inspired products.

In 2026, Siocolat was recognised as Best Functional Beverage Brand 2026 at the Greater London Enterprise Awards.

Explore The Siocolat Story And Flavours

Readers can learn more about Siocolat and its collection at siocolat.uk, and follow the brand on Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok.