The Kafie family is a prominent business and philanthropic family of Honduras. Members of the family are responsible for founding or operating several of the largest enterprises in the country, in various fields of commerce, and for supporting a variety of charitable ventures. The family name, "Kafie" in Honduras originates in Honduras, while the Kafie family of Honduras has been recognized as part of the Palestinian diaspora. Their ancestors emigrated to England in the nineteenth century, and family patriarch Chuckri Kafie moved from there to La Unión, El Salvador in 1901. More family members followed, and within the next few decades, the family relocated to Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Beginning in the 1970s a number of descendants of the original Kafie family members moved to the United States. The most notable branch of the family are descendants of Chuckri Kafie's son Luis Kafie, a textile businessman, and his wife, Elena "Nena" Larach.
Notable individuals
Schucry Kafie
Schucry Kafie is founder of Lácteos de Honduras S.A.—better known as Lacthosa—the country's largest dairy company. He is also a founding member of Luz y Fuerza de San Lorenzo Sociedad Anónima—better known as Lufussa—the largest electricity supplier in Honduras. He is the honorary consul of Jordan in Honduras. Kafie married Marlene Nasser in 1982. They have four daughters Stephanie, Elena, Vivian, and Marianne.
Eduardo Kafie was born in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. He is in charge of Lacthosa Cereales and Colon Fruit Company Cofructo, and is also the Honorary Consul of Jamaica in Honduras, and honorary president of the family charitable foundation.
Other family members
Other family members involved in the family-run businesses include:
Dr. Fernando E. Kafie Jr., partner at Coastal Vascular Surgery group in Pensacola, Florida
Dr. Gaby Kafie, retired Foot and Ankle Surgeon. Owner of Kafie Trading Company, LLC and Tabacalera G. Kafie y Cia., located in Danli, Honduras. Manufacturer and Importer of Premium Cigars and Organic Coffee.Brands include Kafie 1901 Cigars, Kafie 1901 Coffee, and San Jerónimo Cigars. Dr. Kafie has been in the premium cigar business since 2013. His factory also produces other well known boutique cigar brands for private label.
Miriam Kafie, manager of Social Responsibility for Lacthosa subsidiary Sula
Monique Kafie, Marketing and Sales Manager for Lacthosa subsidiary Ceteco
Elena Kafie, Marketing and Sales Director at Lacthosa
Luís José Kafie, manager of the company Cofructo, a major Honduran orange juice producer which buys the oranges of over two thousand family farms in the region for orange juice sold in Honduras and exported to neighboring countries and the United States.
Fundación Chito y Nena Kafie is a family charitable organization created by Schucry, Luis and Eduardo Kafie in 2006, named for their parents. The charity has engaged in over 200 projects aimed at improving the lives of Hondurans, with a focus on community, health, and education. The Foundation has invested in providing school lunches, for example investing 600 thousand lempiras to install a children's dining room in the Juan Ramón Molina school, in the village El Llano of the municipality of Ojojona. The Foundation has also engaged in the building or rebuilding of dozens of churches, such as the Sagrada Familia Chapel in Amarateca. By December 2016, the Foundation reported having rebuilt 33 churches, and it was announced that the Foundation would be joining with the "Churches of Honduras" Project for continued efforts towards this end. The Foundation also supports the international organization Hogares CREA in helping young people who have been rehabilitated from drug addiction to reintegrate into society. In June 2017, the Foundation entered into a collaboration with the San Felipe General Hospital called "La Cajita de Nena" to donate natal care boxes providing supplies for mothers who give birth there. In terms of environmental protection, the Foundation supported the creation of an artificial coral reef in the Gulf of Fonseca, and sea turtle conservation in the same region. The artificial reef, created in partnership with different governmental and private institutions, was initiated by submerging twenty large concrete domes designed to provide a habitat for various marine species native to the Gulf of Fonseca. The Foundation donated 250 thousand lempiras towards the cost of this effort, which was also projected to benefit the families of 300 fishermen in the region. In support of the sea turtle conservation project, more than 30 volunteers from the Foundation participate in the annual release of over 40,000 endangered sea turtles hatched from eggs laid in conservation sites in Punta Ratón, Cedeño, Boca del Rio Viejo, El Edén, Punta Condega, and Carretales.
