The BOMACO Foundation is conducting an information survey on sustainable bioenterprises in the rural areas of Manabí and Santa Elena; which implies environmental protection and social development, always thinking about the well-being of rural communities, protecting their biotic resource despite the various negative impacts they face every day.
Information has been collected on the bioenterprises located in the ACUS of Manabí and Santa Elena.
Capacity building in rural communities that promote the conservation of their resources is crucial to generate greater interest in sustainable practices. The technicians of the Foundation have given workshops on the following topics:
Environmental Conservation
Good manufacturing practices
Good manufacturing practices
Organic fertilizers
Family and microenterpreneurships finances
In the provinces of Manabí and Santa Elena, remnants of forest of great importance for the sector's biodiversity and the provision of key services for the community, such as the provision of water for rural and urban communities, have been recognized. Women in the sector have focused on household activities, neglecting the development of their creative and business skills. Due to the need for income generation by the members of these communities, on many occasions, their inhabitants generate production in fragile areas or implement unsustainable land use practices, which causes a negative ecosystem impact.
With all this panorama, Fundación BOMACO proposes the creation of a training school for bioentrepreneurs with scope in the provinces of Manabí and Santa Elena. We seek that through this School of Bioenterprises, the first edition in Ecuador of incubation of bioenterprises that promote sustainable products for rural communities, promoting resilience to climate change, with a strong focus on gender, will be generated. Approaches have been generated with various rural communities of Manabí and Santa Elena and it is in their interest to be able to carry out alternative means that provide them with fair and decent income for themselves and their families.
The School of Bioenterprises contemplates conducting training on topics such as: updating of technological tools, development of business ideas with value-added approaches using the Lean up methodology, management of social networks. Additional support will be provided that will include specialized mentoring in the sectors that the participants decide to develop their business idea.
The target group that will benefit from the Bioentrepreneurship Center are women heads of household, who are located in the vicinity of local flora and fauna conservation areas.
The Bioentrepreneurship school involves:
1.- Give workshops or face-to-face classes to the participants on the following topics
a.- Development of a business model with the inclusion of a gender approach
b.- Social Networks and Marketing
c.- Sustainable production systems (Agroecology and biofertilizers) and certifications associated with organic production, free of deforestation and fair treatment.
d.- Regulations and legal framework for conservation and sustainable production
e.- Importance of protecting ecosystems and water sources
f.- Finance for your business
g.- Product commercialization
h.- Value Chain Analysis for each enterprise
i.- Good manufacturing practices and customer service
j.- Biodegradable packaging and sustainable brand design
k.- Female and youth empowerment
2.- Specialized mentoring in each axis of production that the entrepreneur decides to carry out
3.- Participation in entrepreneurship and organic production fairs
4.- Follow-up for your monthly business for at least 6 months
The added value that we seek with the School of Bioenterprises is to improve the quality of life of the most vulnerable women, while promoting the care of natural resources and water sources in the communities where the beneficiaries live. In Ecuador there is no place where good production practices are promoted that first of all improve the living conditions of rural communities, while promoting the conservation of natural resources and that allows demonstrating that if it is possible to live on forest products to achieve be economically sustainable and ecologically sustainable. Being able to corroborate this hypothesis would allow more decision makers to adhere to these environmental conservation processes at the regional and national levels. Additionally, the methodology in its business models will focus on safeguarding the ancestral knowledge of the communities involved, aligned with social economic development alternatives that help reduce deforestation and promote healthy eating through organic products.
