The General Manager of the Wiese Foundation, Ingrid Claudet, together with the Portfolio Manager of the Entrepreneurial Fund, Javier Gondo, talk about the new program of the Wiese Foundation that seeks to identify a group of businesses to provide them with financial support, professional advice and training for up to 30 months.
In order to promote the participation of businesses from all over the country, the General Manager of the Wiese Foundation, Ingrid Claudet, and the Portfolio Manager of the Entrepreneurial Fund, Javier Gondo, traveled to Piura, Arequipa and Cusco to present their proposal, which will benefit a total of four endeavors with high social impact.
These trips were made as part of the Entrepreneurial Fund project, which will provide support to micro-entrepreneurs who orient their commercial efforts toward social endeavors. «In this first round, we were in Piura, Arequipa and Cusco. We found several talented entrepreneurs. In Piura there was one that sells organic chocolate. In Cusco there was another who works with a gourmet coffee brand of the highest level. They buy in vulnerable communities that offer the quality of the input as their main value. They take care of instructing them, training them. They reach out to them directly and share that value with the small farmers», said Ingrid Claudet in an interview with Radio Nacional.
Ingrid Claudet and Javier Gondo consider Peru to be a country of entrepreneurs; however, on many occasions these micro-entrepreneurs lack the potential and the resources to achieve a high impact and sustainability. It is to solve this problem that the Wiese Foundation has become the first Peruvian organization with philanthropic capital to bet on an impact fund that accompanies and guides the efforts of businesses with social purposes.
In the words of Javier Gondo, «the businesses with social purposes are created to promote a social purpose in a financially sustainable way». These provide income-generating opportunities that meet the basic needs of people living in poverty, they can be sustained in the long term and their models can be expanded or replicated in other communities in order to generate greater impact.
This is the case of Inka Moss, a social business that is located in the Junín region and is responsible for the sustainable use of white moss (Sphagnum Moss), a natural organic product that is used as a substrate for plants that require high humidity, which is in high demand in Asia (Japan and Taiwan). This business has allowed María, a woman from the hamlet of Curimarca, to pay for her son’s university studies. «There are improvements in schools, public works, water and sewage. That was very positive. Before, we did not take care of it, but now there is an income for the community, for ourselves. We take care of our little moss», says Honorato, a farmer from the community, who thanks God for that resource.
NESst’s experience in the promotion of social businesses, 14,000 organizations in 55 countries, makes it the perfect ally for the Entrepreneurial Fund, led by the Wiese Foundation. The project will have three stages. The first one is the general Drive and admission of applications that will be held until February 22. The second one is that of the Applications in the Due Diligence stage and it will last six months. At this stage, the Wiese Foundation, together with NESst, will evaluate each area of the seven micro-businesses selected in the first stage, in order to provide advice in their most problematic areas. The last one consists in the selection of four businesses that will be included in the Entrepreneurial Fund portfolio.
The businesses that are part of the PORTFOLIO will have access to financing and personalized advice for a maximum period of 2 years, after which time they are expected to be ready to obtain financing from traditional sources.
Initiatives such as the ENTREPRENEURIAL FUND help to understand that a win-win equation is possible, that businesses can be profitable and also sustainable, and that contributing to making the world a better place is the investment that always gives better results in the long term.
More information about the ENTREPRENEURIAL FUND here.
