Entrepreneurship trainings
The project is innovative because we developed a methodology to embrace entrepreneurial, financial and technical skills in young people based on their own reality through a “hands-on training” method in order to implement tailor-made sustainable forest management projects in their communities. We keep the community informed about their economic environment, and we work together with them in order to enhance their performance and efficiency. When a company joins the program Better Alliances, Better Forests, they don’t only invest in reforestation and maintenance events; they also invest in our program in order to help the communities adopt a business mentality, which will help them have a better future. We help them develop skills to build business plans, organize themselves into production units, and to bring their products to the market. This project has a potential to impact the future based on the fact that our intervention model has proved that forests inhabitants can develop leadership skills and business behaviors in order to create forests value chains.
Mexico is an emerging economy, with an approximate gross domestic product of US $1.3 trillion. It is among the top 15 economies of the world, with a GDP per capita of around US $11,000 per year. The domestic market requires forestry products for various sectors, construction in particular. Despite the widespread forests and jungles, it is only able to meet a quarter of the demand. The rest is imported, leading to a trade deficit of around US $5 billion, which accounts for around 50% of the total trade deficit.
Communities often fail to identify opportunities for productive collaboration with other economic actors. Opportunities are often missed, due to the communities having lack of entrepreneurial know-how. Many communities with forestry activities have a high level of technical training, and have the tools and machinery to compete with the major forestry companies, but lack management and entrepreneurship skills. They need support in developing activities that meet the needs of the marketplace. Public policy should strengthen the forestry companies’ internal governance and transparency capacities, to create a favorable business climate, project confidence and attract investment. This project has a potential to impact the future based on the fact that our intervention model has proved that forests inhabitants can develop leadership skills and business behaviors in order to create forests value chains.