After a selection and training process directed to the best non-timber forest product bioenterprises, the business round, closure and prize-award of the “Amazonía Innova Challenge”  took place, an iniciative from the Ministry of the Environment, Water and Ecological Transition (MAATE), in the framework of the implementation of PROAmazonía, a National Government program that receives  support from UNDP and from the Chamber of Commerce of Quito (CCQ).

This contest aimed to identify bio-enterprises that are developed with native products of the Ecuadorian Amazon and that creatively promote the sustainable use of biodiversity. The challenge as such began in August 2021 and lasted four months. During this time, bioentrepreneurs were provided with training in marketing, business and commercialization areas which will provide new alternatives for generating income for the participants, their communities and in favor of reducing pressure on forests.

Throughout the process and after a competitive selection stage, where over 260 applications were received, 30 bioenterprises from the six Amazonian provinces were chosen to participate in the training stage and subsequent business round, where interaction spaces with prospective purchasers will be generated.

“They have planted, in each one of us, the seed of the knowledge that we are applying in our ventures. This effort will help us greatly to continue growing, and we already see the fruits and, as a colleague said, they will not be disappointed. Our vision for the future is not only to position ourselves nationally but to reach the international market,” said Wilson Vinueza, founder of the cosmetic bioenterprise Rukumama, one of the five winners of the Challenge.

Photo: Martín Pastor
Description: Rukumama was one of the winner bioenterprises during the Amazonía Innova Challenge 2021.

The participating bioentrepreneurs had the opportunity to strengthen their knowledge, skills, innovation, commercialization and business models with the aim of making them sustainable. Participants received more than 20 hours of training (600 hours of group training in total) with access to one hour of individual mentoring, totaling 30 hours of mentoring.

As one of the final stages, prior to the Business Roundtable, the Quito Chamber of Commerce provided feedback to bioentrepreneurs about their products, and later participated in person in a contest, through which the members of the jury selected the five most innovative products. The qualification of the products was based on technical criteria, such as the level of innovation, the formulation of products, ingredients, displays, containers and / or packaging, among others.

During the closure event, the Undersecretary of Climate Change of the MAATE, Karina Barrera, pointed out the this challenge “is part of the efforts made to fight against deforestation and for sustainable use of biodiversity to be considered as atool to improve the quality of life of people.  From the Ministry we encourage these actions in the territory, which, in turn, strengthen the ecological transition from the development axes at the local, environmental, econonic and social level”.

The event was attended by the Undersecretary of Climate Change of the Ministry of the Environment, Water and Ecological Transition, UNDP’s coordinator of the Environment and Energy area , the president of the Quito Chamber of Commerce and the manager of PROAmazonía, as well as representatives of Indigenous Peoples and Nationalities, organizations, companies and productive associations of the Ecuadorian Amazon.

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KEY FACTS:

 

PROAmazonía, a program led by the Ministry of the Environment, Water and Ecological Transition  (MAATE), the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) with UNDP’s support, backs up the generation of bioenterprises aiming at strengthening the productive capacities and the generation of livelihoods related to the sustainable management of forest products, kown as Non-timber Forest Products (PFNM in Spanish). To date, PROAmazonía has contributed with the development of 30 bioenterprises in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

 

Photo: Martín Pastor
Description: Among the bioenterprises attending the Business Round, food and cosmetics products were mainly displayed.

 

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Photo: Martín Pastor
Description: The participating bioenterprises are part of the six Amazonian Provinces.

Photo: Martín Pastor
Description: Rukumama was one of the five bioenterprises that won the Amazonía Innova Challenge 2021

Photo: Martín Pastor
Description: The 30 participating bioenterprises received participation and compliance certificates for the training workshops awarded by the Quito Chamber of Commerce.