1. Project description

Through this project we aim to contribute to the sustainable development of the province of Tungurahua by training entrepreneurs on sustainable production practices and green solutions to local production problems. Through this training, the entrepreneurs will be able to develop green business ideas to respond to the production challenges that can scale over time. For this purpose, the entrepreneurs will be part of an 8 eight week training program on topics such as local production problems and context; responsible waste management and water resource management and good practices; green business ideas. After the training program they will be participating on an open challenge to design green solution to local production problems that can turn into green business. Finally, to connect the entrepreneurs with local firms and industries to offer their solutions, we will carry out an expo where the entrepreneurs will be able to present their products and services to the stakeholders.

2. Project progress up to now

On 12th of July, we started the workshops with our partner CorpoAmbato. This first module addresses topics related to the industry of leather, for entrepreneurs working in this field. The topics are eco design, analysis of the life cycle of leather, sustainable management, eco marketing. Even though the workshops were planned to start on July, we made the arrangements to start on June (call posts on pictures below), in order to have more time to address other industries of the province. However, on June there were three weeks of protests in Ecuador, and sadly the manifestants closed the roads, so we had to work on other operational activities, and the beginning of the workshops had to be postponed. Nevertheless, we have made the adjustments so the project expected dates are not affected.

3. Project plan forward

On July and August, we will continue with the workshops. After this time, on September we will launch the innovation challenge so the entrepreneurs can develop their solutions and present them as green products and services for local industries. Through this period of time they will be guided by CorpoAmbato and will receive mentoring. On October we will have an expo where they will present their green products and services to stakeholders, such investors, managers and other stakeholders. This is the space to generate connections that can make these green solutions to scale. We have noticed that it is really important to provide entrepreneurs with training on business management, so they can generate a business plan for their green ideas to effectively become a sustainable business that can keep offering eco solutions for local production problems.

4. Pictures