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Coffee is the fair trade commodity of choice in Guatemala, but the Tennesean reports that some university students are aiming to broaden the spectrum of fair trade goods produced in Guatemala. An excerpt from Entrepreneurship Can Help Rebuild Communities by Jeff Cornwall:
The town of Chajul, located in the mountainous region of Quiche in northern Guatemala, suffered some of the most brutal violence of the country’s 30-year civil war. Its predominantly indigenous community continues to be one of the most economically distressed in Guatemala.
The Belmont students, led by College of Business Administration faculty Jose Gonzalez and Marieta Velikova, traveled to Chajul earlier this year and worked with the farmers who are seeking to diversify away from their reliance on coffee by adding fair trade honey production.
What started as a small initiative to support coffee farmers is beginning to have a major impact on the economic and social development in the region.
The students are now seeking funding from a social innovation competition sponsored by Dell to fund expansion of the project. They also want to use the funding to support the expansion of a micro-loan fund.
Funding from the competition is based on votes at this Web site: http://www.dellsocialinnovationcompetition.com/ideaList?lsi=3.
Some 85 percent of the population of Quiche lives on less than $2 a day. Creating a more efficient opportunity for revenue growth for a cooperative that is a central part of the community will greatly improve the livelihood of the honeybee farmers, their families and the community.
Given the depths of this recession, we need to help entrepreneurs around the globe once again thrive. Small business growth is the key to rebuilding communities that have been devastated by unemployment.
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