Within our conscious and committed to social and environmental impact companies’ portfolio, as in general, in the entrepreneurship world, it`s not that easy to find companies that manage to perfectly balance all triple bottom line aspects, being aware not only of their value chain impact but also of their business strategies and organizational structure. However, Inca Worldwide is a clear example of a very good economic projection company which is generating important social and environmental transformation processes in Colombia.
This company was mainly created to implement a crop productive agro-industrial project and commercialize Sacha Inchi (known as Manì Inca) in different Colombian departments, especially in those affected by violence, promoting illicit crops restitution in highly affected by Colombian conflict areas, and involving conflict victims’ people, in the post-conflict framework. Nanny Katharina Bahnsen leads Inca Worldwide firm, a company which promotes Sacha Inchi in the country and industrializes it, to be successfully exported. She is the reasonable and sensitive part behind GMS “Semilla Saludable” project, which is not only an agro-industrial project, but also a social development one.
Sacha Inchi is a superfood that represents a great Omega 3,6 and 9 source, and it has the equivalent of 17 times more than the salmon has, and related to protein it could replace meat, soy, eggs and dairy products. Nanny explains that Sacha Inchi has a great competitive advantage over the Coca leaf because other crops that have been used to replace illicit ones use to take up too much time to produce the first harvest (such as cocoa or coffee cultivation), coca is harvested each three months mean while this one is produced each month. A farmer could receive between $15 million and $18 million, for one hectare production compared to $20 million for coca, which makes it a true substitute.
Even though Sacha Inchi market is still expanding in Colombia, this seed is in high demand in countries such as Japan and the United States, with a growing market in Peru, Ecuador, and Panama where 239 Colombian Sacha Inchi tons were exported by GMS in 2018. Inca Worldwide is currently present in 5 Choco municipalities, 3 Antioquia municipalities, and 4 Cauca municipalities as well, with a clear expansion expectative focused on Nariño, Putumayo, Caquetá, and Meta departments. Its business model lies in buying the harvest from about 2,200 Antioquia, Chocó, Cundinamarca, and Guaviare farmers, which means, the equivalent to 280 hectares. This company aims to distribute the product through 62 stores located in the U.S.A and Japan.
GMS main challenges to satisfy the market demand while meeting market quality and productivity levels, are the farmers Sacha Inchi cultivation benefits’ training and the agro-industrial technological processes implementation. These strategies have been implemented to achieve these challenges:
Inca Worldwide company currently processes the Sacha Inchi seed into a factory plant in Turbo. But its next step is to develop the Sacha Inchi transformation process directly into municipalities where this seed is cultivated by women farmers. We feel totally happy to make a small contribution for so conscious enterprises exponential growth, and we hope that Inca Worldwide will be even more successful than it has been so far.
