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Chapter 1: Microfinance in Ecuador My main project during the first part of my internship was to develop a new Global Engagement Trip about microfinance in a different country of Latin America. At the beginning, we had to research potential customers and potential locations. As I was reading through research documents from the IADB, I discovered that my home country, Ecuador, had a very developed microfinance landscape. I have always been excited about the possibility of doing something that would help promote the human diversity of my country, and this was the perfect opportunity to do so. It was thrilling to present my findings to Elly and Alex, the directors of the organization, and decide to develop a new itinerary for a GET in Ecuador. Then, the fun part began; I had to reach out to microfinance leaders in Ecuador, develop a detailed itinerary, and get ]creative with all the promotional materials. It was exciting to picture how the whole trip would turn out to be. We had to make changes after each conversation with professors, microfinance institution’s leaders, and travel agencies. Along the way, I realized the inclusive impact that microfinance has had among indigenous populations. During the 90s, several indigenous leaders noticed that their communities did not have access to loans in traditional Banks. So, they decided to start their own microfinance institutions to open options of financing for indigenous communities. Their true impact is still being analyzed and debated, but I still find this initiative admirable. Hence, I decided to include their experiences in my itinerary. I added several visits to different indigenous communities, because I figured this would enhance the intercultural connections that Human Connections aims to promote. It would also show participants the true diversity of my country and would provide them with a better understanding of racial conflicts in the Andean region. In the end, we created a viable itinerary and started promoting it among professors at US universities. We have several people interested in participating. Since we accommodate our trips to the needs of each participant, we do not have a specific date for the first one. However, we believe it would take place some time next year. Next semester, Human Connections will be working together with student groups at Tufts, such as 180 Degrees Consulting and BUILD Latin America to market the GET Ecuador on campus and assemble a group of students that would travel and benefit from the experience. I plan to continue involved in this project as I have a personal-emotional connection to it, and would love to see it flourish. Chapter 2: The dehydrator Hassle During my second part of the internship, I joined the business innovation team. Their goal was to build a cheap dehydrator to produce dehydrated fruits that local entrepreneurs could commercialize and replicate. Before I joined, the team already built and tested the dehydrator. It was my duty now to help create a viable business model and develop a solid brand. First, we came up with a brand name and a logo. After several discussions, we decided “FrutiSun” was the best name. It included both English and Spanish… both fruits and sun. Developing the business model was trickier. However, after several heated debates, we came to the conclusion that having centralized management for the brand might be the way to go. It would work more or less like a franchise model, where the entrepreneurs follow certain standards to produce, distribute, or retail our product. The whole operation of the business will be on the hands of local micro entrepreneurs. However, there will be guidelines that they need to follow. A central manager that supervises all operations and searches new ways to generate greater impact will determine these guidelines. This might encompass expansion to other cities or even foreign countries. Given our short time there, we were not able to see the project come to fruition, but Human Connections will continue developing the idea. As part of the marketing materials, I created a step-by-step manual for the construction of the dehydrator. It was a fun experience that made me think about playing with LEGOs as a kid. LEGOs usually come with beautiful colored instructions that indicate how each piece has to connect to another. Based on this, I created a visually appealing booklet but instead of LEGOs, it showed wood pieces of different sizes. Conclusion Overall, working with Human Connections was truly inspiring. Not only because of the contributions we made, but also because of all the life lessons we gained, and the connections we created with foreign and local members in the community. My fellow interns and I learned a lot about our privilege, and how we can best use it to have a positive impact. During our time there, we had very engaging and intellectual conversations about ways of leveraging our position in the world to lead a happy life and leave a positive mark in our global community.
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Follow this link to see the original blog post on the Human Connections site, along with great photos!
Doña Elidia is a local micro-business owner who runs a small restaurant. Our team is helping her develop her business by defining a clear way of operating and providing her with marketing materials. So far, the work we have done feels like an entrepreneurial adventure. We came with little knowledge about the micro-business environment in Mexico, but we have tried to offer her all the resources we have available. As part of the marketing materials, we have designed visually appealing menus and signs. From the first time we visited her, she seemed eager to implement our ideas. She told us that she envisions her business having a growing clientele that feels welcomed and enjoys the food. For us, the challenge is to figure out the best way to attain this goal. Last week, we had a discussion about our impact as foreigners in the community and about ways to strike the right balance between economic growth and cultural preservation. During the discussion, we talked about the idea that visual appeal could be a synonym of inaccessibility for people with low economic income. Previously, I had not thought about this possibility. I was working under the assumption that visual appeal was universal. I thought it would be beneficial for anyone to have a place that was aesthetically pleasing according to traditional rules of design. What I did not took into account was the different meanings that aesthetic beauty has on people from different cultural and economical backgrounds. Unfortunately, beauty is synonymous to wealth for most people. People with lower income are often used to go to places with no access to Professional Graphic or Interior Design. Hence, professional looking design could become a sign of unattainable status to them. They might avoid going into a place that looks “too nice.” Traditionally, graphic design has been restricted to the wealthy part of society. Graphic design software is usually very expensive and requires a certain amount of technical knowledge. However, new graphic design tools such as Canva, give access to this resource to a wider part of the population. Also, high quality digital cameras become cheaper every day; enabling smaller businesses to use high quality images for their marketing materials. I think that education about these tools should be more widespread, so that graphic beauty becomes less of a sign of status. With Doña Elidia, we have to strike the right balance. We want her place to look good and attract new people. However, we do not want it to look fancy so that her clients feel unwelcomed. So far, we have got an overall positive response. She seems very involved in the process and thinks that the changes we have made are very positive. We want her to be part of the change, but we are aware that this should not be sudden but rather gradual. In the future, her restaurant could be an example of a place that is beautiful and accessible at the same time. |
Juan David Nuñez HurtadoRead here about JD's work with Human Connections, one of our partner organizations. ArchivesCategories |