By Nicole Etchart | Co-Founder and Co-CEO
Levantando Chile Update (November 2011 – January 2012)
In October, NESsT launched a 2nd Social Enterprise Competition in the O’Higgins, Maule and Bio-Bio regions, which are some of the areas most affected by the 2010 earthquake. The competition is open to organizations with a strong social mission that work to solve important social problems in the these regions, that have a strong connection with local producers, and that want to develop a social enterprise to support them and increase their income streams.
All ten organizations were invited to begin a one-year evaluation process where NESsT is helping them analyze their business ideas through a pre-feasibility and feasibility study. At the end of the process, organizations will produce a business plan, which NESsT will evaluate followed by selecting the three best business plans. The winning organizations will receive US$10,000 to implement their business ideas and will enter the NESsT portfolio to continue receiving capacity support to implement their business plans, for the next 1-4 years. The ten organizations currently participating in the competition are:
1. Cooperative Campesinas Las Nieves Ltda.
Social Enterprise: Production and commercialization of quinoa
2. Fundacion para el Desarrollo Campesino
Social Enterprise: Commercialization of honey
3. Fundacion para el Desarrollo del Bio Bio
Social Enterprise: Production and commercialization of honey
4. Organización No Gubernamental de Desarrollo Centro de Educacion Tecnologica para el Desarrollo del Sur (ONG CET SUR)
Social Enterprise: Consulting and training services
5. Asociacion Gremial por el Bosque Nativo de Nuble
Social Enterprise: Commercialization of certified firewood
6. Fundacion Ludovico Rutten
Social Enterprise: Career-skills training workshop
7. ONG SurMaule
Social Enterprise: To construct a just and inclusive democratic society through training, research and community interventions
8. APIUNISEXTA A.G.
Social Enterprise: Development of sustainable beekeeping.
9. Agrupacion Cultural y Artesanos de Canete
Social Enterprise: Commercialization of crafts
10. SEPADE
Social Enterprise: Production and commercialization of wooden crafts and products
Next Steps:
- March: NESsT provides feedback on organizational readiness of each participant and invites select organizations to develop pre-feasibility studies
- April: NESsT evaluates pre-feasibility studies and invites select organizations to develop feasibility studies
- July/August: Feasibility studies are evaluated by NESsT and our Business Advisory Network members
- September: NESsT invites select organizations to develop their business plan
- November: NESsT selects three best business plans
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
