Author Archives: Whitney Hales

Back in the US of A

Participating in the Frontier Market Scouts Program was truly one of the most amazing experiences I’ve had at the Monterey Institute so far! The training was practical and insightful and Maya Mountain Cacao was an ideal placement for me to learn and contribute. The company is a perfect example of a triple bottom-line enterprise making commendable strides in all three areas (people, planet, profit). Scouting for Village Capital provided an opportunity for thoughtful consideration of the social enterprise landscape across southern Belize.  All of the connections I made were with inspiring individuals who love their country, its resources, and its people and who want to capture and preserve Belize’s natural and cultural uniqueness while bringing needed economic development to their communities.  And though Belize may not be VilCap Accelerator ready just yet, I would advise keeping a close eye for big things are yet to come. The people I met across Toledo are strong, determined, and hard working. Thanks to MMC, I learned first hand that great social enterprises are successful when dedicated individuals unite over a common mission for a greater cause.

I want to thank the MMC team for an incredible summer, for letting me work beside you and with you, and for sharing with me your beautiful Belize!

Miss these guys already! (Kerri, Anna, Emiterio, and Emily)

Miss these guys already! (Kerri, Anna, Emiterio, and Emily)

 

Entrepreneurial Flavor

Over the last few months in Belize I have witnessed, richly ingrained in the culture, an intense notion of making it for oneself and as a community. Whether referring to people of Mayan or Garifuna heritages, with few employment opportunities available, people have learned that in order to meet their family’s financial needs often one must employ himself. Entrepreneurism is alive in Belize.

Recently a new spirit of entrepreneurism is emerging in Toledo, and I believe it has largely been sparked by the growing momentum behind cacao. Organic agroforestry cacao holds potentially endless benefits environmentally, socially, and economically.  It provides a market incentive against deforestation and the use of synthetic fertilizers, while with increased market access and an increasing demand for high quality, organic, Belizean cacao, an opportunity to raise incomes and grow the economy of southern Belize.  Just yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend a meeting in the village of San Jose with a large family of Mopa Mayan farmers and members of the MMC team. The meeting was called because 6 brothers want to convert 30 acres of their land to cacao farming (30 acres X 460 trees/acre = 13,800 trees!!!).  They had come together as a family and decided that growing cacao was a huge opportunity.  They understand that 30 acres is not an easy task, and like all business opportunities it will require great dedication, investment, and hard work but with large rewards in the end. It was evident that much thought had gone into their initial planning and though not foolishly rushed they are eager to get started.  You could feel the energy in the room of strong family ties, new partnerships, and big opportunities all coming together.

Another inspiring enterprise I encountered this week was Maya Bags.  The company works with over 90 traditional Maya weavers from nearby villages to make luxury bags for high end global markets.  Bags have been sold through Barney’s New York and Anthropologie as well as retailers in Japan, yet the most interesting element of the social enterprise is that all 90+ of the weavers are part owners of the company.  Plus their hand crafted products are truly beautiful pieces with a unique touch: each is signed by the artisan herself.

The summer is flying by!

So much has happened since my last post.  Beyond working hard in the office and being moments away from publishing the 2013 Impact Report, highlights over the last few weeks include: spending a weekend in Placencia enjoying the sand, the sea, and the gelato; a great day in the field with MMC’s Kiva Coordinator collecting loan repayments; a fantastic, successful Leadership Retreat with all MMC staff; a day by the pool at Belcampo Lodge; and a visit to Ixcacao Mayan Chocolate.

Beach bungalow

Beach bungalow

Placencia

Placencia

Kiva day in the field was probably the best day in the field yet, as we were able to visit an incredible number of farmers (33!) and their families. MMC and Kiva, the world’s first and largest micro-lending website, joined forces in 2012, and since then, have raised 70 micro-loans for smallholder cacao farmers in the MMC network.  We spent the day visiting farmers and/or their wives at their homes in the village of San Jose checking in and collecting small loan repayments.  Common in the micro-finance world, MMC’s repayment rates are remarkably high.  Farmers greatly appreciate the individual attention and the visits to their home.  It shows that MMC is not simply collecting money, but invested in their success and the success of the loan.  Whole families were excited to see us as we arrived, children would stand by intrigued and entertained by the repayment process.  Yet, I found myself questioning our efficiency. When analyzing business operations, how do you compare efficiency/time/money with maintaining strong interpersonal relationships with critical stakeholders?

MMC Kiva Coordinator, Annah Cho, issuing repayment recite

MMC Kiva Coordinator, Annah Cho, hard at work

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Last Wednesday was MMC’s annual staff leadership retreat.  It was a fantastic day and I was honored to have had to opportunity to work with such an incredible group of hardworking, inspiring individuals, who together make a pretty unstoppable team! The day consisted of multiple sessions in which we took a deep dive into the business model, its mission, the activities designed to accomplish that mission, and the impacts of those efforts.  Everyone worked together with respect and purpose throughout the day.  As I am only a temporary member of the MMC team, it was moving to see that through both the best of times and the worst of times, this team is fully committed to each other, the success of their company and the prosperity of the communities and farmers with whom they work.

MMC Staff Leadership Retreat

MMC Staff Leadership Retreat

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After quite a busy week, checking out Belcampo Lodge was the perfect Saturday afternoon treat.  Belcampo is a luxury eco-lodge about 15 minutes outside of Punta Gorda with its own organic garden, farm, chocolate factory and rum factory.  Tourists come for the opportunity to discover where Belcampo’s luxury products come from, how they are grown and prepared, and to do a little fly fishing too. We went for the pool, not to mention the chocolate mousse pudding.  Delightful, it was.

Satisfied with our break from the work week, heading back to town, we stopped by Ixcacao Mayan Chocolate factory, family home, and cultural museum.  Juan, the owner, and his wife are self made entrepreneurs who started with only an idea and a history with which to build their company and their legacy.  Ixcacao makes wonderful organic chocolate in the traditional Maya way using cacao from their own family farm.  Belize needs more entrepreneurs like Juan who care about preserving their cultural heritage while creating a marketable product in a socially and environmentally responsible way.

Only two and a half weeks left in Belize – I can’t believe it!

El fin de semana en Guatemala

By 2:00 pm on Thursday, I was snug on a James Bus next to a woman and her two babies heading towards Belize City.  There was no express bus that afternoon so we were in for a long ride.  Traveling north along the only paved high way in Toledo, we stopped frequently to pick up passengers along the side of the rode.  In larger towns, we would pull into the bus terminals and stop for 5 to 25 minutes while passengers exited and boarded the bus.  Our driver would step out and take a break for the length of his choosing, all the while people of all ages, though mostly children, would march up and down the center isle selling snacks, usually plantain chips, tamales, mango, or juice in a bag, once even bootlegged DVDs.  The ride was bumpy and after about 5 minutes of being pummeled by wind off the highway coming through the open window, I looked like I’d been traveling for days.  My second seat mate was a delightful young construction worker from the north coast of Belize, but working in Placencia.  He said he made the trip home every fifteen days for the weekend.  And boy was be chatty. We pulled into Belize City around 8:00 and taxied to our hotel for the night.  Once checked in, we spent our evening at a nearby karaoke bar with an interesting mix of ‘90’s country, Sinatra, Elvis, and a boat load of songs in Spanish.  All I’ll say is some people should karaoke, others should not.

The purpose for venturing to the city was to attend the 2013 Chiquibul Symposium, the first national symposium on the Chiquibul Forest, a protected rainforest on the Belize/Guatemalan boarder.  The symposium had quite a collection of people in attendance, government, private sector, and NGOs alike, and was held mainly to bring attention to the many illegal activities being conducted in the region, Illegal animal poaching and illegal land cultivation to name a few.  Calling for the protection of the Chiquibul also highlighted the importance of strengthening the border protection between Belize and Guatemala, where much of the illegal activity is generating.  And though the symposium allotted little time for questions, MMC found a way to lend a few suggestions, including using agroforestry and cacao farming as solution and rehabilitation to the illegally and incredibly destructive current cultivation practices.

Post conference, we booked it down the street to snag a glimpse of Moho Chocolate’s factory, one of our domestic buyers, and pickup some treats for the ride to Guatemala.

Stocked and ready for sale.

Stocked and ready for sale.

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With chocolate in hand, we were back on a bus and headed for the border.  Oddly, along the way, I just kept thinking how much Belize looks like south Louisiana: fields of sugarcane (and corn), houses raised on stilts from flooding, above ground grave yards, friendly people on front porches just saying “hi”.  Passport stamped and straight to Flores, a small town on an island in a lake next to Santa Elena.  We easily found our hostel, a retro youth hostel, because we’re so young and retro, where we were in for the night.  Tikal en la mañana.

Before heading to Tikal we explored the little island appreciating the narrow streets, the waterside views, and the colorful buildings.

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Tikal, the largest Mayan ruin site, which at its peak was home to 100,000 Mayans around 800 A.D. (At there same time, London had 30,000 residents), is truly an incredible place to see. Yet the most challenging thing for me was forgetting what I was seeing and trying to picture the landscape as it was when inhabited.  Image: the area was all hand paved white, there were no trees on or near the temples and the structures themselves were painted elaborate, luxurious colors like bright reds and blues and yellows.  This is what it looks like today:

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Definitely worth the trip! Plus there were so many monkeys!

Field Day II

Today was an absolutely fantastic day! It was our second day out in the field and this time we went with Emiterio to the village of San Jose, one of our largest areas for sourcing cacao and one of the most remote.  The whole village is set far back from the main highway and this embraced isolation is reflected in their dedication to traditional farming.  Our first farm of the day had around 1,500 trees (two sections of 800 and 700, respectfully).  Pruning was well underway and the farmer, Jacob, was proud to show us his farm.  Jacob, a true business man by nature, was lively, happy, and encouraging. It was wonderful to hear how pleased he’s been with the work of Maya Mountain Cacao.  He’s happy with the dedication to farmers he’s seen from MMC: their presence on farms and their interest in helping farmers improve their techniques, expand their farms and increase their production.  He thinks the bottom line is everyone needs to improve and everyone needs to benefit, especially the farmers. Market prices need to rise and Jacob recognizes that MMC is determined to bring higher prices to farmers for their quality organic cacao (60% of the purchase price customers pay to MMC for their cacao goes directly to the farmer).

Jacob, happy with his farm

Jacob, happy with his farm

From Jacob’s, we visited a nearby farm with a drastically different landscape. This farm was greatly shaded, as a cacao farm should be. Jacob had a collection of older trees, about 30 years old, which need more sun than younger trees.  Around his younger trees he’s working on planting more shade like mahogany and fruit trees.

Nicely shaded cacao

Nicely shaded cacao

From farm to farm we went. One farmer had built a community cacao nursery with 13 other farmers, including two women.  The nursery contained 5,000 seedlings and each farmer cares for their own section. The farmer explained how pleased he’s been with the success of the nursery, thus far, and how dutiful the other farmers have been at doing their part and taking care of their seedlings.  He was even running experiments on spacing of the seedlings for maximum airflow to increase productivity and growth.

Female farmer and MMC Managing Director, Emily Stone

Female farmer and MMC Managing Director, Emily Stone

Kerri, Emiterio, and I with the farmer at his beautiful nursery

Kerri, Emiterio, and I with the farmer at his nursery

Another fantastic part of the day was listening to farmers discuss just how appreciative they are of Emiterio, MMC’s leading field officer, who is responsible for all of the farmers we work with in San Jose, our largest village.  Hardworking and dedicated, Emiterio visits all of his farmers regularly and it’s apparent how much they appreciate his and MMC’s commitment to their success.

From the nursery, we visited one more farmer, met his adorable children, picked coffee cherries from his infamous coffee tree, and were gifted bananas picked straight from his yard.  Lunch was a real treat, prepared by a lovely Mayan woman, a wife of a farmer, who graciously welcomed us into her home.  She prepared a chicken stew with fresh corn tortillas.  Let’s just say, I saw the same chicken alive only an hour before lunch.  It was delicious.

Our last stop of the day was to the home of the MMC farmer who last year won the title of being the most productive farmer of the 202 affiliated.  It was great to meet such a talented cacao farmer but the best part was actually meeting his grandson, Mark.  Mark is a recent high school graduate who, when he is not working on his grandfather’s farm, is helping to prune neighboring farms, and also occupying his time by making organic compost.  Realizing he had many of the materials he needed for composting, he invested in creating almost 700 lbs of organic compost to sell to local farmers. If was fascinating to listen to Mark talk about how important he thinks cacao farming is and can be for his community, especially the youth.  He, too, expressed gratitude for the good work of MMC and explained how he sees farming  cacao as an investment and a huge job opportunity especially for young people fresh out of school with little prospects and a high unemployment rate.  He thinks young people in his community need to get up, get involved, and invest in their future.  He seems ready and willing to be the leader of the youth in his community’s cacao industry and I’m excited to see all that he’ll do! With his composting initiative, his leadership drive, and his farming dedication, sounds like an entrepreneur to me! Look out, VilCap!

Week two: Excursion to Blue Creek Cave

A couple of things to note:  In town, there are no speed bumps rather there are “pedestrian walk ways”, essentially raised crosswalks, though they serve no real purpose for instructing people as to where to cross the street.  Chains on gates: they are never actually locked. They are simply wrapped tightly to appear secure.  Also, most houses are permanently unfinished and under construction.  One does not need to pay taxes on his/her property if it is still under construction.

I pulled though my first illness in Belize on Friday; slept from about 2:00pm Friday to 9:00am Saturday.  Rested and vertical, I was excited for the day ahead: first weekend getaway! We were off to Blue Creek Cave, a popular spot for swimming and exploring during the dry season, but with only two months in the summer we decided to battle the high waters and trek out to the cave!

The water was cool, the current was moving, and the cave was dark with only one week headlamp between four of us.  We made it in and around the corner, maybe 150 feet total, hugging the walls and almost climbing our way through.  At a fork, we decided, the effort was there, but it was best to turn back.  And it was a good thing too because shortly after our sole light went out as we floated our way back towards the rays breaking through at the mouth of the cave.

Blue Creek Cave

Blue Creek Cave

Field Day

I woke up with the sun as it broke through the ritual thunderstorm on Wednesday. It had been raining since about 11pm and now it was just after 5:00. We were getting an early start to catch the 6:00 bus out to the field to spend the day gaining a better understanding of the activities of the field team and have an opportunity to visit some farmers and their farms. It is about a half mile to the bus station and by the time we got there we were drenched. We arrived just in time to hear that we were luckily getting a ride and would not have to take the bus after all! (There was something pleasant though about walking in the rain through the empty streets of early morning. The water was calm and flat and the horizon had a distinct glow to it.  I had an inkling to just sit on a dock and dangle my feet for a while.  I was no longer sleepy or concerned about the dampness of my clothes.) And so our day began.

Piled into the cab of the pick up truck, we drove through the back country of Toledo. Bobbing and bouncing along the gravel/dirt roads (there is only one paved highway that passes through southern Belize), we stopped once to pick up a man and what I presumed to have been his son, hitchhiking with a giant bag of corn. They rode in the bed for about a mile to the nearby village of San Pedro Colombia where we dropped them at the women’s group corn mill. Here we also picked up Gabriel, the head of MMC’s field team, before we made it to our first farm. As we pulled off to the side of the road we were met by the pruning team of three and one of the farmer’s young sons. With machetes in tow (I got my own!), together we made our way into the jungle, crossing a stream and trudging through the mud. The hike was only about 30 minutes with a mild ascend towards the end, where at the top we found the farm and the cacao trees.

Despite the rain, the objective of the day was to prune about one acre of the three acre cacao farm to prepare the trees for upcoming season. Trees are pruned for control, if they grow too large and too tall they are much harder and more expensive to harvest. I also learned that another bonus of cacao agroforestry with additional fruit trees, is that the supplemental fruit trees attract birds away from the cacao pods. Without additional fruit trees, the birds would attack the cacao.

Pruning cacao

Pruning cacao

Pruning cacao

Pruning cacao

Cacao pods damaged by birds

Cacao pods damaged by birds

View from the top of the hill and the cacao farm

View from the top of the hill and the cacao farm

The weather had cleared some by the time we made our decent back to the truck. All piled back in we headed to Gabriel’s parents home for lunch. His father is a farmer as well and known as the “King of Cacao.” His support of Maya Mountain Cacao was integral to establishing the strong relationships the company has with its farmers. For lunch we enjoyed chicken, yucca, rice and beans, and fresh tortillas, which I’ll have you know I helped make!

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Making tortillas

Making tortillas

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Spoiled with good food, we finished our first day in the field by visiting another farm, meeting the farmer, and visiting the Ya’axche cacao seedling nursery.

Farmer illustrating the difference between a healthy and damaged pod

Farmer illustrating the difference between a healthy and damaged pod

Cacao nursery

Cacao nursery

Introduction to Scouting

Today marked my first entrepreneur scouting lunch. I met with a very knowledgeable local gentleman and after discussing his ingrained interest in the environment, conservation, and alleviating poverty in Belize, he gave me the names of half a dozen other contacts, either notable entrepreneurs themselves or one’s affiliated with the local social enterprise scene.  Coincidentally, the only other local in the place was a small eco-tourism business owner himself.  We exchanged information and chatted a while. He too wants to further conservation work in the Toledo District.

On a less pleasant note, I fell victim to a very painful, humorous, yet terrifying near death experience whilst eating.  I choked. The worst I ever have. On what I presume to have been a fish bone, though my soup was not supposed to contain fish…Within the first 5 minutes of our lunch I was pulling at my throat, struggling to breathe, crying a little, and trying to deal with the lodge in my throat without embarrassing myself silly.  Needless to say, both the cook and his wife emerged and the two, along with my table mate, talked me through swallowing dumplings whole and washing them down with fresh squeezed orange juice until once again I could breathe and swallow with ease.  Turned out to be quite a riveting start to my scouting career in Belize!

Week 1

Here at MMC I am tasked with helping to design a hybrid business model and transitioning MMC from a for-profit company to a hybrid company with both a foundation and a for-profit entity.  I am also working to help finish the 2013 Impact report to highlight the great strides accomplished by the MMC team throughout the year in social, environmental, and product impact.  A great deal of my time this first week in the office was dedicated to the impact report.  I also made one seemingly valuable contact who may lead me to some entrepreneurs!

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Thursday we visited the cacao house.  Stopped for some absolutely delicious coconut chocolate from a local chocolate expert where I have to return.  Apparently they conduct tours of the farm and factory.  At the cacao house we too had a tour of the operations led by Cacao House manager Samuel.  Started with fermentation boxes, weaved through the drying deck facility, got a sneak peak at the seedlings nursery, met Mercedes, the QC specialist, sorting the cacao beans and ended in the storage facility to take note of the two tons of cacao all ready for shipping! I learned that you can eat the cacao at almost every step of the process and that expert tasters are trained to decipher if each batch is bitter or fruity or more like coco.  Over fermenting makes for the largely accepted flavor we know as chocolate.  But in the business of luxury, artisan chocolate, more variety is appreciated.  I can’t wait to spend more time out there!

Cacao Drying Deck

Cacao Drying Deck

Freshly picked wet cacao

Freshly picked wet cacao

Yesterday was quite a treat.   I went snorkeling in the Snake Cayes and was lucky enough to spot some vibrant tropical life. French Angelfish are always my favorite but the Gray Angelfish, Parrot Fish, and Surgeonfish are nice too! After snorkeling, we spent some time in the beautiful, pristine water near a beach on an island: not too shabby at all.

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Crystal clear waters!

Crystal clear waters!

Also, rice and beans…still loving it!

Settling in…

Did I mention I was the only one on my plane from Belize City to Punta Gorda? I rode co-pilot, which made for a pretty great view!

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PG arial view

PG arial view

The night I arrived we had a pretty fantastic meal at Asha’s Cultural Kitchen right on the water.  On Wednesday, I was introduced to the office and began delving into my role at MMC.  Of note…I could hear an interesting rendition of Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car (one of my favorites) coming from the house across the street.  That night I survived my first Belize rainy season storm.  It was literally the scariest thunderstorm I’d ever experienced that wasn’t actually a hurricane.

Apartment view

Apartment view