At a Glance
Location: Tarma, Peru
Impact Areas: Sustainable Income, Environment
People Supported:
Indigenous People, Small Producers & Artisans, Rural
Joined NESsT Loan Fund:
2020
Overview
Greenbox is a social enterprise that transforms regions in the Amazon Andes of Peru from harvesting coca plants for use in drug trafficking, to harvesting organic fruit for use in value-add products. Farmers in this region are smallholders who practice subsistence agriculture, use limited technology, and sell their produce in the local market where prices are volatile each season. This volatility leads many farmers to seek out products like coca that provide higher margins, but which also carry a higher risk of violence and crime. Greenbox works with these small farmers to source organic golden berry, banana, pineapple, and mango that is then dehydrated and sold as dried fruits to clients internationally.
The company promotes sustainable agricultural practices and supports local farmers to switch to organic production, as well as to obtain organic certifications, enabling them to sell their harvests at a premium. Greenbox pays farmers a fair and stable price by fixing a minimum price for the year, beneficial to farmers who suffer peaks and falls in prices due to seasonality. The improved cash flow enables farmers to grow their businesses. More than half of the farmers supplying to the company are women and from indigenous communities.
Results & Impact
522
farmers employed over the next four years
50%
of goldenberry is purchased from smallholder farms
6%
compound annual growth rate of dried fruit imports from its primary importing country, Germany.
“At Greenbox, we value making a positive impact with the farmers and their families with whom we work. Our policies include directed technical assistance to promote economic development and environmental sustainability as well as Fair Trade principles. In this way, we do our part to make the world a better place.”
NESsT Investment
NESsT’s investment will support Greenbox to increase its drying capacity, improve its operational efficiencies at the plant enabling it to double its processing capacity, and increase its working capital in order to purchase more raw materials from farmers. By so doing, the company plans to employ 522 farmers in the next four years.
Greenbox demonstrates competitive advantages related to its supply chain, due to the high and stable quality of its product. Its clients are very satisfied and have decided to work with the company on developing products that are tailor-made to their specific needs.
Greenbox is committed not only to increasing the number of farmers, and particularly women farmers, that it employs and sources from, but also to improving their lives by providing them with fair and formal contracts. It plans to continue to reinvest its profits into the well-being of its workers with benefits such as onsite daycare.
NESsT provides key business service to Greenbox, supporting the company to develop their financial skills and track their social impact on communities; keeping constant communication to address the company's needs.
During the COVID-19 crisis, Greenbox helped communities in Junin to continue to have a solid source of income. Fortunately, in this period of economic crisis, the company continues to grow their export sales due to the high quality of its products and increasing foreign demand. This allows them to continue generating dignified jobs and sustainable income for vulnerable Peruvian communities.