Juárez José E.
Organization: Unión de Ejidos de La Selva
Year Founded: 1979
Country: Mexico
Website: www.laselvacafe.com.mx
Geographic Area of Impact: Mexico.
Model: Hybrid Non-Profit ,Social Business
Focus: Rural Development,Trade.
Social Entrepreneur of the Year, Mexico, 2005 The Innovation La Selva is an association of indigenous coffee producers in Chiapas, Mexico that sells its finished product directly to the consumer, distributing its profits among its members and to the social needs they identify within their communities. What distinguishes La Selva from other cooperatives and associations is its commercialization strategy. In addition to foregoing the use of intermediaries to sell its coffee nationally and internationally, it sells its finished product directly to the consumer, freeing the producer from being the supplier of raw material for export so that others can process it. Over 15 years ago, La Selva pioneered efforts in Mexico that predated Starbuck's, opening La Selva Coffee Shops in the country’s major cities. Today La Selva’s Coffee Shops have spread to Europe, boosting solidarity and national pride among Mexicans in addition to providing a source of income for the organization. La Selva’s innovative approaches have allowed it to survive the international collapse of the coffee market as well as the insurrections of the Zapatista movement that spread through Chiapas and significantly affected rural communities. Background Before 1970, a feudal system dominated the State of Chiapas. That year, a rural uprising took place in which indigenous farmers demanded land ownership. The federal government and the wealthy landowners responded by agreeing to give government lands to the Indians. But there was one drawback: the land was in the jungles of Chiapas. Roads, water and other basic infrastructure were non-existent. But that land was better than the farmers’ existing situation, and they accepted. Faced with this new reality, they saw the need to collectively organize and deal with the lack of roads to get their products to market. One of the key drivers facilitating the organization of La Selva was the presence of Jesuit priests living in the area who fostered the belief in self-sufficiency and coffee production as a vehicle to that end. The theology of liberation to which these priests adhered promoted awareness of farmers’ responsibility to environmental conservation for future generations. Thus, soil conservation practices and the use of organic fertilizers were implemented before organic coffee was in vogue. The other important formative influence in the emergence of La Selva was José Juárez, an agricultural engineer who started working with the communities 28 years ago. These communities credit Juárez as the innovator and driving force that ensures the survival of these communities and their product. Strategy The poor frequently capture only a small percentage of the value of the ecosystem products they sell, while middlemen and retailers often capture a much greater share. Middlemen perform valuable services by transporting products to wider markets and tapping distribution chains to which the poor have no access. But they are also key actors in keeping producer profits low. For example, small-scale coffee farmers earn, on average, only 4.5% of the retail price of coffee sold in US supermarkets. Union de Ejidos de la Selva has created an organization in which indigenous small coffee producers in the State of Chiapas have become an effective marketing force. The union collaborates with 1,300 families in 42 communities to ensure better soil management and environmental practices, including certified organic techniques that limit erosion and water pollution. In addition, it has created a chain of 18 upscale coffee shops in the main cities in Mexico and Europe—the Café de la Selva—which serves the organic coffee produced by La Selva farmers. By controlling the entire vertical chain of coffee production, the Union de Ejidos de la Selva has been able to take advantage of the full urban consumer value of coffee and use it to improve farmer income and self-sufficiency. Part of the Union’s strategy is identifying multiple markets. La Selva establishes commercial links with small and medium coffee roasters in Europe and the US. Although sales volumes are limited with this strategy, it permits the establishment of personalized, stable and trusting relationships. “If you sell 1,000 kilos of coffee to a huge buyer that needed 150,000 kilos, you are nobody. However, if you sell it to a buyer who sells 2,500 kilos a year, then you become someone he relies on,” explains Juárez. The Entrepreneur In his youth, José Juárez worked alongside his father farming their small plot of land. Although life was hard, he loved agricultural work. At age 18, he enrolled in the National Agricultural School in Chapingo and became an agricultural engineer. At 21, Juárez went to Chiapas as part of his practicum experience and there initiated his contacts with the indigenous farmers that were later to become members of the Unión. He quickly learned their customs and ways of thinking and fell in love with their struggle to improve their lives. He stimulated their interest in reading and writing as part of that process, so that they could become owners of their own destiny as entrepreneurs. Juárez has dedicated his life to La Selva. Only six years ago he found the time to marry someone with a similar dedication to the organization. She runs La Selva’s national marketing arm.
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