Harvesting and growing flowers for Mother’s Day
Photo: El Espectador – Gustavo Torrijos Zuluaga
We tell the story of two entrepreneurs, Camilo Cortes and Juan Felipe Echeverría, the creators of Petalii, in our section 23 questions for entrepreneurs and their businesses. In that In an interview, they summed up some of how they started and where they were going very well: “We work at Acumen, a social impact fund, where we learned first-hand about the reality of the country. Understanding the difficulties of the countryside and seeing the great potential in Colombian biodiversity, we came up with the idea of creating Petalii with the aim of connecting small-scale flower growers in the Colombian countryside with the international and national market.”
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And so the news was that their enterprise, in the eyes of Colombian businessmen, was going from strength to strength, and so they were honored with an award that spoke of innovation, sustainability and social impact. So we spoke to them again to find out what they’re all about:
They recently won the President’s Forum’s Leaving a Mark Award.What does this recognition entail?
Petalii is a flower marketer that connects small farmers with the international market. In the last two years, it has sold more than 8 million stems in national and international markets, achieving double-digit growth month after month and positively impacting more than 100 smallholder farmers through guaranteed fixed prices, technical training and full production procurement. This allowed them to become a member of the En-Campo Fundación Bancolombia, Agcenter community and receive the Dejando Huella Award in the sustainable development category of the Forum of Presidents.
The Dejando Huella Award aims to highlight organizations with best practices in three categories: innovation, sustainability and social development. Every year, hundreds of institutions take part, where their business models are evaluated. On this occasion, Petalii was awarded the Sustainability Award for its commitment to the value chain.
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2023 was the hottest year on record. We have a deep climate crisis. How has climate change affected the flower sector?
According to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, global temperatures are 1.4 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Climate change affects floriculture as extreme weather conditions, rising temperatures and changes in rainfall patterns directly affect the growth of flowers and foliage.
These effects are manifested in seasonal fluctuations in production, increased disease, problems with water availability and changes in demand, all caused by climate events.
How do you, as a BIC company, intend to change the dynamics of rural Colombia?
Petalii is a BIC (Company with Collective Interests), it has a clear impact strategy and plans to contribute to the thousands of small-scale flower farmers in Colombia by guaranteeing competitive prices, market access and technical assistance.
What are the plans for 2024?
Petalii wants to be the fastest growing marketer in Latin America. Connecting small farmers (flowers, fruits and vegetables) and local businesses to sell on the international market through the use of technology and innovative business models.
This year, we want to create a pilot crop to show the good experience of our network of farmers and our company in the United States in order to expand our value proposition in the American market.
With all these changes in the TRM, in the dollar, how have they managed to keep business for small producers?
We have supply contracts with our smallholder farmers in pesos and we pay in cash, which ensures that the impact in the short term is nil.
If you know stories of entrepreneurs and their businesses, email us at Edwin Bohórquez Aya (ebohorquez@elespectador.com) or Tatiana Gomez Fuentes (tgomez@elespectador.com). 👨🏻💻 🤓📚