Capital Semilla is Over!

I'm going to start making a back of notes that i can publish. These last two weeks have been very hectic. I cant remember the last time it was like that to be honest. After i finished the interview with the entrepreneurs i started making the reports and evaluation matrix. Remember that i had two competitions that i was evaluating.

Marnix managed to write up the report for one of them and make the evaluation matrix. However, loads of changes had to be made, and that kept me busy for days on end. Making small changes to the matrix, makes a lot of difference to the whole report and the remaining sections of the matrix as well.

For the other competition i did it all from scratch. I also did both the presentations. The presentations where quite fun. In both cases an evaluating commission would form and they would have the final say on how the subsidies would be distributed. They would ask about the business plans, etc. It was good.

Parallel to this Sheila and i kept working on the basics for the new organization. This included aspects like reformulating the vision and mission, as well as the objectives to be coherent and more focused on what we really want to do. She has been a great help in this and luckily she decided to stay 15 more days. I think once this is finished we can update the business plan and i have to say it looks really good.

She is also helping us out with the development of three products based on these reformulated aspects of the business plan for fundraising purposes. This would be more in the field of CSR and companies. We have also been thinking up some new names!

Jaqueline also arrived during this time. She was in Punta Arenas for 4 days and then went off to Williams. She was very motivated and happy and if all goes well i think her presence there will be very good. I presented her to the board of lakutaia, its administrative manager and a consultant that is working with them. All of them where super positive.

Also before she arrived i wrote a mass mail to Williams and got a good response back. So lets see!

I have also started the next project which we are also doing with SERCOTEC. This one is focused on the creation of a group of artisans. Basically, we have to establish the demand for artisan products by the tourists. This is done by means of a questionnaire. Based on these results we have to match this demand with products and artisans. It is important that the products produced by them are locally made and considered to be of high "quality". Once these have been matched we have to work with them to fortify them, and facilitate the creation of a joint space of product commercialization. So we have to facilitate the creation of a fair.

It is fun and i have only just started this project. There is a lot to do as well!

Besides that all is well, i am hearing a rumour that Lorenza is on her way back to Williams/ushuaia but i cant seem to confirm this...anyone know? I have talked to seppe and he is in Peru working for an NGO. So good luck to him! Marieke also started working at Enviu in NL.

I also have a bunch of applicants which now i have to dedicate some time to...........FYI the application for Impulsis has been on hold for the last month, so no progress there, (unfortunately).

Business Plan round up

A full body massage, quite a few free books and 4 dozen free eggs later, the interviews for the business plan evaluation process is over! The last two weeks have been crazy. From nine in the morning until ten thirty at night, every day of the week, i have been in other peoples houses talking about their ideas and the costs involved. Oh yeah, and i met some Patagonian ostriches, (Ñandu), on a small ranch. they are very curious animals.....

Just yesterday i finished the report and i can tell you that i am still looking at my watch worried about getting to the next interview. But its over, and now i have to do the presentations and the next project to start.

I almost thought i wouldn't be able to finish it all, but luckily i found a willing soul to go to Porvenir and do the interviews there.

Carine has left now, and i imagine she is at the airport in Buenos Aires waiting for her flight to Curacao, via 5 medium sized south american cities, and one central american capital....What a way to finish your time down here. I can tell you! But its getting warmer and the birds are back from the north. Everyone is gearing up for tourism season here.

Well, sheila es still here! She will be here for another two weeks, unless i can find a way of convincing her to stay. We still have a few things to do and at the moment she is working on fundraising. Not with foundations, but with companies.

The Impulsis application is still pending, and even though i have not been in touch with Enviu in the Netherlands lately, i seem to remember the last news being positive.

I also met up with maria in natales a few times. She is busy working with pilar and organizing a glass recycling campaign which should kick off on the 20th of September, right after the fiestas patrias! Remember, 18th of September is the big Chilean national holiday. There should be a lot of glass to pick up.

Ill probably be off to Rio Gallegos beach for a day in Argentina. Ill tell you all about it!

Tierra del Fuego

Wow! Time does fly. Its already the end of august and i can feel spring is on its way. I was in natales at the start of the week to do the field evaluations of the business plans, and it was very beautiful. It is getting warmer and the wind is starting to pick up. That's a definite sign!

We also received a new volunteer in natales. We don't have an office yet, but Maria, (from spain), decided to come anyway. She is an environmental engineer and studied for the last year in Santiago. She was going to live in nateles for 3 months anyway so looked for something to do.

She is interested in the waste management work, and has been looking through what imke did, and also meeting the stakeholders of natales.

We won another project with SERCOTEC!. No checking business plan though. This one is focused on facilitating a group of pre selected artisans develop areas of their business. This is mainly focused on the marketing aspect of their business. Its a 5 month project but the first is the intensive part. The rest is just follow up work.

We also applied for a project with CONAMA, (Comision de Medio Ambiente). This is a very big project and is focused on the development of about 250KM of new trekking trails as part of the Sendero de Chile project. This project is national and its objective is to create a trekking trail along the whole length of chile, (5000km). Through this trail they hope to create alternative tourism activities. We applied to this through another foundation and the answer is pending. What we would have to do is the whole participative component of the project. Propose activities for the trail, etc.


But good, should be interesting. We are definitely starting to feel a lack of capacity here because there is actually a third project which is super interesting but i don't think we can take it on. The thing is that when a project licitation is delayed, and then re tendered, the actual hand in dates of the project stay the same. So basically this project was two months long initially, the tender was delayed a month and now you have to do teh same amount of work, but in a month.

Sheila is working away and did her first workshop with us. It was really good, and i am super glad she is here. She definitely has some good views. Oh! And we decided we will be changing our name. It is not sure to what though.....so if anyone has any ideas......this is also affecting the speed at which the legal process is going because a name change should be done sooner than later. Other wise it will be very expensive.

I'm off to tierra del fuego this weekend! Have to check a business plan!