Guayakí Yerba Maté pioneering a profitable and sustainable model
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Guayakí co-founder, David Karr, featured on the August cover of Money, wonders “what better thing could a company do than build a new economic model that reflects the preciousness of the natural resources and the way to create a viable economic model to work with these natural systems and produce a product that we can bring to the consciousness of the US market?” That’s exactly what Guayakí has successfully done in the past seven years of Business, growing from a small grass-roots college project to the leader of the yerba maté market with over 70% market share. This growth has even garnered a cover story from Money in August 2003. Guayakí co-founders are the first to urge other companies to follow suit. But, even leading researchers in Cambridge, UK agree saying, “An impressive example of sustainable forest use, Itabo [The Guayakí Rainforest Reserve] successfully protects 2,700 ha of high quality Interior Atlantic forest… It is crucial that the success of Itabo is widely publicized as a model to be duplicated.” Guayakí's project has been singled out by the UN and other environmental organizations as one of the best examples of medium-scale sustainable agriculture use in all of South America and is the 2nd highest priority site for conservation. The 20,000-acre Guayakí Rainforest Reserve is a subtropical area of the lower Amazon, one of 10 tracts of rainforest left. In the 70's and 80's, the rainforest was deforested because of the demand for tropical woods. Ninety-five percent of Paraguay was deforested. That is one-half the size of California. Alex Pryor, Guayakí's South American co-founder, grew up to this heartbreaking site. When he would travel to the reserve that is owned by his godfather every year, he would drive an extra hour through deforested land each time. This had a strong emotional impact. Thirty-four indigenous families live on 2,500 protected acres, in addition to the 20,000-acre reserve, where they continue their traditional farming techniques and hunting and gathering. They are proud that Guayakí promotes their national drink and culture in the US market, especially because Guayakí Yerba Maté is from their forest and processed in the ancient traditional methods. Pryor is beginning new projects for reforestation and uplifting other indigenous tribes. He’s attentive to their cultural timelines and approach to business. “The last thing we want to do as a company is to take them out of their rhythm. We’re not going to inflict the pace of business on their lifestyle,” says Karr. Guayakí's mission is for yerba maté to be an economic driver for many different reserves creating biological corridors of forested maté plantations to connect reserves. This will create a natural pathway where animals can travel freely. “Ultimately, the forests are the lungs of the planet. People are going to learn, maybe the hard way, that if we destroy the forests, we’re going to upset the natural balance of our entire Earth,” according to Karr. Guayakí is offering a sustainable and profitable way to change the direction of global big business and its consequences. |
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