On February 9th, NESsT Peru and Fundacion Wiese hosted a closing event to celebrate the progress achieved through its 4-year partnership that created the “Fondo Emprendedor”. Access event videos here.
When NESsT and Fundacion Wiese launched Fondo Emprendedor in 2018, its open call for high-impact initiatives received applications from more than 100 enterprises in Peru, which underscored the continued need for impact-focused entrepreneurship support in the country.
For this vision, NESsT and Fundacion Wiese joined forces to not only connect Peruvian high-impact enterprises but also to further support them to scale by providing capital, mentorship, and technical assistance.
The Scaling Process:
Four enterprises were selected for the Fondo Emprendedor after a rigorous Due Diligence process that evaluated the impact and business models of the 100+ applicants. These four businesses had robust and scalable models and demonstrated a strong ability to improve the livelihoods of underserved communities in Peru by providing stable income sources, generating dignified jobs, and offering access to products and services that improve their quality of living.
NESsT conducted field visits and prepared tailored investment memos with each entrepreneur after assessing their business model, governance, theory of change, impact metrics, and other business characteristics. The process entailed the co-creation of a growth strategy for each enterprise.
The analysis process enabled NESsT Portfolio managers to identify the key areas of support needed by each enterprise to be able to reach their business and social objectives.
Once the enterprises entered the incubation portfolio, NESsT portfolio managers provided training to entrepreneurs through workshops, equipping them with the skills that can help them to improve market access, business management, and investment readiness. The Wiese Foundation also provided mentoring and other important networking opportunities for the companies. Quarterly performance management reports were generated, to ensure that the four enterprises were heading toward meeting their goals.
Reflections on the past three years - how the companies achieved growth despite pandemic challenges:
Empanacombi
Empanacombi's mission is to promote the labor inclusion of people with disabilities in the Peruvian gastronomy sector. The social enterprise produces artisanal empanadas, baked and frozen food products, and sweets. Its products are sold in coffee shops and convenience stores throughout the country, as well as through its own catering business.
Key strategic decisions:
During the pandemic: Empanacombi’s physical sales channels were closed for several months. To keep the business running, NESsT helped Empanacombi to establish its own delivery channel, develop new products to diversify its portfolio and meet the new needs of people at home and corporations, launch an e-commerce website, and create digital campaigns such as “Empanadas del Futuro" to pre-sell products through social media.
In 2021: Empanacombi was selected to participate in the three-year NESsT-IKEA Social Entrepreneurship Latin America Accelerator, through which the enterprise received additional financing to start “Open Kitchens”, a program that seeks to provide people with disabilities with technical and soft skill training to help them find decent jobs and access stable income.
Estrafalario
Estrafalario trains and employs survivors of domestic violence, women who are incarcerated, and low-income single mothers, to create clothing and accessories using upcycled materials. Its products, including scarves, blouses, swimwear, bikinis, polo shirts, and earrings are sold online and through its stores. The enterprise also runs Empowerment and Employability programs, which offer psychological counseling as well as technical education to women in the textile sector. In 2021, Estrafalario worked with 42 women from the Annex Penal of Chorrillos and Fátima, and directly employed 9 migrant women.
Key strategic decisions
In response to the health crisis brought on by the pandemic, Estrafalario designed masks that helped more than 4,000 people. The Wiese Foundation and other organizations purchased masks from Estrafalario directly and donated them to communities in need. Throughout quarantine, NESsT supported Estrafalario to develop its e-commerce strategies, redesigning both its website and logistics processes, which will allow Estrafalario to reach international markets.
With the Wiese Foundation, the Peruvian enterprise also planned the Lady of Cao campaign, a special clothing collection that seeks to highlight the Moche culture, especially its fabric and textile techniques. Through this project, Estrafalario trained 14 artisans from Magdalena de Cao.
Llama Pack
Llama Pack is a social enterprise that promotes the work of the high Andean communities of Peru, expanding their income possibilities to improve their quality of life. LLama Pack trains and provides llama farmers with the opportunity to use their llamas to transport camping equipment for its providing a socially and environmentally-minded tourism service. As a result, these llama farmers who are marginalized and often exploited by the current tourism industry, now have access to fair and decent work
Key strategic decisions
During the pandemic, Llama Pack continued to provide support to 47 people from remote Andean communities through crowdfunding campaigns. The Peruvian enterprise distributed food to 85 families in the community of Calleros and hosted workshops that teach local communities how to follow new biosecurity protocols.
To sustain the livelihoods and ensure the safety of Cusco communities, the Fondo Emprendedor provided Llama pack additional financing to build the Llama Pack Community and as working capital when needed. NESsT also developed a digital marketing plan with Llama Pack to improve its visibility both in the domestic and foreign markets and supported the enterprise to build infrastructure to sustain e-tourism activities.
PIXED
PIXED is a social enterprise that specializes in the development of low-cost, high-quality medical technologies for children and adults with disabilities, such as 3D-printed prosthetics.
Key strategic decisions
During the pandemic, the enterprise demonstrated its production capacity by immediately updating its hardware to produce physical protective equipment (PPE) for physicians and hospitals in Peru at the front lines of the Covid-19 virus, serving 23 hospitals and more than 19,000 doctors in less than a year.
In 2021, PIXED was successful at developing the first prostheses in Latin America that have elbow and arm rotation, which garnered national media attention. With NESsT support, they also further developed their business model, adding a B2B target market by starting to sell their products through health insurance providers in the country.
NESsT supported PIXED to develop new strategies, including the Labor Inclusion Program that offers labor inclusion training to companies and career training for people with disabilities to help them to enter the labor market
PIXED also began hosting demonstrations for traumatologists and physical rehabilitation professionals in hospitals across Lima.
Fondo Emprendedor is made possible with support from Wiese Foundation
