Recently, our Heritable Innovation Trust partners in Ecuador were featured on GOOD, a collaboration of individuals, businesses, and nonprofits pushing the world forward.

““It’s like the Amazonian cousin of [yerba] mate,” says Runa co-founder Tyler Gage, referring to the iconic Argentinean tea-like beverage. (Technically, guayusa is not tea, either, though you steep it in hot water and it’s sold in tea bags.) Whole Foods and other supermarkets are already selling it, which Gage hopes is a sign that guayusa could become the next hip drink following the profitable path of South American products like yerba mate and açaí.

In 2005, Gage was an undergrad at Brown University conducting linguistic research in the Amazon. He tried guayusa and loved it, so by the time he graduated college, he had a business plan to sell it in the United States—but no one had commercially produced guayusa for export before. That makes his little startup a big chance for all the small famers who grow guayusa. Already Runa’s orders provide a good living for 1,000 farmers, Gage says, and the Ecuadorian government is putting its money behind the claim.”

The article continues to discuss that because of the company exporting the tea, more jobs have been created for farmers in Ecuador which is why the government wants to see the company grow. This excitement by the government has allowed Runa to access government funds, through a new investment program called, “Crececuador”. The new initiative hopes to “incubate a new kind of investment vehicle for young green businesses, one that eventually turns over the ownership to the employees or farmers.”

You can read the article in its entirety: http://www.good.is/post/social-ist-impact-investing-why-ecuador-invested... "

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