1. Business Description
The Andi Wayusa Association is a Kichwa family association made up of 10 partners, located in the canton of Lago Agrio, Sucumbíos, Ecuador, dedicated to the production and sale of drinks made from the leaves of the guayusa plant (Ilex guayusa), which receive the same name "Andi Wayusa". The business is operated by two people and, temporarily, receives support from 10 more for the marketing process. The business was started in 2020, due to a need for
Andi Wayusa is a small business that has been trying to generate income, given the difficult situation before and during the pandemic. However, as it evolved, it began to be characterized by the aim of strengthening the traditions of indigenous cultures through guayusa and other drinks, with healthy, chemical-free products that are beneficial to health. Andi Wayusa buys the guayusa and processes it with different recipes and ingredients to generate about 3 varieties of drinks with energetic qualities, to then sell them in the local market. In addition to the cultural aspect rooted in the business, an interest in the environmental nature associated with the product also increased, but with few concrete actions, yet. In this context, Andi Wayusa can be analyzed as a business that is in its initial stage, still consolidating its characteristics and “personality” in the different social, environmental and economic dimensions, and that is at the beginning of a transition as a regenerative business, with practices still limited by scarce resources.
Although the initial idea was for the family to be the supplier of raw materials in chakra systems, Andi Wayusa does not currently produce its own guayusa. It buys from the Ally Guaysa association, which does produce organic guayusa about 170 km away. In this sense, due to its characteristic as a food processing business, without agricultural production, its “environmental” practices are more associated with the purchase of regeneratively produced products and other social actions, but these are still few because its attention is still focused on achieving operational and economic establishment.
2. Main challenges
The great challenge of the business is to establish itself operationally and economically, despite advancing with productive growth and infrastructure (with project support). The challenge of marketing stands out, in making people understand the differentiated proposal of Andi Wayusa and be willing to pay a differentiated price as well.
