The First Business Model

After my trips to Honduras and Guatemala in 2007, I made the unequivocal decision to develop a business model/plan that would present an opportunity to make December 21, 2012 the ‘dawning of a new era’. If you listen to many doomsayer/conspiracy types, the ending of the Maya 5,240 year calendar is the ‘end of time’, or the ending of the world. I didn’t buy it and still won’t. I believe there is still a lot of room for improvement for humankind.

As previously mentioned, Mr. Sedat and Mr. Gottschamer started their operations as a direct response to the deplorable conditions they found in the formerly Mayan region of Central America. Decades of misguided agricultural activities had left the soils severely depleted of natural elements. The hillsides had long since been stripped of trees, harvested to provide fuel, and were badly eroded. The indigenous people had been reduced to bare existence and were living well below the poverty level. The work of more than forty years and the alternative agroforestry businesses started by these men have reversed the status quo. The noni and macadamia trees flourish on the hillsides, and the New Useful Forest, with its diverse plantings of many useful native plant species, have halted erosion as they reforest the area.

A valley rich with opportunity for the Maya

After much analysis and further research, I proposed to combine the work of these two men with a robust expansion plan and an ‘advance market commitment’ business strategy to build demand by extolling the virtues of the agricultural and manufacturing operations that would produce the many products that would be sold under the MG 2012 label. The MG 2012 business plan would expand a network of “member growers” that would continue to reforest an increasing number of eroded hillsides, and supply MG 201 manufacturing facilities. The wide appeal of a “green” company, partially owned by indigenous peoples, coupled with natural healthy products, would make MG 2012 a very powerful brand. MG 2012 business model would afford the opportunity for thousands of indigenous families to escape poverty and elevate local living standards in their communities.

The MG 2012 concept and business model was developed based upon my wide experience in business development in several market sectors, and the wellness and specialty food industries. I immediately recognized the vast potential demand for the products being produced by Mr. Sedat and Mr. Gottschamer, along with other Maya indigenous crop sources. I decided the most progressive and profitable business model for our Maya indigenous endeavor would be to eliminate all the middle parties that are used in distribution and wholesale to the retail market. One of my key objectives was, and is today, to create a strategy for a very high ‘value chain’…meaning, to enhance indigenous profit margins (4-6 times greater), product differentiation, and competitive advantage.

Consequently, I needed to find an interested, established retailing equity-partner to fund the capital investment needed to expand agricultural yields and processing and manufacturing facilities required to allow for the creation of the “brand” identity. Under this business model, MG 2012 needed a retailing equity-partner with substantial retail outlets. The success of MG 2012, under this model, was predicated upon the establishment of the “brand” as an array of products produced by a socially responsible company helping to improve the environment of a degraded region of the world.

Be sure to check back on Thursday, November 6, for chapter 5, where I will cover the development of Maya Global 2012 through 2008.

The Maya and the “New Useful Forest”…Why? Part 2

I met with David and Julia Sedat and the New Day-Ch’orti leaders for the first time during my second trip to the Maya region in April of 2007. At a press announcement, they revealed that they would be collaborating with the 6,000-member New Day organization to establish a New Useful Forest (NUF). It was during this trip I learned that the Ch’orti had suffered over 2,000 deaths from starvation during the previous year. This is when I decided to do everything in my power to work on developing a sustainable solution to prevent this kind of disaster from happening again.

The development of new Maya agricultural practices

The initial economic “engine” for the regeneration of the NUF landscape was the Noni tree. Although some ethnobotanists were skeptical that Noni could be productive at this seasonally dry (Feb-May) 700 meter elevation, the Noni did, in fact, flourish and its acceptability in the local market was encouraging. This is when the NUF attracted the attention of a 6000 member “New Day” organization of progressive Maya Chorti farmers from Eastern Guatemala. With encouragement from Dr. Jennifer Casolo, they sought to establish their own sustainable agriculture program based around the use of the Noni in the local communities. This was seen as the first step towards a wider commercial venture.

The NUF is achievable and sustainable because it incorporates intrinsically “Mayan” cultural strategies of land use and subsistence. The acceptance of the NUF ideals by the Chorti “New Day” movement indicates that new ideas and plant species are accepted if they are presented in a culturally coherent fashion. The NUF is situated on the steepest, least desirable land for maize (corn) farming. It does not seek to displace the spiritually entrenched cultivation of maize, but rather enhance it by making the land more fertile, sustainable, and suitable for its cultivation. This is where so many “outside” projects have failed—they do not take into consideration the “soul” of the Maya people.

The NUF is a cultural construct. It is a consciousness that is not just about trees, but harmony, efficiency, and good common sense in land use; reserving the “waste land” for permanent tree cropping, and thus developing a true useful purpose for over 60% of the landscape. A great variety of different native food crops can be grown using this adaptive and sustainable system. Altogether, a great many plant products will be utilized as foodstuffs for the local communities and as key ingredients in numerous products sought by socially conscious consumers around the world. By using efficient and competitive marketing strategies, Maya Global will make these products available through our global online marketplace.

The Maya and the “New Useful Forest”…Why? Part 1

For more than six months after my family’s trip to Honduras in September 2006, I could not shake the vision of the poverty and environmental conditions the Maya people have had to endure for so long. After many discussions with my sons, Ian and Vincent, (accessing their millennium generational view points and values) I asked myself, “as a business person, is there something I (we) could do to help reverse these conditions besides donating money to a non-profit?”

During these six months, I had many discussions with David Sedat and Lorenzo Gottschamer and asked them if they were interested in meeting. They enthusiastically agreed. For three weeks, I traveled through Honduras and Guatemala with them. They shared their ideas and listened to mine regarding a viable business model that would afford rural Mayans an opportunity for a high-value chain (return) and sustainability for socio-economic prosperity. I needed to understand David’s “New- Useful Forest” development and Lorenzo’s thirty plus years of sustainable agriculture with the Macadamia nut.

David Sedat and the "New Useful Forest"

I was not disappointed. In addition to becoming close friends, I departed with a lot of information and ideas. If I had only known then that I would be telling this story six years later, after many evolutionary changes in development! However, I would not change a thing…and I hope you agree with me after reading my story.

The “New Useful Forest”

David Sedat’s “New Useful Forest” (NUF) is a working term for a staged, multi-level agro-forestry component that is culturally congruent with communities of “Maya” people who live synergistically with the sources of their livelihood—the soil, the water, and the plants that spring from these, and are connected to a wider world market system through socially conscious networks.

It has become recognized that the ancient Maya practiced various systems of intensive agriculture, depending on local conditions. One of the systems identified by archaeologists is an artificial forest that once may have spread across much of the Maya lowlands, providing diverse and highly efficient food production from multi-level cropping. This model of a forest of useful species, providing an array of tree crops, vine crops, and root crops together with standard seed crops, was derived in part from observation of modern Maya farmers who did not clear-cut the forest, but left standing selected useful trees to provide food, medicines, building materials, fuel, and many other valuable products. Accordingly, the concept of a “New Useful Forest” (NUF) is in reality based on an ancient cultural feature developed by the Maya and still practiced by descendants of the builders of the once grand cities like Copan. Thus, the model of the NUF has proved to be a sustainable economic/subsistence system to promote in the Maya World because it passes the “cultivability test”, whereby the techniques, goals, and rationale are not imposed by foreign tastes, but eminently coherent both culturally as well as locally adaptive.

The NUF model is based on the practical experience and insights derived from over 11 years of work on the Sedat’s Copan 2012 Experimental Botanical Station. It is situated on highly eroded steep terrain many times surpassing a 45 degree slope. The NUF uses a system of paths, micro-terraces and living hedgerows all working together to slow and redirect water run-off and help control erosion. No burning, chemical insecticides or artificial fertilizers are used; and amid the natural growth of native species a number of other tree species (fruit, nut, medicinal etc.) are planted.

Be sure to check in next week for “The Maya and the ‘New Useful Forest’…Why? – Part 2.”

The Beginning of Maya Global 2012

To my knowledge, the concept of a project like Maya Global 2012 did not exist at any level until late 2006. I, Jeff Remmel, traveled to the border of Honduras and Guatemala in 2006 with my wife and two adult sons to visit Copan Ruinas and their Maya Ruins. The ruins are known as the Paris of the ancient Maya civilization. I thought I had seen rural poverty in the U.S. and other parts around the world, but what we saw over and over again during our drive from the coast to Copan had a unique and lasting impact on me. The trip has had the same impact on my family, and the impact that it has had is a big reason behind my efforts over the last six years. To say the least, there was not much talking during most of the three-hour drive from the coast of Copan. There was however a lot of observation, which fueled our discussions that came later during the trip and for many months to follow. This was the start of my journey and the development of what would become Maya Global 2012.

Help us reverse poverty in the Maya

Upon arriving in Copan, we checked into the Hacienda San Lucas, where I had made earlier reservations. The Hacienda, which is owned and operated by Flavia Cueva, is a several hundred-year-old estate that has been in her family since its construction. Flavia has become a very dear friend of mine, and a collaborator on our Maya endeavor (even before I knew I had an endeavor as such. Thank you, Flavia). Flavia suggested we should visit and learn about the Maya and the Copan ruins from a gentleman by the name of David Sedat. David is a renowned Maya archaeologist who has lead and directed over 18 years of digs with the University of Pennsylvania in Copan. David was born in Guatemala, and save for his college years, has spent most of his life in Honduras and Guatemala. David and his wife Julia Sandoval de Sedat, along with Lorenzo and Emilia Gottschamer from Antiqua, Guatemala, quickly became very dear friends to my family. They are responsible for much of my research and understanding of the plight of the Maya in rural regions.

My family and I witnessed severe poverty and environmental degradation everywhere we traveled. It was this first trip that really opened my family’s eyes, and is to this day responsible for how we look at the plight of others around the world. This sort of poverty does not have to be present in the 21st century, and the fact that it is so prevalent makes my wife, sons and me very angry. We will not give up on the Mayans and other struggling regions in the years to come. The Maya were and are a proud people that had, prior to the arrival of Europeans, created and sustained one of the most advanced civilizations known to man. When my family and I asked why are there was so much environmental degradation and rural poverty, we were invited to see what David and Julia Sedat had been working on for the last five years.

David and Julia have established an agro-forestry method where they can rejuvenate and rebuild the steep, severely deforested and soil-deprived mountainsides. David and Julia wanted to reverse the results of many, many decades of destruction of their beautiful rain forests due to slash and burn deforestation. The Mayans have no choice but to slash and burn as long as this is their only subsistence from starvation and malnutrition. In 2003 David and Julia established the seven-hectare Experimental Research Station in Copan, Honduras. Their goal has been to demonstrate an ability to regenerate the land and create “A New Useful Forest.”

In Chapters 2 and 3, we will share with you the exciting details of their progress over the last 12 years. You will learn about a multitude of products that Sedat and the Maya are will be producing for sale at our future global market. We will also show how the ever-expanding “New Useful Forest” and other agro-forestry methods have been shared with the Ch’orti Maya and other Mayans so that they can have a sustainable future as a part of Maya Global 2012.