Maria Fernanda Leon
Elvis Cartaya
Mauricio Jibaja
EGADE Business School Tecnologico de Monterrey
Consuelo Garcia-de-la-torre
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Valle y Pampa, a family company, was created with the purpose to be an efficient, innovative and environmentally responsible company, engaged in the production and marketing of fruit and vegetables. Its innovation is in the generation of general welfare to workers, community, shareholders, customers and environment, through its principal pillars. Thus, it helps to reduce poverty in surrounding areas, use the water efficiently, create jobs and economic growth in surrounding areas, and convert hostile lands into productive lands for the benefit of all.
The innovation is called Valle y Pampa, an agricultural company located in the south coast of Perú, which has been operating for almost 10 years in the market. It produces and exports asparagus, pomegranates and blueberries, supplying the most demanding markets over 20 countries worldwide.
Miguel and his brother, who have more than 20 years of experience in agriculture, manage the company since its beginnings, and during all these years, they have contributed with great ideas that have generated big impacts on all its stakeholders and of course, the environment. The Bentin brothers saw a great opportunity in this sector, not only economic but also social and environmental. Regarding the economic point of view, Miguel and his brother, agreed that investing in this sector would generate long-term profits. They wanted things done in a different way since the beginning, so they implemented a new way of work that did not harm the environment and that it will benefit all their stakeholders. For this reason, they decided to leave behind the traditional agricultural way of work and started a sustainable business [Good Jobs and Economic Growth].
Regarding the social point of view, this innovation is helping to reduce the poverty in the area, giving people opportunities to work with many benefits (for them and for their families) [No Poverty] [Good health]. Currently they are more than 300 people working at this company, and it is important to mention that what they care more about is their people.
Finally, Villa y Pampa also takes care about the environment [Responsible Consumption and Production]. They convert hostile lands to productive lands so many people could benefit from it. Now they have productive lands and several hectares that make the business sustainable. Also important to mention that from its beginning, this project decided to use efficiently their resources; reason why they invested in an irrigation system that makes better usage of water until today.
The Bentin brothers used to work in a local agriculture company in the south of Lima. During that time, they tried to change some aspects in the company but did not get the support from the shareholders because they were focused on profitability in the short term.
After learning how to manage a company for a couple of years, they decided to approach their father and propose to him the idea of starting their own agriculture company. The idea of this company was to produce fresh fruit for export under high quality standards taking in consideration all the stakeholders.
The first thing they took in consideration was the usage of water, so they decide to acquire an irrigation system that includes sensors to detect adequate humidity of the land; the other topic they saw that were important to address, is the relationship with the local communities, specially the women.
With these ideas they decide to create Valle y Pampa a company that believes that everything is related to the people and was ready to challenge what it was granted in the market as best practices.
The story behind the company goes back to 2008 when the two brothers, Miguel and Juan Pablo, convince their father to invest in sustainable agriculture. It took two years to find an appropriate land to start planting because most of the properties they found had register problems. The idea of the Bentin brothers was to implement a sustainable agricultural model taking in consideration the usage of water, best agricultural practices and the communities around the company. In 2010, they planted 51 hectares of pomegranates and now they own 216 hectares with asparagus, pomegranates and berries.
At the beginning because of their policy of “sustainable agriculture”, they avoid to use some pesticides, excessive use of water among other things, this cause that the yields per hectare were lower than regular plantations, now their yields are according to market with lower costs per hectare than competitors are.
One of the milestones of Valle y Pampa was the implementation of the water irrigation system that allow them to win the Swig Award for best irrigation practices and the shareholders are also proud to hire people of communities nearby, mainly women. In 2017, they hire more than 250 people and more than 60% of them are women.
Valle y Pampa has gained profits from selling their products in the most demanding markets over 20 countries worldwide. As mentioned above, their work is focused in four pillars, which allows the company to produce and supply fresh fruit and vegetables of higher quality than other agricultural companies. Because of this, Valle y Pampa products are more valuable to consumers not only for the quality of their products but also for their responsible practices with their different stakeholders, including the environment. In this sense, annual revenue has increased from US$ 3 Million (in 2014) to US$ 9 Million (in 2017).
Their success, is partly due to improvements in the way of working and creating more opportunities of growth for their workers. As business was expanding, they needed to hire more people. Their efforts to retain talent were focused on creating a strong commitment with the Company; in that sense, Valle y Pampa concentrated in ensuring the well-being to their workers (mainly to those who work on the fields) through more flexible schedules. These were based, on a continuous work shift (from 6am-2pm), so people can distribute better their time and perform other activities within the same day, giving them better economic mobility opportunities. This practice did not imply more costs for the Company, and resulted in an increase of productivity.
In the other hand, their innovative irrigation techniques, allowed the Company to optimize the usage of water (40% less use of water than other companies in the same conditions) and therefore a reduction in costs. Nowadays, Valle y Pampa is one of the most efficient companies in the agricultural sector. Important to mention that these savings were used in the development of human capital.
All mentioned, strengthened the reputation of the company. This was supported by certifications such as Company B, Rainforest Alliance, Swig Award, Fair Trade; among others; thus, more people began to buy more of their products benefiting the business.
The environmental and social performance has led to international recognition and has set the company apart in a highly sophisticated and competitive industry.
Valle y Pampa's innovation efforts are focused in keeping their high efficiency levels of production beyond standard agricultural practices. They pride theirselves on being pioneers in the successful implementation of breakthrough technologies that have resulted in unprecedented savings in water, fertilizer and energy use while keeping or improving production yields.
These efforts have been validated by earning the Sustainable Water Industry Group Award (SWIG) in 2013, allowing them to share their know how with other interested parties. This can be considered as one of their biggest contribution to the Peruvian and global agricultural sector.
Their commitment to sustainability, however, transcends their achievements thanks to a strong corporate culture that allows them to permanently push the boundaries with regards to performance improvement and innovation. They make the latter possible through the external collaboration of leading environmental professionals and the development of internally generated ideas focused on promoting 'small tweaks for big changes'.
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Miguel Albano Bentín Meseth, Chief Executive Officer - CEO
Valle y Pampa, a “B Company”, is a family owned company engaged in the production and export of high value commodities (fruits and vegetables). They supply the most demanding markets in 4 continents and over 20 countries worldwide. Their business philosophy is founded on the pillars of innovation, sustainability, social responsibility and the development of human capital.