Laura Bada Zepeda
IESDE School of Management
George Dionne
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A University professor and her colleagues joined with a community of women in a rural village in Mexico to create a community of agricultural and food businesses. Working together they have developed food products made from crops and animals grown by the people in the village that are sold at significantly higher prices than what the crops alone could be sold. Building on a deep village culture of collaboration and trust Professor Gabriela Sánchez Bazán and her colleagues have helped the village women become accomplished business people who are continually innovating.
The innovation resides in the manner in which the business has emerged and matured as a collaborative community around the creation and development of farming, agriculture and food businesses in Santiago Atzitzihuacán, a rural community in the state of Puebla, Mexico.
The organization involves women of the village, each with an understanding of their roles in an environment of participative/collaborative leadership in favor of the group as a whole. What began as raising sheep and commercializing the meat has evolved both horizontally and vertically with the emergence of several interrelated businesses, for example the commercialization of manure for growing sorghum and vegetables that return as organic balanced feed for the sheep. All of which play a part in a process of continuing invention. The manner of building on practices of solidarity and mutual support ingrained in the organization of the daily life of the community applied to creating, operating and doing business has fomented the creation of more businesses within the village contributing to continued betterment of families and the village as a whole.
When Professor Gabriela Sanchez Bazan first began working with the women of the village she asked why they had not planted anything on their land and they answered that it was because the harvested products ended up being sold at very low prices. Gaby told us in the interview, “I broke all the rules of business practices. My colleagues and I made the commitment with the women to pay guaranteed prices for the harvest, very much superior to existing market prices.” Professor Bazán gathered a group of colleagues, who together with six women from the village pioneered the project. Having participated in several meetings in the village, a relationship began to grow as all participated in exploring various themes related to the creation of the business, but also growing in comprehension of the emerging process of becoming a collaborative community as an outgrowth of innovative collaborative practices embedded in the community itself.
Recalling those first meetings Professor Bazan said, "That group of women was not searching for a business, they only wanted an opportunity”. As the process continued, “We experienced challenging aspects such as learning to grapple with local customs and practices - for example, the practice of not putting anything in writing - as well as generating learning processes for all of us in the group, but in the end it was all worthwhile.”
Professor Bazan came to discover and appreciate practices of solidarity and mutual support as a way of life in the village. When there was an issue to be confronted the women would meet, organize around the issue at hand, work together, come up with decisions and nothing would be written down. Their “word” and a handshake were enough. It was a natural community of collaboration that had evolved over the years, perhaps centuries.
What the women of the village had never considered was to focus their collaborative and organizational practices towards the creation of a business. Key to the success of the project was Professor Bazan ability to relate with the women and willingness to recognize what was already there as stepping stones for helping the women to see and use their ingrained sense of community around a business project.
When the harvest was ready Professor Bazan and her colleagues bought the crop of amaranth, a food rich in protein. As time passed and the accumulation of amaranth grew she and her colleagues asked themselves, “What can we do with all of this amaranth? If we sell it we lose money since we paid high prices for it?” And they came up with the idea of a new business for the community, which resulted in commercializing amaranth along with other traditional Mexican food products they had begun to cultivate. Their biggest consumers turned out to be Mexican immigrants in the United States with nostalgia for the tastes of home.
In the year 2000, Gabriela Sáncheaz explained, “It’s an issue of justice, those families didn’t choose to be born there, nor did my daughter choose be born were she was, we just have to find an equilibrium..... We cannot be indifferent towards the injustice and inequality all around us, there are moments when we don't even notice them and they can easily become a normal part of the social landscape.” Professor Bazan’s sense of mission found expression in her innovative manner of respectful inquiry into the community, the building of relationships between its members and herself and her colleagues in a process of mutual engagement in search of solutions to the problem of migration of the young men and women to the United States. As the project and her relationship with the group grew Professor Bazan came to realize: "It was more than I could ever hope for, getting to know this community and becoming friends of Las Borregas, has changed my life, it made me a better person and obligated me to reflect on my own profession as an educator.”
The community businesses benefit at least 35 persons and the new projects they are working on could come to benefit many more in the future. The benefits are not limited only to profits but many other areas, for example, continued education. “Las borregas” (The Sheep) as the six women informally call themselves, have received training in business and using computers. They proudly introduce themselves as “Business Women” in more formal settings. They have participated in fairs, forums, been interviewed, and have travelled to promote their products and projects. “We are now respectable business women, before our community and for everyone else.”
The short-term effects have been the empowerment of the women, the generation of new forms of sustainable businesses and increased integration of the community as a part of the project. “The income that the women obtained prior to this project increased by 100% once the business was up and running…since then earnings have increased due to sales in new markets and the introduction of new products,” explained Professor Bazan. She adds, “…the financial benefits are infinitely superior to the economic support offered by government programs such as Oportunidades.” More and more families no longer depend on government assistance.
The long term effects will be that young men and women of the community will absorb the skills and practices and the confidence to create businesses, alongside increasing employment opportunities in the village. Going to the United States as illegal immigrants will be considered as a last option.
Working with Professor Bazan and her colleagues at the university, the women of the village have developed food products, made from the crops and grown in the village that can be sold at higher prices that the crops would normally be worth. This increased the economic stability of the village allowing people to make a living.
In those early encounters with the six women of the village, Professor Bazan was moved by what one mother said, "I don’t want to make money - I don't need it - what I want is that my children don’t go to the United States…what I want is that they have opportunities here.” By learning about the natural strengths of the village culture and working with the women to increase their business skills, Professor Bazan and her university colleagues helped the village secure their future.
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Gabriela Sanchez Bazan, Professor
