Guest blogger Gioel Gioacchino is a consultant for the Youth Entrepreneurship Program (YEP), a joint initiative of the MIF and Youth Business International that focuses on providing training and other support to young entrepreneurs in Latin America and the Caribbean. Here she tells the story of one young Peruvian who, with support from a YEP partner, is realizing a childhood dream.
At 13 years old, Jhon had a long chat with an old man in his town. The old man told him about ages. He told him there are special ages, at which things change and our personal paths transform. The conversation left an impression on him. At 13, Jhon had no idea what he wanted to be when he grew up. Reflecting on this interaction with the old man, however, he decided he was going to keep age in mind, and plan for the important phases of his life. So Jhon decided at 13 years old, and almost arbitrarily, that at 27 he was going to start something. But what?
At 27, Jhon became the founder of Proacos, a business based in Cusco that produces and distributes food derivatives of guinea pig, quinoa and kiwicha, three staples of the Andean region. Today, Proacos is a growing business already honored three times for its technological, culinary, and nutritional innovation.
To make his business viable, Jhon mixed all the ingredients he had available: his passion for the Andean world, his knowledge of local traditions, his family, the support of CID, a ton of intuition, and a strategic education.
Jhon tells me that working on Proacos’ growth for the last five years has been a real adventure. “There are good moments, and also hard ones. For me, the hardest moments are the ones in which I have no clarity.”
“And how do you obtain clarity?” I ask.
Jhon tells me that with his family, and with help from El Colectivo Integral de Desarollo (CID), a Peruvian NGO that works with young entrepreneurs, he has prepared a business plan for the next five years. “Strategic planning is essential,” he explains. “But sometimes it is simply not enough.
“One day, I was going to participate in a gourmet food festival in Lima. We had a lot of expenses, and I had to arrange many details that were hard to coordinate from Cusco. I was trying to plan things out and I was feeling really tired and confused. Suddenly, while I was working – I fell asleep.
“During this nap I dreamed of a girl that I had met few weeks before at an event in Lima. I did not know why, but I called her immediately. Dreams really help me out a lot. This girl ended up coordinating the event in Lima and became a really important partner for Proacos.”
When talking about the ABCs of starting a business, Jhon advises aspiring entrepreneurs to focus on finding seed capital and developing many contacts. He tells me that the seed capital that CID invested in his business was really essential. He stresses that it was not only about getting the financing he needed to get the business started: “That first seed capital gave me the confidence and motivation to trust my work and keep going.
“Also, contacts are everything!” says Jhon.
“I see contacts as a spiderweb. Doing networking, I try to knit a web that can generate solutions – that will help all people who are part of it.”
In fact, Proacos works precisely through the creation of an elaborate web. Jhon tells me that Cusco is characterized by impressive natural and cultural diversity. However, there is almost no industry. Proacos is a small industry that supports and leverages local economies.
For example, guinea pigs are traditionally produced by women’s groups, who live off the income they generate. Proacos buys quinoa directly from small individual farmers in Cusco. Finally, the kiwicha that Proacos utilizes in its recipes is produced by a small business that works directly with farmer cooperatives.
“The idea is to add value to local economies, while stimulating industry and innovation.”
Proacos today employs five people, who have been trained in sales, production, and distribution. Throughout this, Proacos remains a family business. “My dad is my right hand and my sister works in distribution. We are all happy with the company.”
The last ingredient in Jhon’s receipe for success is key. Trained as a vet, when founding Proacos, Jhon took a course in the processing of meat. Moreover, while the business was growing, Jhon decided to do a master’s degree in engineering, with a focus on food production. His education was strategic, and complemented his experience very well with specific skills and knowledge.
At 13 years old, Jhon decided that he would start something at 27. He did not know what, but he did know why. He wanted to spend his 40s and beyond relaxing. He visualized living in a small country house in front of a river, the river Vilcanota. From there he also wanted to take care of his grandpa’s property. This was his vision at 13, and it is still the same today, at 31.
Jhon says that with a vision – with a dream – it becomes easier to find, among all the different possible paths, your own.
