Stepping off that corporate ladder and building a social impact food company
A quick journey into taking the leap and eradicating malnutrition in bottom of the pyramid communities
MY GUATEMALAN BACKGROUND
My name is Rodrigo López and I come from Guatemala, the beautiful land of volcanoes and never ending eternal spring. It’s a country filled with vast areas of opportunity and plenty of advantages as well.
You see, Guatemala has a limitless intrinsic value which can be portrayed in its culture, its gorgeous nature, and most importantly its warm hearted people. We Guatemalans are one of the most hard working, never tiring human beings that’s always aware of others and always wants to help each other out.
We’ve been through a lot, from dictators, to a +30 year civil war that destroyed so much, to countless acts of corruption that slows down development (and the list goes on). This leaves us with high poverty rates, limited access to clean water, limited access to health care, high malnutrition rates, and several shattered dreams. Yet, somehow, we still stand, putting our dream pieces back together again.
It blows my mind when I acknowledge and realize how strong we Guatemalans are. We can still see a united group of people that gets back up again, while taking punches in, getting tripped and stabbed, and yet… we continue to push forward for a better future for younger & new generations. That fire in the belly is still there. We will never lose it. We live it.
You see, I was born in Guatemala City, and I was lucky to grow up in a family that traveled a lot throughout the country inlands & rural territories. This gave me an edge and a broad overview of the real Guatemala. I was fortunate to see the outstanding beauty of this Mayan world, our top of the line coffee, and its people since I was a small kid. I was also raised to believe that I could change the world (thank you Mom & Dad, I love you). Growing up to my early 20’s, I knew that it was time to take action. I wanted to make a change and positively affect the lives of as many Guatemalan’s as possible.
PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND AND JOURNEY:
I’m a bachelor in Business, with a minor in Marketing from Universidad Francisco Marroquín.
After graduating in 2012, I entered the multinational world and lived the corporate ladder struggle for several years. I learned so much from great companies like Kimberly Clark, Nestlé, and a telecommunications brand giant. Most importantly, I learned a lot from exceptional people that I can now call friends.
I had mixed feelings while I was making my way up the corporate ladder because I always noticed that desire to take the leap and change the world. I knew that as I got older and days passed by, in my comfortable corporate life, it would be much harder to make that jump. Knowing that later on I deeply desire to have a strong, united, and loving family, as the one I grew up in, I knew that the sleepless and endless nights were better to be addressed now than after. When you become an entrepreneur, many sacrifices (in various shapes & forms) are necessary. That’s why your passion and desire for change needs to be stronger. It needs to drive you. You need to live it.
It’s not been easy. Being an entrepreneur is tough. SO TOUGH. You can have empathy and try to understand what it means to become an entrepreneur, but as Dr. Mann mentions in the movie Interstellar, “empathy rarely extends beyond our line of sight”. And if it’s not visible, it’s off your cognitive framing and understanding. Banji Adenusi does a great job explaining the ups & downs in his post about the reality of becoming an entrepreneur. However, you really need to live it to grasp the notion of it. You can check out his post here:
Corporate life is really valuable, you can learn so much, develop amazing projects, and be financially stable. But as soon as you stop feel passion and when you realize you’re no longer in love with what you’re doing, it’s time for a change. I saw how many colleagues were living in a drifter mode, wishing for Fridays and despising Mondays. I knew that life was not meant to be lived that way.
Turns out, all I needed to find fulfillment was to take action, and while I was giving it my best in the corporate world, I managed to start my social impact entrepreneurial journey several years ago. After a few failed projects, I stumbled across an idea that also had potential. The best thing was… I knew how to execute it.
This idea came across in 2015, through a casual conversation with my friend Siman Layyous and now business partner and co-founder of our project.
This has been a project that has swept both of our feet off the ground multiple times, has dragged me down, has lifted me up, but most importantly, has helped me find my purpose resulting in allowing me to become the best version of myself. A pure driving force towards change, inspired by working in a blissful flow-state. That project is Yumus.
Yumus started while I was still working a full time high management job at a Telecommunications multinational named Huawei (now the Number 2 smartphone brand in the world, without even selling in U.S. market). I was regional Marketing Manager handling several hundred thousand dollars projects and a few million dollar projects throughout the Central American Region. I was in negotiations to become the Regional Marketing Director at the start of 2018, but, after several conversations with God, meditation, and realizing that I was not happy not pursuing my dreams… on August 2017, I finally took the leap of becoming a full time entrepreneur. Solving the world’s most pressing challenges is my purpose.
ABOUT YUMUS
THE PROBLEM WE’RE CHANGING
In summary, malnutrition in Guatemala is an epidemic that has been around for over 100 years. Guatemala is the #1 country in LATAM, and #6 in the world (end of 2017 data) with the highest chronic malnutrition rates.
In general, nearly 1 out of 2 children are malnourished. Physically speaking, this means their body can’t fully develop, they miss key milestones as they grow, and they have a harder time learning how to talk, walk, and read as comparison to a nourished child. Mentally, their cognitive development is impaired due to the fact that their brain did not receive the necessary vitamins, minerals, and macro & micro nutrients in that 1,000 day window after gestation. Economically, studies show their lifelong income earning potential will also remain lower versus a nourished child.
Nationwide, opportunity costs of malnutrition alone accounts for over several millions of dollars each year, slowing down Guatemala’s development. Education efforts are important and necessary, however to have the best return over each dollar invested into education, local government also needs to consider nutrition so that each child really takes advantage of their education. They go hand in hand.
Overall, Guatemala has a 46.5% malnutrition rate. However, I’ve seen indigenous communities in rural territories where 9/10 children suffer from malnutrition. There are many factors that contribute such a high epidemic. Among several, we highlight the following:
- No access to clean water, resulting in the first main way of diseases in mothers and children.
- No access to suitable road infrastructure, making it hard for health/work commutes and development.
- High Poverty, specially in rural territories, making it hard for families to have economic prosperity.
- Massive consumption companies (Consumer Business Goods) have the ability to reach rural territories however they offer low cost, low nutritional value products for people. This results in incentivizing the purchase of low nutritional and low cost substitutes as compared to healthier food options/methods.
- Although I firmly believe government health centers play a KEY ROLE in providing health care for these Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) communities, more ofter than not, there still exists a lack of medical supplies. And, since Guatemala has over 20 different Mayan Languages, there’s a big communication gap that doesn’t guarantee a proper treatment.
- There also exists a lack of education in regards to academic and hygienic topics. Most of the BoP indigenous families don’t wash their hands resulting in recurring sickness, they cook inside the house with hand-made stoves that damages their lungs and brings respiratory health issues, and they don’t understand the importance of having a balanced nutrition from all of the different food groups (they only eat carbohydrates).
WHO ARE WE & WHAT DO WE BELIEVE IN:
Many great thinkers, philosophers, and scientists have inspired the core foundations of Yumus. From Simon Sinek, Jason Silva, to Peter Diamandis, among others. These genius minds have shaped our values and our focus towards a vision of impact.
Here is our mantra:
Yumus is a social impact (for profit) food company that exists to be the benchmark of sustainability within conscious & socially responsible food brands while addressing key social challenges in underdeveloped countries. Currently, we’re closing the gap of malnutrition within Bottom of the Pyramid communities inside Guatemala. We’re addressing several of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. Primarily Tier 1 (№1, №2, & №3) and Tier 2 (№8 and №12) goals.
At Yumus, we believe in a world of Abundance. We believe in a world where every child has the proper nutrition to live their life to their fullest. We started out Yumus with an approach to fight this epidemic. Yumus was born from a regular kitchen, and it started with just a two man army of young entrepreneurs that have a desire to change the world. Two early life neighborhood buddies with a vision to transform communities and save children, one meal at a time.
We have learned so much about social aid, we’ve read plenty of papers, watched several documentaries, gained plenty of experience working with our partners and we’ve evolved thanks to the help of several social impact accelerators like these:
Both are amazing organizations and group of people, thank you so much for all your help. All of this has helped us improve our social impact model each time. Currently, our impact is holistic, inclusive, and sustainable.
HOW ARE WE CHANGING THE WORLD?
Our Impact model works through this change theory. We have 3 pillars.
Meal Component : We provide locally sourced meals (this way not damaging their ecosystem) or in severe cases, RUTF (Ready to Use Therapeutic Foods) which are approved by UNICEF, to feed malnourished children. Essentially, we’re saving their body & brain development.
Behavior Change Component : We provide constant trainings and workshops with fathers & mothers to trigger behavior change. We teach them the value of a correct hygiene, the importance of woman empowerment, the importance of eating healthy from all of the food groups (they only eat carbohydrates regularly).
Chickpea Production Component: We also provide job opportunities where local producers can earn up to 3X more by growing chickpeas than by growing a traditional crop like corn. We also benefit the soil because chickpeas are a nitrogen fixer. We also save water versus a traditional crop because chickpea doesn’t require this valuable and scarce resource.
We also save CO2 because the chickpea imports are no longer needed. We’re one of the first companies in Guatemala producing chickpeas, it’s a non traditional crop here, and normally it’s imported from México or Spain. This Chickpea Production component is executed through partnered cooperatives that have specialized agronomists in the field.
Both Meal and Behavior Change components are executed by our amazing partner called Wuqu’ Kawoq Maya Health Alliance (Anne, Peter, Andrea, Adriana, Boris: We’re so thankful for your support during this crazy journey).
Wuqu’ consists of a founding team of Harvard University Doctors, Anthropologists, and Teachers that work together alongside several volunteers from all over the world. Wuqu’ has different health programs, and Yumus specifically supports their nutrition program. Our support is called the “BUY ONE FEED ONE” program.
Through Wuqu’, we empower women to be health care advocates and ambassadors within their communities, them becoming a trusted health agent & friend, and becoming Wuqu’s doctor’s first point of contact for future and more personalized care.
In summary, by giving better paid job opportunities and providing high quality health care for children, we’re transforming communities. One community, one family, one child, one meal at a time.
SO… WHAT DO WE DO WITH ALL OF THOSE CHICKPEAS?
We sell food products for consumers that have & want healthy eating habits while also making a positive impact in the world. We fight malnutrition with every unit sold. We currently sell our products in retail (already selling in deli shops, premium supermarkets, and Walmart) and food service channels inside Guatemala and we will be reaching CAM at the end of Q4 2018.
We just happen to sell hummus, I mean… who doesn’t love hummus right?
It’s delicious, and our hummus is inspired by a 150 year old family recipe that will make your taste buds dance & fall in love. We’re also in the final development stages of other chickpea related product lines. This way, we will impact in a larger scale. Our project is scalable and our food products are suitable for massive scale impact/market success.
Through the sales of our niche food products (Guatemalan market is small in hummus) Yumus has already provided +8,000 meals, and it’s my first project that’s already selling in the market (it will not be my last project aimed at solving humanities local & global problems).
Yumus has taken me through several adventures. My latest one has been, by far, the most revealing, inspiring, self validating experience of all time. HANDS DOWN. If you want to check it out, go to this post:
The experience is a foreign exchange program funded by the U.S. Department of State. I was in the U.S. for a month and a half, making connections, expanding my network, and taking a HUGE step forward into scaling up as we take our food products into the U.S. market.
We will impact in a way larger scale and we will radically redefine & transform communities, eradicating malnutrition. One community, one family, one child, one meal at a time. #BuyOneFeedOne.
Follow our story (Instagram : @ yumus_humus ; @ ralopezm ) (Facebook : @yumus.humus)
Sincerely,
Rodrigo López
Co-Founder
Yumus