My Reverse Exchange Journey in Cundinamarca, Colombia
Aiming to strengthen and empower female entrepreneurs in the agricultural and the food industries
by Ximena Cediel, YLAI 2017 Alum
My YLAI Reverse Exchange brought together 2016 and 2017 YLAI Fellows and national education organizations like SENA. The goal of our project was to continue promoting business in the agricultural and food industries. Working with my Fellowship Host during YLAI in Detroit, I was able to see how Michigan’s economy has been strengthened by focusing on entrepreneurship in agriculture, food, and culture. My Host, Alexandra, owner of BONBONBON, shared her vision with me, teaching me the importance of using local, natural ingredients that support the community.
Alexandra traveled to Colombia for two weeks to implement our project. During this time, we got to know different regions of the country. We reached about 500 people at our events, many of them women, entrepreneurs, food producers, students, and teachers. The workshop themes varied, but we focused on the following ideas:
1- Building a business idea
2- Teamwork-selecting employees and why it’s important to have other people involved
3- No time will ever be perfect-work with what you have
4- Gaining knowledge
5- Creating a network
6- Respect for ingredients and creativity
7- Opportunities- Seeking out programs like YLAI
June 19: We launched the event at the SENA Chia Cundinamarca facility. American diplomats, SENA directors, YLAI fellows, and more than 200 producers, professors, students, and people of the community attended.
June 20: We served as judges in a local gastronomy contest. Alexandra shared her knowledge with the students of SENA Chia. There were about 40 student assistants and 14 contestants. In the afternoon, we moved to the Impact Hub Bogotá where we had a meeting with businesswomen, and 5 former YLAI Fellows with food, bamboo, and environmental projects.
June 21: We hosted a Colombian chocolate and fruit workshop for local producers, teachers, and students of SENA Chia, There were about 40 attendees, among them, local producers, professors of gastronomy, and producers of cocoa and local fruits.
June 23: We had the opportunity to study under a barista from The Cafe School Foundation who invited us to take a course on methods of coffee extraction. They showed us Colombian coffee from two different origins. In the afternoon we went to the local market to show Alexandra the selection of local fruit and meet the producers.
June 25: We explored the sugarcane process while touring a traditional processing facility in Tobia, Cundinamarca. We witness all aspects of the process, the transformation into inverted sugars, caramels, and panela.
June 27: We hosted a conference in Giradot on entrepreneurship. We emphasized the importance of positively impacting the community although owning a business can present challenging choices. We had 40 attendees.
June 29: We traveled to San Pablo de Borbur in Boyacá to visit a cocoa plantation. We were at the plantation for two days, observing the production process and meeting with the grower.
At the end of the reverse exchange we went to Villa de Leyva to show to Alexandra the diversity of the national gastronomy, meet with other people in the industry, and demonstrate the Colombia’s potential in the agricultural sector.
This experience was not only benefited me and my organization, it was an amazing opportunity for my community to connect with other entrepreneurs. My host, Alexandra was exposed to many Colombian products and the possibilities of trade with the U.S. We established a closer bond and I know this was only the first of many trips to continue our partnership. Thank you U.S. Department of State and the YLAI program for helping me transform lives through my work!
