A group of Canadian business students visited the community of El Jute to understand the challenges they faced and find ways to help. El Jute's economy depended on coffee but a third of the coffee plants were destroyed by rust disease. The students learned the community lacked fertilizer and opportunities for small businesses. They helped establish micro-enterprise programs and a pickup service to avoid loan sharks, giving the community new economic opportunities and tools to prosper for generations.

1. T h e s t o r y o f

2. people, young and old
adobe homes
strong community

3. That’s to cover food, clothing, water,
household supplies, schoolbooks,
transportation, healthcare, and farming
supplies – for 5 people.

4. Families rely mainly on their own land, producing coffee,
corn, and beans.
Yet, until 2013 when a community bank was established,
no one had ever taken out a loan.

5. The bank made a difference.
But all was not well.

6. A certain rust disease destroyed 1/3 of all the coffee
plants, and it would take 3 years before new plants
produced coffee beans.

7. It was during this difficult time that a group of
(rowdy) business students from Canada
crossed borders…
… and rivers
to see how they could
help El Jute.

8. We drank coffee with mothers.
We picked coffee beans with fathers.
We played soccer with children.

9. “What do you want to see for
this community?”
“What have been your most
recent challenges?”
“How has your family dealt
with the rust disease?”
“What are your plans, hopes, and dreams?”

10. A dependency on loan sharks.
A feeling of exclusion from those who couldn’t afford
shares in the community bank.
A dire need for fertilizer.
An opportunity for micro-enterprises.

11. We turned these .
We found a coffee bean pick-up service that would
bypass the loan shark.
We created a new shareholder class for inclusion.
We recommended micro-enterprise opportunities in
baking, chicken farming, farm supply retail, & forward
integration into coffee production.

12. With markers, crayons, and colouring sheets in hand,
boys and girls worked fervently to create art. Selling art
for stickers, they used these stickers to save, share,
borrow, and trade for better pictures and colours.
We had created a mini colouring sheet economy.

13. In one short week, we
asked, learned, thought,
and solved.
We changed our own lives
as much as we changed
theirs.

14. And, we’re happy to say that on July 25, 2015, El Jute was
pronounced an
They now had the tools and training needed to grow for
generations to come.

15. with a new purpose for business and a hope for a better
world.

16. (Or is it just the beginning?)