Second PPA Acceleration Program workshop focuses on communication and marketing
This April 24 to 26, entrepreneurs from the Partnership Platform for the Amazon (PPA) Acceleration Program gathered for their second workshop. The theme of the meeting was Consumer Audiences, Marketing Strategies, and Communications with Social-Environmental Impact. The first workshop took place in February.
The first two days were conducted in partnership with sustainable business experts “Flowmakers”, to help sustainable business owners and entrepreneurs to learn best practices on issues such as reaching the right clients, brand image, and utilizing different channels for reaching their audiences. According to Rafael Ucha, founder of Flowmakers, this knowledge is essential to any business seeking to market their products and services.
“When we discuss impact products and services, we are also talking about innovation. Consumers for these innovations have different thoughts and behaviors from average consumers. So, it is important to map and understand who these people are and what is different about them,” says Ucha.
Francisco Samonek, founder of Encauchados de Vegetais da Amazônia, one of the accelerated companies, recognizes the impact of the program on his business: “We have bought new machines and expanded production on the sandals factory. We now have a more complete team, including a factory manager, which has allowed us to increase production from 1,200 to 2,000 pairs of sandals a month. The workshops also give access to specific knowledge that we normally wouldn’t have, since we usually focus on basic parts of the business. It is not good to only have production expertise and not know how to work the market,” Samonek said.
Encauchados produces rubber sandals and decorative objects made with sustainably harvested materials, in rubber tapper communities, aiming to revitalize the rubber tappers’ identity in the Amazon and avoid deforestation.
The third and final day of the workshop focused on business communication, with lectures from PPA Partners O2 Films and the UNI project.