The FSC Indigenous Foundation (FSC-IF) partnered with Venture 2 Impact (V2I) to support Indigenous entrepreneurs in Panama City, Central America, through a skills-based volunteering initiative. This collaboration led to a three-week program involving 34 volunteers from companies such as Google, Netflix, DocuSign, Salesforce, Visa, Apple, Checkr, Habu, Workday, and Life 360. The initiative included daily workshops on Business & Entrepreneurship and provided one-on-one mentoring sessions in key areas such as sales, digital marketing, and finance. Designed to help Indigenous entrepreneurs overcome significant challenges like limited access to credit and scarce economic resources, the program aimed to enhance their businesses. V2I employed a human-centered design approach to customize the curriculum and mentorship according to the specific needs identified through discussions and surveys with the entrepreneurs. In total, 17 entrepreneurs from 11 enterprises participated, with women comprising 13 of the participants.

The Challenge

How can we support Indigenous entrepreneurs, located in Panama City, to overcome their largest barriers in business and entrepreneurship through educational workshops and one-on-one mentorship?

• Support the Indigenous entrepreneurs by enhancing their knowledge of general business and business strategies
• Support the Indigenous entrepreneurs by increasing their knowledge of best practices for general and digital marketing
• Support the Indigenous entrepreneurs by increasing their budgeting and money management skills
• Support the Indigenous entrepreneurs by increasing their knowledge of best practices for managing and operating Human Resources and executing their Soft Skills through their business endeavors
• Support the Indigenous entrepreneurs by increasing their knowledge of best practices for utilizing technology and digitizing their business operations.

The Innovation

Supporting Indigenous Entrepreneurs

V2I collaborated with the FSC Indigenous Foundation through the USAID and FSC-funded Indigenous Peoples Alliance for Rights and Development (IPARD) Program to organize a three-week, skills-based volunteering program in Panama City, Central America, aimed at providing entrepreneurship training to Indigenous entrepreneurs. This program was facilitated in support of the FSC Indigenous Foundation’s recognition that Indigenous peoples, globally, face various challenges including limited access to justice due to structural violence, criminalization and murder of Indigenous leaders, land dispossession from historical and ongoing colonization, and escalating poverty due to limited development opportunities, education, and technology. The FSC-IF believes that enhancing Indigenous Peoples’ technical, organizational, and managerial skills consistently over the long term will empower them to better engage with national governments and the private sector for mutual benefits.

Those Involved

The program brought together 34 volunteers from companies such as Google, Netflix, DocuSign, Salesforce, Visa, Apple, Checkr, Habu, Workday, and Life 360, who conducted daily Business & Entrepreneurship workshops and provided 12 one-on-one mentoring sessions to 17 entrepreneurs, 13 of which were women, from 11 enterprises. These entrepreneurs are part of various Indigenous Peoples including Guna, Embera, Wounaan, and Ngäbe-Buglé, and were involved in sectors such as tourism/ecotourism, food and beverage, handicrafts, gastronomy, transport, and fashion and design, striving to overcome significant challenges.

Participant Selection

Prior to selecting eligible participants for the program, the selection criteria were strategically coordinated with various Indigenous Peoples Organizations supported by the FSC-IF in Panama. The Advisory Committee of Indigenous Women of Panama (CAMIP), key in implementing the Economic Empowerment Plan for the Indigenous Peoples of Panama (PEMIP), was instrumental in identifying women entrepreneurs for the program. Furthermore, coordination with strategic partners like the General Congress of the Guna Indigenous People allowed the FSC-IF to connect with Indigenous business initiatives related to tourism and coconut oil production to learn more about the potential participants and spread awareness of the program.

Learning the Local Context

To conduct further discovery, V2I staff visited the FSC Indigenous Foundation’s headquarters in Panama City, Panama, in August of 2023 to meet directly with Indigenous entrepreneurs and define the main components of their future programming using a human-centered design approach. Insights from discussions and surveys indicated that the entrepreneurs needed the most support in areas such as sales and business strategy, digital marketing, technology and digitization, budgeting and finance, and human resources.

Armed with knowledge from these various resources, volunteers developed an introductory Business & Entrepreneurship curriculum. They also participated in workshops to gain cultural awareness and received guidance from the FSC Indigenous Foundation team and partners on effectively working with Indigenous Peoples.

Cultural Exchange

Mentors visited a local Indigenous community before the workshops commenced to participate in an Indigenous ceremony and learn about the culture and tourism promotion efforts. This experience deepened their understanding of the importance of collaboration with Indigenous Peoples and highlighted a women-led tourism and handicrafts enterprise.

Program Objectives

The curriculum was delivered through daily in-person workshops from February 27 to March 15, with each week bringing a new group of volunteers serving as professional consultants. These volunteers also conducted one-on-one mentoring sessions, providing direct support to Indigenous entrepreneurs to help enhance their businesses. The objectives of supporting the Indigenous entrepreneurs included:

• Objective #1: Support the Indigenous entrepreneurs by enhancing their knowledge of general business and business strategies
• Objective #2: Support the Indigenous entrepreneurs by increasing their knowledge of best practices for general and digital marketing
• Objective #3: Support the Indigenous entrepreneurs by increasing their budgeting and money management skills
• Objective #4: Support the Indigenous entrepreneurs by increasing their knowledge of best practices for managing and operating Human Resources and executing their Soft Skills through their business endeavors
• Objective #5: Support the Indigenous entrepreneurs by increasing their knowledge of best practices for utilizing technology and digitizing their business operations

The impact

• 100% of the Indigenous entrepreneurs increased their knowledge of general business and business strategies.
• 100% of the Indigenous entrepreneurs increased their knowledge of general and digital marketing.
• 100% of the Indigenous entrepreneurs increased their knowledge of finance and budgeting.
• 100% of the Indigenous entrepreneurs increased their knowledge of Human Resources and Soft Skills.
• 100% of the Indigenous entrepreneurs increased their knowledge of IT and Digitization
• 84.6% of Indigenous entrepreneurs strongly agreed that they gained new knowledge that will be useful for their work and their community.
• 92.3% of Indigenous Entrepreneurs mentioned they were Extremely Satisfied with the training delivered by the Venture 2 Impact volunteers.
• 100% of volunteers agreed that they gained a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by nonprofits.
• 92% of volunteers agreed that they applied their expertise to the partner nonprofit’s challenge.
• 92% of volunteers strongly agreed that they found it fulfilling to use their expertise in a new or different context.
• 71% of volunteers strongly agreed that participating in this activity will have direct value on their career development goals.

The program also promoted networking and collaboration amongst the Indigenous entrepreneurs and supported the sales of their businesses through product and service fairs held at the end of the training.

Volunteer feedback

“I truly appreciated feeling the gratitude from the entrepreneurs as we worked with them and tried to help them solve some of their current challenges.”

Anonymous volunteer

Indigenous entrepreneurs feedback

“Very proud to be able to call myself an entrepreneur, I feel more complete”

Anonymous Indigenous entrepreneur

Our reflection

“This program and this partnership with Venture 2 Impact and the participation of the international volunteers have been wonderful and represent one of the most important achievements in the actions that FSC Indigenous Foundation is promoting to build the capacities and develop the economic models of Indigenous Peoples. For instance, our organization identifies the following achievements of this program:

• Networking and collaboration among the Indigenous entrepreneurs who participated.
• Indigenous entrepreneurs acquired skills to present their businesses to different stakeholders and how to continue to improve their business model.
• The mentors committed to sharing the Indigenous ventures in their social media and other programs of their companies.
• Opportunities and challenges Indigenous Peoples’ enterprises face in Panama and methodologies to provide them with business mentoring were identified.
• IPARD identified the characteristics of the ventures that participated in the program and will continue to look for opportunities to include them in new initiatives to be implemented in the future.

• The mentors were sensitized about working with Indigenous Peoples and their businesses and many estates committed to supporting these enterprises in other ways.”

Context of the partnership

Venture 2 Impact (V2I) was first introduced to the team at the FSC Indigenous Foundation through our corporate partner, DocuSign, in 2022. During this initial introduction, DocuSign requested that V2I  engage FSC-IF in a virtual volunteer alliance project that would support our organization to digitize our manual processes. After months of co-creation and collaboration alongside the V2I, both of our organizations agreed that, due to our shared values and successful partnership, we would begin exploring further opportunities for collaboration including an in-person program to work directly with Indigenous entrepreneurs who are currently supported by the FSC-IF. This partnership was further solidified through the establishment of an inter-organizational Memorandum of Understanding, signed by both parties in April 2023.

About Us

The Forest Stewardship Council Indigenous Foundation (FSC-IF) is an Indigenous-led global organization registered as a non-profit in the Republic of Panama. Since its establishment, they have worked to fulfill their mission of elevating Indigenous Peoples (IPs) in their contribution to the protection of Mother Earth and recognizing them as providers of solutions to global challenges, promoting sustainable self-determination of their territories in line with Indigenous ancestral knowledge, customary rights, and cosmovision as core pillars for their long-term self-governance and self-reliance objectives.

About IPARD

The Indigenous Peoples Alliance for Rights and Development (IPARD) is a global development alliance implemented by the FSC-IF convening multi-sector partners to create long-term solutions with and for Indigenous Peoples. It was created and is currently funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) with private sector partners.

About Venture 2 Impact

Venture 2 Impact connects skilled volunteers with nonprofits and charitable organizations to support and scale their work and will be supporting with the facilitation of this collaboration.

Venture 2 Impact uses design thinking and human centered design to solve complex challenges by linking global communities to skilled volunteers. V2I leverages untapped skills to create lasting impact. Through education, economic development, and empowerment projects, V2I works to equip NGOs, participants, and volunteers with skills, resources, and knowledge to advance gender equity, economic opportunity, and well-being.

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