Fuego del Sol S.R.L. (FdS) is a Dominican Triple-Bottom-Line company dedicated to operating financially sustainably while working to improve the ecological and social environments. The business R&D process of FdS is to diligently research and compare globally available technologies to address an issue that Dominican and Haitian people see as a daily problem. FdS then gets the license to represent and promote the best product that can address that issue. Since 2006 FdS has manufactured Sun Ovens in the DR, following Fair Trade employment standards. Now, we are expanding our product line to include ecological economical building materials. We also create geotourism travel experiences to introduce conscientious travelers to our projects and the historical cultural richness of the island.

Fuego del Sol S.R.L. (FdS) is a Dominican Triple-Bottom-Line company dedicated to operating financially sustainably while working to improve the ecological and social environments. The business R&D process of FdS is to diligently research and compare globally available technologies to address an issue that Dominican and Haitian people see as a daily problem. FdS then gets the license to represent and promote the best product that can address that issue. Since 2006 FdS has manufactured Sun Ovens in the DR, following Fair Trade employment standards. Now, we are expanding our product line to include ecological economical building materials. We also create geotourism travel experiences to introduce conscientious travelers to our projects and the historical cultural richness of the island.

Innovation is intrinsic to our business model. As a TBL company, we combine the best aspects of for-profit and non-profit projects. Our employees are rewarded for their dedication through our employee ownership program. Business schools teach about social enterprise, but we are a truly inclusive, transparent, interactive SE working now. Everyone who works with us will benefit financially from the project’s success. The traditional non-profit model is dependant on donations to operate. We are financially sustainable while equally working for People, Planet and Profits (the TBLs.) Rather than creating a hybrid company (for-profit and non-profit), we are for profit and we work with existing NGOs who share our goals, thus creating a Hybrid Network (HN). We don’t compete with NGOs for precious donation dollars, we work to bring donations to our NGO partners to further their goals, enabling them to do more business with us. Triple-Win. Our HN is uniquely extensive, diverse and effective. Business schools have advised us to focus on only one product or service, but it is only though our multi-sector design that we are able to sustain profitability. One month our main income is from tourism, one month manufacturing, the next month it is providing business consulting to companies or NGOs interested in operations in the DR or Haiti. The multi-sector approach creates mutually beneficial, cross pollinating income streams for FdS, allowing us to improve the lives of everyone our work touches. We have re-written the rules. We have no competitors. We only have potential collaborators.

El Fuego del Sol organizes and leads ecologically minded international visitors through the Dominican Republic and Haiti. GeoTourists visit our Sun Oven factory, and the community center of our Dominican NGO partner, Grupo Jaragua (GJ), where they join the GJ staff and volunteers cooking with and training others to use the Sun Oven, plus literacy training and tree planting. Along the way, visitors experience the culture, cuisine and history of the island, including the home of the son of Christopher Columbus, and the oldest avenue in the Americas. Plus we visit an amazing variety of animals from iguanas to flamingos. In a separate journey, we lead visitors through a culturally rich Fair Trade Chocolate Tour featuring another of our partners, Grupo Conocado, the cacao growers coop. FdS manufactures Sun Ovens which are featured in all of our tours and distributed by GJ through an extensive introduction and adoption process developed by FdS, GJ and local leaders of DR and Haitian community organizations. This process is detailed in our whitepaper at www.elfuegodelsol.com. In 2005, Kevn Adair completed an in depth evaluation of all available solar cooking devices and concluded that the Sun Oven is the only product that could be successfully used consistently in family kitchens. In 2010, Kevin completed a detailed two-year evaluation of ecological building materials systems to provide a safe ecological alternative to the concrete in use in the DR and Haiti. FdS is now working to introduce that product which will eventually also be manufactured locally for use on the island.

The DR and Haiti differ in culture, history, language, ethnicity, politics, average income, etc. However, let’s focus on similarities. Both countries have wide disparities between the wealthy and impoverished. They have limited resources, but they are quick to adopt new proven technologies. However, there is a contrastingly strong dedication to the status quo. Introducing Sun Ovens is challenging: people like to cook in the way they were taught as children. Change feels like an affront against their parents’ teaching. This is addressed by using the best technology (Sun Ovens) and by enlisting the help of prominent female leaders in the communities we serve. Strong progress continues to be made. When presented with clear and direct benefit, change can happen very quickly. In the DR, propane is subsidized by the government to encourage its use in cooking and discourage deforestation. One result of this policy is that most gasoline cars are converted so they can run flex-fuel on either gasoline or propane gas. This voids the warranty, but the cost saving is huge. This modification process swept through the Dominican Republic quickly after it was introduced and proven. We anticipate a similarly quick adoption of our building materials system, once the products are introduced. Many proven ecological technologies (e.g. hydrogen based fuels, renewable power generation) that have not entered the US market due to existing infrastructures (and lobbying by status quo industries) could immediately be implemented in the DR and Haiti where initial infrastructures have yet to be built.