Maya Nut: Ancient food for a Healthy Future
Example: Walk us through a specific example(s) of how this solution makes a difference; include its primary activities.
Marketplace: Who else is addressing the problem outlined here? How does the proposed project differ from these approaches?
Founding Story
Maya Nut Institute
, CO, Crested Butte, Gunnison County
, CD, Chichigalpa, Chinandega, Leon, etc.
Over 34
Female
More than 5 years
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Still in idea phase, but looking to launch soon
Access to financing, Access to supply chains, Access to technology, Access to economic opportunity.
We are just starting up, but to date we have helped women increase their annual family income by between 15-25%. Women are learning to open bank accounts, illiterate women are learning to write so they can sign checks, women's husbands help more around the house so their wives can work, girls are participating and learning valuable skills for the future, more than 1,500,000 Maya Nut trees have been planted, we have conducted considerable research on the nutritional, antioxidant and vitamin content and genetics of Maya Nut (with our partner institutions), we have successfully grafted Maya Nut trees to reduce harvest time. Maya Nut is approved for consumption in Europe, the USA and Canada. More than 15 companies are currently conducting R&D on Maya Nut for inclusion in products such as smoothies, breads, cookies, gluten free products, energy bars, hot and cold beverage mixes and other things.
We hope to increase demand for Maya Nut and thereby increase income for women producers. Our target is to incorporate at least 700 new producers from Honduras, Mexico and Nicaragua in the next 3 years and increase their incomes and the incomes of current producers by at least 25%/year. We hope that our marketing program will motivate the planting of at least 2,000,000 new Maya Nut trees in the next 3 years.
Brand Maya Nut for Markets
Identify target/niche markets (s)
Create a brand/logo/slogan and test on target markets
Create products and packaging, distribute samples to potential buyers
Establish Maya Nut standards, fair trade cost structure and best manufacturing practices.
Publish the International Standard for Maya Nut on our website and on FDA and FAO websites
Establish and publish minimum fair price for Maya Nut for each country where we work based on production costs
Determine and publish "Best practices for Maya Nut manufacturing"
we partner with more thank 200 local and international organizations and government institutions. These include large multinationals such as Heifer Project International, the GIZ German Development Agency and the United Nations Small Grants Programs, and smaller, local organizations such as AGAPE, El Salvador, Feed the Hungry, Nicaragua and others. We also partner with regional government such as the Ministry of Agriculture, Guatemala (MAGA) and the regional forestry department of Quintana Roo, Mexico. We have university partnerships as well, including the University of Guadalajara, Mexico an
We would love mentoring and ideas from others who have brought novel foods to market in the US and Europe. We have a lot of experience with the supply side, and we are more than willing to share that with others. We have no experience at all with marketing, quality control, and things like that...we need that.