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Two years later, Marbin Acosta’s (’09, Colombia)
internship deeply impacted both Marbin and the
Huatusco Union. “Huatusco strengthened my desire
to work with people. I learned to direct processes; I
had to manage people and collaborate with more
than 200 coffee producers. The impact was really
positive,” comments Marbin.
As a result of this experience, for his graduation
project, Marbin developed a methodology for
measuring the impact of cooperatives, using the
Huatusco Union as a case study.
Marbin’s internship motivated the Huatusco Union’s
Board of Directors to visit EARTH and learn about the
Institution. Following their visit and convinced of the
power of an EARTH education, the cooperative
established two scholarships for children of their
members to study at EARTH. The first student, Marco
Antonio Muñoz (’14, México) begins his studies in 2011
at EARTH and the second will begin in 2012.
Ruben Zuñiga Peralta, President of the Huatusco
Union remarks, “those young people [the four
EARTH interns] had a high impact; they were highly
competent professionals, proactive and innovative,
elements that we want to foster with our scholarship
program for the children of our members, who, in
the not-so-distant future, will be taking over the
leadership of the organization.”
Marbin Acosta (’09, Colombia) returned to
Santa Rosa del Sur, in the department of
Bolívar, Colombia after graduation where he
began working with the Asociación de
Productores de Cacao del Sur de Bolívar
(APROCASUR) , a cooperative of small-scale
cacao farmers whose members had previously
grown illegal crops . There he was responsible
for measuring their carbon footprint and
seeking buyers for carbon credits in order to
develop environmental projects in the region.
In late 2010, Marbin began working on two
micro-businesses.
The
first,
BIOGAS
Tecnologías Sostenibles, is working with small
and
medium-sized
farmers
to
install
bio-digesters with improved materials.
Thanks to a government incentive program,
Marbin is able to offer the bio-digesters at just
60 percent of the cost and hopes to offer a full
line of alternative energy technologies in the
near future.
“We want to offer a solution to gas
production to small and medium-sized
farmers
in
rural
regions
where
deforestation for firewood and limited
access to public services make this idea a
necessity.”
His second micro-business, PREMIUM H2O,
is dedicated to purifying, bottling and
distributing potable drinking-water in this
region in Colombia where municipal water is
not safe to drink. PREMIUM H2O has four
employees and in just a month and half
since starting the company, already boasts
150 clients.
With his characteristic enthusiasm and
positive
attitude,
he
affirms:
“the
entrepreneurial projects program at EARTH
has served me very well.”
Marbin Acosta studied at EARTH thanks to a
scholarship from Durman Esquivel of Costa Rica.
Marbin Acosta led workshops for hundreds of Huatusco Union members
MARBIN ACOSTA (’09)
"We have worked hard to innovate and are now
working with improved materials and accessories
with original designs," remarks Marbin about his
bio-digester business.
Marbin (right) is planning to expand offerings and
locales to service other municipalities without
potable water.