Andrew Wulf '07 Andrew Wulf is planting seeds – both metaphorically and literally. In June, his business partners – former Peace Corps volunteers like himself – will be headed to Panama where an initial field of trees will be planted as part of their socially responsible timber management firm.
“I just hopped on,” explains Wulf of his partnership in the firm, Planting Empowerment, S.A., that was the brainchild of friends Chris Meyer, and Chris and Andrew Parruchi. “I’ve helped form the business plan and overall strategy, and have created some of the cost and revenue estimations.” No stranger to South America, Wulf brings to the Planting Empowerment leadership team three years of Peace Corps experience in Panama, where he helped launch a small farming cooperative that taught watermelon farmers the basics of the export business. He also taught primary school English, organized health seminars, planted staple crops with neighbors, worked with local development agencies and most recently pioneered a microfinance impact analyst. “I measured the impact that microfinance has on quality of life of clients and families,” explains Wulf of the project that he developed and pitched to both Peace Corps and the local microfinance bank, PROCAJA. He was responsible for project management, constructing and analyzing data frameworks, and presenting key impact results to microfinance executives, 300-plus clients and other development agencies. Wulf’s experience has proven valuable to Planting Empowerment, which – similar to microfinance institutions – aims to elevate and sustain living standards. “Planting Empowerment seeks to offer locals a for-profit alternative to development,” explains Wulf, indicating that rural tree farmers’ virgin forests can’t compete with outside developers who gobble up already-logged land, then plant fast-growing timber on it. The end result is often displaced farmers with no alternative but to sell their land to developers. The other devastating result, admits Wulf, is the obvious destruction of pristine rainforest. “We wanted to build a company with the community leaders to teach how reforestation with a mixed variety of trees can be good for the soil and environment, how it can earn money, generate employment, and create awareness of environmental issues for U.S. investors,” explains Wulf.
Planting Empowerment, which has a goal of $1.5 million in overall investment, will both manage the plantations and build the investment partnerships. Investors, in essence, provide a monthly stipend to landowners for use of the land. Wulf says investors will see profits during years eight, 12, 15 and 20, through thinnings of the planted forests, and again in year 25 during the final harvest. Throughout the 20-year process, plantations will continually be replanted. In addition to seeking initial investors, Wulf and his partners have devised creative ways to raise capital and gain visibility for their company. They have been awarded top prizes in three social venture business plan competitions at Yale, the University of Washington and Notre Dame – claiming a total of $ 2,000 in cash prizes. According to Wulf, the competitions offered substantial peripheral benefits, including business plan consulting services and networking opportunities. “The key has been to create a company that is still a good local community citizen,” says Wulf. Planting Empowerment, he explains, will share half its profits – which will go toward funding community initiatives. “It’s quite exciting being a social entrepreneur, no matter how small,” adds Wulf. “I’ll be headed down to Panama this coming January to work with our lawyers, government officials and community leaders regarding Planting Empowerment. I can’t wait to get down there.” But before then, the multi-tasker who simultaneously plays the role of full-time student, anticipates accepting an internship with global premium berry marketer, Driscoll’s. The company’s commitment to values-based management and its expansion to Latin America and Europe, admits Wulf, is a big draw. When he graduates in the fall of 2007, Wulf says he hopes to work in marketing/distribution for a trading company, agribusiness or supply chain consultancy that is values-based and has a Latin American presence. In true multi-tasking fashion, of course, the world traveler who has visited at least 20 countries and lived in three will continue planting seeds of hope in his role with Planting Empowerment. “I knew I wanted to make a bigger impact,” says Wulf of his desire to make community service part of his life. “And I realized I needed more sophisticated tools to do it. With Thunderbird’s focus on business and world views, and development … nothing else compared.” |  |
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