Barna Management School served as the stage for the presentation of the case of "Macadamia La Loma: Turning an environmental initiative into a sustainable business", a case that presents the challenges and achievements of the company to harmonize business and environmental sustainability in the Dominican Republic and other countries in the world.
The original academic document of Macadamia La Loma was prepared in 2018 by Rodolfo Hollander, current associate professor at Barna Management School. From which Professor Oscar Calderón, Director of the Marketing and MBA area of ​​Barna Management School, made a new edition to include new elements that pose to the participants of their programs the challenges posed by the development of sustainable business models.
The case is part of the research work carried out by the institution through the Center for Sustainability Research.
The presentation of the project, held at the facilities of the Senior Management school, was made by Don Jesús Moreno, CEO of Corporación AgrÃcola La Loma. During the meeting, the executive recalled the challenges overcome to obtain the current variety of Hawaiian macadamia, to add more than 220 farmers to the project and take care of the more than 20,000 trees that are already beginning their first harvest stage today.
Jesús Moreno also shared the news that the company is already one of the few that has received ISO 22000 certification in the Dominican Republic.
"All Dominicans must join the initiative of reforesting our mountains with macadamia trees that care for biodiversity, provide farmers with a more profitable livelihood than livestock and raise our country brand for the quality of this product. Macadamia is such a noble product that everyone who makes it into their dishes, breads and desserts sees the business grow" he pointed out.
“The small producer who reforests the Dominican hills through agribusiness and even the final consumer who acquires the finished products and becomes a responsible consumer, are an essential part of the value chain of the crop”, highlighted the businessman Jesús Moreno when evaluating export as a relevant step for a sustainable future in the area.
The executive thanks the IDB and GIZ for their support of the project. Oscar Calderón made the presentation of the case recalling the initial and emphasizing the new elements that have been added. He expressed that for Barna it is very important to develop cases like this, which are local, and with which students can easily identify.
The company La Loma is considered a sustainable business model, a pioneer in the country by integrating in an equitable way through the cultivation and commercialization of the macadamia nut positive social, economic and environmental impacts for all the members that make up the value chain and its environment.
About Macadamia La Loma
The La Loma Agricultural Corporation owns the first macadamia processing plant in the Caribbean, with a processing capacity, in a first stage, of 75,000 to 100,000 kilos of the walnut with exportable quality.
The industrial structure, inaugurated in 2019, is located in San José de las Matas, in Santiago, and was built with an investment of around US $ 2.0 million.
It currently impacts 6,700 tasks directly, 210 families and involves more than 200 producers who, with their macadamia crops, earn their family livelihood, while protecting the soils from erosion, guaranteeing water production and reducing emissions. of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
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