Young Entrepreneurs Development through Hospitality

With this project, deprived youth in Bolivia are trained to become chefs and culinary entrepreneurs so they can build a better future for themselves. This is part of a broader strategy in Bolivia with which we aim to increase the market for locally produced food. But instead of starting with the farmers, whose income is very limited and who often struggle to survive, we start with the market by creating more demand for their products.

In their training as chefs, the youngsters cook with local ingredients, based on the traditional local cuisine. As chefs they serve high quality healthy food, prepared with local and sustainable grown products. They are pioneers when it comes to promoting these local dishes and making the traditional cuisine popular again. The ultimate goal is to increase the demand for healthy, locally, environment friendly and animal friendly food. That means that not only these young people benefit from the project, but also the other stakeholders in the food chain: local farmers who produce the ingredients and the consumers who eat the meals.

The importance of this project lies in generating economic opportunities for small farmers in Bolivia who grow healthy products in a sustainable way and with a good market potential. Our approach stimulates market potential by increasing the demand for these products. When the demand increases, the income of the local farmers and the living conditions of their families improve. At the same time, the trained youth will also have a better future as they can find a stable job as a chef. The project contributes to the improvement of public health too by means of healthier food. It contributes to environment and animal friendly food production and to a revaluation of the cultural heritage, the traditional cuisine and traditional knowledge about food.