About
Savimbo is a company created by, and for, Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
We were founded by Indigenous leaders in the Colombian Amazon to disintermediate climate markets for both Indigenous Peoples and local communities. They wanted:
To create a green economy that could compete with mining, logging, petroleum, and narcotrafficking
Direct sales with no-strings-attached. 🥭 > 🌴.
How it works
FAIR-TRADE, NO MIDDLEMEN
We pay Indigenous Peoples and subsistence farmers in tropical forests to preserve ecosystems. If they need help to participate, our nonprofit arm subsidizes their entry to sustainable businesses and climate markets. Then we certify credits, sell them internationally, and split gross revenue. Effective, inexpensive, and globally-beneficial climate action.
How we do it
EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
We aren’t afraid of hard science and we know how to work in the developing world. We fix broken methods and inequitable market structures. We teach our farmers how to track their own actions using trusted methodologies that work off-grid. We utilize drone photography, satellite monitoring, machine learning, GPS, and blockchain to track actions through creation, certification, and sale.
Our aim is to employ 1 billion smallfarmers within 10 years to clean the world’s air
Savimbo was founded by three environmental friends.
20-year environmental activist who worked for the WWF.
Jhony Lopez
Drea Burbank
MD-technologist who worked for 9 years in wildland fire.
Fernando Lezama
Indigenous rights activist & Taita for 30 years.
Our business structure
Savimbo is a B-corp which means we make money AND do good.
Twenty years of conservation activism taught our founders that we had to compete at a microeconomic level if we wanted to stop deforestation. It had to be a business. But it was going to be a weird business. So we modeled ourselves off Ikea, REI, Newman’s Own, and Trader Joe’s, well-designed and weird businesses that do good.
For-profit arm
buy and sell climate products
Our for-profit arm is solely focused on fair trade for climate products. The regions we work in have only really had direct trade with extractive global economies (mining, logging, and petroleum). We want to offer them direct trade with better business partners, for superfood crops, ecotourism, and climate credits like carbon, biodiversity, and water conservation.
Non-profit arm
help to participate in the market
We work in regions that have either been marginalized for centuries, or excluded from markets because they refused to accept colonialist partnerships. These communities are proud and don’t want a relationship of dependency, but some of their needs to work with us are very personal and fall outside of business and under the realm of pure compassion.
Four taitas
Savimbo operates under the active guidance and advice of four traditional leaders in the Colombian Amazon, taitas or medicine doctors who have a role as guardians and advisors for the region — smallfarmers and indigenous groups alike.
The team
We’re proud of our people. Delinquent Savants, Fixers, and Friends from all over the world. Most of us have been together a long time, but there are some new faces too. It’s the right people for the job.
Contributors
Savimbo is more than a company. We’re a movement. A network of dedicated professionals across the planet that want positive change. We’re proud of our people Delinquent Savants, Fixers, and Friends from all over the world. Most of us have been together a long time, but there are some new faces too.
It’s the right people for the job.
Partners
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Google Startups
Google and external experts help us solve bespoke technical and business challenges.
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Garmin
We use Garmin technology to work in some of the most remote locations on earth.
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Secret Simple
Secret Simple repairs and processes cellphone and laptop donations for our farmers.