BAMBUKSA: Exploring the triple bottom line
Jorge Bonilla is the CEO and Director of BAMBUKSA, a company that helps developers in Central America build structures with bamboo. Bamboo is a local, rapidly renewable resource that sequesters carbon, supports families in poverty, provides native habitat, and creates resilient buildings. The challenge for BAMBUKSA is to scale this sustainable bamboo building business to the rest of Latin America.
Jorge has visited green|spaces and Chattanooga three times as part of the U.S. Department’s Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative. While here, he will be learning from local business owners but also working to take the Empoderate program to the next level through LatinX workshops and engagement.
Below, he explains how BAMBUKSA is a triple bottom line company: one that measures its social and environmental impact, in addition to its financial performance.
Who are we?
BAMBUKSA is a Latin American company focused on sustainably developing communities by leveraging an entire bamboo value chain.
Our core why:
We believe in a natural balance between people and the planet´s wellness. That is why we are committed to fostering more sustainable development for vulnerable communities in Latin America.
How do we do it?
For more than ten years, we have become promoters of a new culture of sustainable development by leveraging the bamboo value chain. As a result, we have been able to propel the local economics of vulnerable rural communities in Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
What do we do?
Bamboo is an abundant resource in Latin America: tons of bamboo forests have been unused even though bamboo could have thousands of different uses. For example, we have used bamboo instead of wood, concrete, and steel in the construction industry. As a result, we have built innovative and ecological structures such as hotels, houses, schools, shelters, communal buildings, etc.
Why do we do it?
Using bamboo, we foster a more ecological construction industry and reduce deforestation and land and air contamination. Finally, using bamboo contributes to mitigating climate change.
All the bamboo we use for construction comes from small agricultures, creating new incomes for small agricultures. Moreover, we contract local builders and train them in bamboo construction techniques for each construction project, empowering them to become more competitive constructors.
Our achievements and next steps:
We have reduced the use of materials with high carbon emissions by up to 80%.
We have generated new incomes and job opportunities for more than 2k vulnerable people.
We have won different awards as a triple bottom line company in Europe, Central America, and EEUU.
Now we are ready to scale our impact, so we have been working on global connections to empower new communities from all over the Latin American region.
Interested in connecting with Jorge?