I Just completed my first week as a Frontier Market Scout at The Hub in Bogota Colombia. And what did I learn?
I learned that the HUB is a great place to work. (and I learned that listening to Spanish while super tired from being at a high elevation is hard). So, what The HUB does is basically offer a space and community for entrepenuers. The Hub in Bogota is specifically focused on Social entrepenuers, meaning that they want to foster, support and provide space for entrepenuers that are wanting to create social change throughout Colombia.
Here is an example: Right now they are working with a project called Basura Cero (Zero Garbage) and I am sure that you can guess what the project is about. Coming from Seattle the concept of recycling and keeping our public spaces clean of garbage seems to be such a embedded part of our daily activity that I don’t even think about it. But, there is no way to not think about garbage when you are in Colombia. This is one of the most beautiful countries I have ever seen. They have jungles, beautiful beaches, snow topped mountains, lush green hillsides, and TRASH. So much trash, everywhere. Expecially here in the streets of Bogota. People finish drinking a soda and then through the can on the ground where they are walking. I asked a girl that I work with if the majority of people here care about this issue. She said that most people really do care, they don’t want the trash, and seeing it makes them sad. She says that it has improved so much in the last 10 years because people have been taught to care about and value Bogota again. But, still so much trash remains. I think this is for many resaons, force of habbit, people thinking their one addition of garbage won’t make a diffrence, lack of systems for cleaning the garbage, a large homeless population and more. So that is trash talk – now what about recycling? In some areas I have seen very progressive recycling with three seperate bins one for organics one for paper and one for other iems. But in other places, such as the apartment we are living in there is no recycling – So the country seems torn, but willing to make changes.
Ok, that was a long winded explanation of the problem, right? But the good news is now I am working somewhere that is trying to do something about problems. That is where Cero Basura comes in. How? I am not entierly sure yet because they are a start up company and because so far everything has been explained in Spanish. But, the point is here is a problem that I have seen, and I am working in a place where people are actively having meetings to talk about how to change this, how to fix this! And just that alone, makes me happy. Yah!
