Despite the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, two businessmen saw in the industrialization of their products the key to survive and boost your business.
A Priceless Heritage
Percy Puertolas’s parents taught him and his siblings how to cultivate olive trees and harvest the fresh, juicy olives to sell in bulk. However, they received little money in return.
“But we (the children) decided to industrialize them and began to process the olives to later extract the olive oil and give the products more diversity,” says Puertolas, who is now manager of the family business Agroindustrias Unidas SAC, which produces more than 60 tons of olives per year and almost 10,000 liters of olive oil in glass bottles with the Olivers brand.
Percy is a food industries engineer who has an extensive background in the coastal valley of Islay in the Arequipa region. Once a year (between March and July) they harvest the olives and process them to sell them in various presentations.
”Green olives Y black packed in glass jar and bags. we also do olive oil, liqueurs And till facial creams. In addition, with the waste we manufacture bio-organic insecticides that do not harm health. Nothing is lost,” he says.
He adds that although his parents inherited the foundations of the olive business, “from there we have begun to see further, to educate ourselves more and have a vision in the market of olives”.
Today its packaged products are sold in its two stores in Lima and Arequipa. And they also offer them through their Facebook account.
The entrepreneur comments that despite the fact that inputs, such as fertilizers, have increased their prices and that labor is scarce during the pandemic, they saw a solution in industrializing the products to extend their useful life and be able to take them to other markets.
“Later on we would like to have commercial stores in Huancayo, Cusco and Moquegua. We want to grow so that our products reach the entire country and, in the future, have the ability to export to USA ”, says.
Peruvian masks.
Masks have become part of our lives since the pandemic began. But did you know that Peru also produces and exports these products?
According to the National Industrial Society (SNI), shipments of Peruvian masks abroad grew 2,964% in 2020, with a value of US$11 million. Regarding this increase, we interviewed Pola Guanilo, the first producer of Peruvian masks.
“We realized that if there was a strong pandemic, we were not going to have a supply of masks. That is why we decided to import the first machine in Peru. We were the first national manufacturers”, says Pola Guanilo, manager of R&G Seguridad e Higiene Industrial SAC.
Guanilo account that was prepared for the Covid-19 since the year 2009, when the AH1N1 flu pandemic hit humanity for the first time.
Before dedicating himself to the production of masks and medical clothing, he sold face masks for the food business. However, seeing the need for masks for the health of Peruvians, he decided to produce them with 95% filters (those that give greater protection).
With the arrival of Covid-19, it was able to supply the Ministry of Health (Minsa) and also export to Bolivia, Chile and even China and Taiwan.
Guanilo fields, who is a food engineer, states that, from her experience, manufacturing national products is essential for the country’s development. “I think we should produce national clothing so as not to depend on other countries. But also make our own raw material”.
On the other hand, it indicates that the dates of greatest sales are between July and January, when agricultural export campaigns such as the mango and the blueberry They start because their company also manufactures protective clothing for the food industry.
“We not only produce masks, but also disposable hats and shoes, medical overalls, PVC clothing, polyethylene clothing, specialized food gloves,” he says.
The businesswoman who boosted her business during the pandemic does not stop dreaming and is preparing to enter new markets in the future. “This year we will try to start exporting to the US and Europe,” he concludes.
industrialize to export
Masks were among the top 15 items exported by the textile-apparel sector in 2020. China accounted for 30.2% of the total, equivalent to US$3.3 million.
This growth shows that Peruvian masks meet international standards, according to the National Industrial Society (SNI).
Exports of non-traditional products grew 25% until October 2021. This figure represents an average increase of 8.2% per year in recent years, according to the Central Reserve Bank of Peru (BCRP).
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Kingston is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
