Why?

We set this up as a way of sharing news, ideas and perspective related to the work of La Paz Group. We wanted to articulate more about what we do and why we do it with vocabulary accurately reflecting our mission to craft experiences with sense–logic, rationality, economic success–and sensibility–being protective of the natural and cultural patrimony, tangible and intangible, that we have been privileged to tend to.

We had been calling this entrepreneurial conservation since the mid-1990s, and wanted to share more examples of what we meant by this. Starting with a post from Nicaragua on June 15, 2011 followed by one from India the next day, this platform would facilitate collaboration among those who participate in and communicate about entrepreneurial conservation projects.

In late 2018 we were invited to submit a proposal for how we would approach managing two of the oldest and largest hotel gift shops in Costa Rica. This was a new kind of challenge for us: we were chosen because of our approach to entrepreneurial conservation, and this initiative would require combining the experiential with a focus on local tangibles. Authentica, a company we formed for this purpose, signed the contract to manage these two shops in May, 2019. Organikos was formed at the same time to provide “taste of place” products representative of Costa Rica in these shops. Specialty coffees are the signature product of Organikos, complementing a wide selection of hand made artisan handicrafts in the Authentica shops. Our goal with this platform remains the same.