Las pequeñas y medianas empresas (pymes) pueden aprovechar las puertas abiertas de las firmas como Auto Mercado, Fifco y Walmart para fortalecer operaciones, sus canales de comercialización y, en el segundo caso, reactivar sus ventas.

The Gaia company is located in Paraíso, Carthage, and is one of the participants of the Walmart Fertile Tierra program, which encourages farmers to sell their products to the chain, support them with best practices advice and provide access to effective technologyand low cost.

Gaia was born six years ago, by forming an alliance with the Tropical Agronomic Center for Research and Teaching (CATIE) to reproduce improved coffee plants.Then he ventured independently in the sale of roasted coffee and, for a little less than a year, in the production under greenhouse of sweet and cucumber.

After a pilot plan they initiated a more aggressive expansion and incorporated another 11 greenhouses, including three that are in the investment stage with an advance of 60%.The company invested about ¢ 91 million and hired 50 people in the last year.The impulse received it when he signed a commercial agreement with Walmart, which went from selling from 176 to 3,200 boxes from sweet and cucumber.

For this year it is planned to place more of its vegetables in stores, venture into the tomato cultivation, and increase investment and employment: the company projects to reach 100 collaborators in the middle of this 2021.

"A year ago, we were 14 people," said Fernando Altmann, general manager of Gaia."Technical support has allowed us to grow to the rhythm in which we have done it."

The support of the signatures covers a wide diversity of areas with the purpose of strengthening value chains and the commercial relationship, as well as to boost the growth of supplier SMEs or that are part of the distribution chain.

"We work with many SMEs, the result of the commercial proposal and the differentiation of product as an opportunity for growth of their businesses," said Alejandra Masís, commercial manager of dry market products, where between 25% and 35% of suppliers are suppliers areSMEs.

[They will strengthen support programs for retail business in 2021]

The Dos Pinos y Fundes Producers Cooperative also implement support programs for small retail merchants.At the end of 2020 both had advanced that they would strengthen the initiatives.

Correos de Costa Rica also announced a fair from February 12 to 14 for SMEs to exhibit and sell their products from their Yalo Marketplace digital platform.

The SMEs participating in the programs must meet the conditions and standards of quality and safety of products.The fulfillment of these requirements is not secondary, since the firms are consistently concerned with fulfilling the promise made to the market.

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"We are a reference in the service area and, because of this, we ensure the safety of our products and meet the demands of national legislation to ensure the full satisfaction of our customers," said Masís, of Auto Market.

The Executive insisted that innovation in the product, safety and quality of processes are key, but suppliers must also complysanitary (if required).

Auto Mercado provides commercial advice and accompaniment when the SME enters as a supplier and to help you meet the standards and requirements requested.

[Thus these three SMEs approached Walmart and now promote them in supermarkets]

Walmart, on the other hand, has two programs for agricultural and manufacturing SMEs, fertile land and a hand to grow, in which 410 companies participate.

Companies must share principles of integrity, service and respect for individuals, be legally constituted, deliver invoices that meet tax requirements, have less than 100 collaborators and sales smaller than $ 1.5 million a year, have barcode and packagingFor self -service, among others.

The chain announced that during the first semester of this 2021 it will strengthen the accompaniment to SMEs led by women in sustainability, to improve their environmental productive processes.

In the Tierra Fertile program, Walmart plans to invest $ 20,000 in technology donations and to promote new crops such as raspberry.

Mariela Pacheco, Walmart Corporate Affairs Deputy Manager, replied that supplier SMEs have several challenges to comply with: making businesses more profitable to lower costs;increase productivity to be more competitive;and know and take advantage of the different sources of financing.

Support programs, precisely, increase SME capabilities to achieve it.For example, technical support through the Tierra Fertile program is provided throughout the production cycle, to ensure the quality and fulfillment of agricultural practices.The result is reflected in profitability.

In the financial field, Sofía Ramírez, Walmart Agricultural Extension Coordinator, stressed that Gaia reduced the unit cost per plant by the installation of the first greenhouse.

Florida Ice & Farm (Fifco) lanzó en diciembre anterior, con el respaldo de otras marcas y firmas, una plataforma en Facebook llamada Tico Jala Tico para apoyar a pymes afectadas por la pandemia de la Covid-19.

The initiative already has 398 ventures that offer products and services in areas such as food, accessories and clothing, among others.

"It is a platform that seeks to enhance the products and services of national entrepreneurs, promote their visibility throughout the country and that all Costa Ricans can meet, recommend and interact," said Gisela Sánchez, director of Corporate Relations of FIFCO.

[Does your SME want to sell to Auto Mercado or Walmart?]

The executive stressed that in Tico Jala Tico are published successful cases of entrepreneurs and SMEs, who tell their history and share advice.In addition, they receive support for social networks and marketing management.

With the Yo Entrepreneur program, a social organization that promotes entrepreneurship in Costa Rica and Central America, training is provided in the field of consolidation, development and growth of the business, given the challenges they face in visibility, marketing and social networks, accounting and financial discipline,chain and scalability of the business.

Entrepreneurships who wish to enter the platform must complete a series of data (when it was born, source of income, number of collaborators, detail whether they have a physical premises, and if they offer online sale, among others).The information is verified by the equipment that manages the platform.

Consumers can also collaborate making SMEs known."They play a fundamental role, becoming promoters and ambassadors of these businesses, highlighting and recommending the products they like best," said Sánchez.