Julia's entrepreneurship goes beyond coffee
Julia is one of the three women members of Young Entrepreneurs of San Miguel Escobar. As the daughter of some of the community’s first coffee farmers, when she was younger she accompanied her parents to the fields to harvest the ripened cherries. She now cultivates and processes her own beans, which she exports with nine other Young Entrepreneur members, all of whom are second generation producers. “We are following in the footsteps of our parents who taught us this work,” she says. “Now we’re trying to make it on our own in this industry.” However a few years ago, Julia embarked on an entrepreneurial initiative that goes beyond the coffee industry and began managing her own paca.
Scattered throughout Guatemalan cities and towns, including the community of San Miguel Escobar, one can easily find a “paca,” or second-hand clothing store. Paca directly translates to “bale,” referring to the way in which the clothing is shipped to Guatemala (primarily from the US): in large bales. In the past two decades, textile waste in the U.S. has doubled. Its overconsumption spills over to developing countries like Guatemala where vendors, like Julia, resell and repurpose these large quantities of clothing at low costs within the community. The bales, “or pacas,” of clothing periodically arrive to the nearby town of Ciudad Vieja, where Julia selects and purchases for her store. Upon taking the bale back to her store, she unpacks the clothing, taking days to sort and organize the variety of garments. While tedious and time-consuming work, she enjoys discovering the different colors, styles, and textures and determining the best way to categorize and display new arrivals. Along the way, she has developed a loyal customer base as well as strategies for maintaining and attracting customers, including utilizing social media to live-stream new arrivals of clothing, improve customer service, and offer virtual tours of her store.
This year, De La Gente granted Julia an interest-free loan for $1,300, which she plans to use to invest in the display areas and publicity to continue growing her customer base. For Julia, her paca is much more than a place to sell second-hand clothing. She says her ultimate goal is to motivate women, and she wants to set an example within her community as well as for her son. As part of her mission to empower women in San Miguel Escobar, she spends her free time teaching women to read and write who weren’t able to receive an education when they were children. Julia is undoubtedly an example of resilience and positivity who transmits that in all her endeavors from cultivating coffee to teaching to operating her paca.
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