The Guajilote Cooperative is an incredibly fascinating business enterprise. It has created prosperity for its members, kept the protected national forest free of debris that could cause wide-spread destruction, and keep capesinos (peasant farmers) from over-running the preserve.
Given the lack of education by its members, their success is impressive. COHDEFOR should be delighted with their experiment. Nevertheless, any future attempts to copy this model should be carefully analyzed and basic business skills, such as accounting, should be taught to members before letting them run a business.
SWOT Analysis Guajilote Cooperativo Forestal, Honduras
Strengths
This business has committed and determined members and employees. There also exists a strong relationship among the members.
They are the only cooperative in Honduras with rights; granted by COHDEFOR, to harvest rare natural resources, such as mahogany.
Munguia doubled earnings in 1995 by renegotiating the sale price to the only local distributor.
There is limited capital outlay to maintain the equipment.
There will be a steady increase in price when the world-wide supply decreases.
The heaviest harvest opportunities are during the wet season, as more trees will become uprooted during this time.
A change in direction of the cooperative can be made quickly.
Weaknesses
There is no educated leadership.
All staff needs more training and education
The record keeping is nearly non-existent.
There is no leadership succession plan in place. Munguia became the de facto leader within a year of joining the cooperative.
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Santos Munguia runs the cooperative without input from any of the other members which will limit the ability to grow.
They cannot get a loan to buy ...