Business Overview

Visita Flor is an artisan group that seeks to share cultural crafts and traditions with both national and international tourists. They have been operating for over a year within their community but have recently inaugurated a cultural house which they hope to use for events with visitors.

Artisan Group Visita Flor - Emberá Puru, Panamá

Economic Challenge

Visita Flor is an artisanal group based in the community of Emberá Puru which sells a wide range of handmade cultural crafts that seeks to share its culture and traditions with national and international visitors. This group of women work incredibly hard to produce the highest quality products, while also preparing traditional dances and body paint for visitors; nevertheless, the group continues to struggle to have a higher influx of tourist. They are hoping the next will brigade will be able to provide guidance on how to improve sales and make their business as profitable as possible.

The Business

The cultural group of Visita Flor has been operating for one year within in the community selling goods, like handmade jewelry, baskets, jagua body painting and more. They own a cultural house which was inaugurated in August 2019 and so far has received around 26 clients (2 or 3 visitors per month). In addition, they have a main directive with a president, treasurer, and secretary that aspire to have a handcraft goods house with bathroom and electricity next to the main road so they can attract more tourists and visitors.

Competitive Advantage

They are one of the first communities you see once you get to Darien (by land), the only one that makes flower crowns out of the 2 other competitors (Arimae and Pueblo Nuevo).

Obstacles

At the moment the group is very new and lacks of a mission, vision and value proposition. Their current business model is not sustainable and generates very low returns. The group works collectively but the revenue of sales goes directly to the artisan, but the group does not get a percentage of that sale. Furthermore, the business lacks of clear products and services for tourists.

Business Snapshot

Employees
24
Value of Assets
5000
Initial Investment
47

Next Steps

The tasks thatArtisan Group Visita Flor has prioritized are:

1: Support Visita Flor in defining its mission, vision and value proposition.
2: Based on the value proposition, support Imbisú in developing competitive products and services
3: Provide them with guidance to develop a more sustainable business model - teaching the basics of a business plan could be helpful in developing some of the business model structure.

Page Last Updated:December 15, 2019