His time at the Chilean law firm Carvallo, Bizzarri y García made José Ignacio Parada work with mining companies that sought to be up-to-date with their legal compliance in environmental matters. The experience helped him understand that a business is successful if its model includes the idea of generating an economic, environmental and social impact. And with this vision, in 2014 the Chilean lawyer founded Bioelements, a company of biodegradable and compostable products.
Remember that the signing of the charter was done at a Starbucks. But neither he nor his partner, Juan Eduardo Joannon, imagined that their first client would be this chain of coffee shops, two years after the founding of Bioelements.
“The first two years were trial and error. With a lot of laboratory work and little budget, we wanted to be a different company that started from innovation and development to offer a biodegradable alternative, since there was already talk of the ban on plastic bags in Chile ”, he explains.
As of August 2018, Chilean businesses had to say goodbye to plastic bags. Parada admits that this gave a boost to his business, which also had just entered the Peruvian market. However, he points out that the key was not to stop perfecting the formula of the products in his portfolio: bags, packaging, cutlery and glasses, among others.
This formulation has been modified, so far, eight times. Its differentiator, he says, is that the recycling process is faster: a maximum of two years compared to any other type of plastic, which would take around 400 years.
The businessman does not doubt that his formula will continue to change, since his strategy is to achieve the highest number of certifications and alliances with universities to carry out studies and more tests on biodegradable materials. “In this business the difference is in the innovation you bring,” he says.
This is how in recent years the Chilean managed to enter other countries. In Belgium it obtained a certification by the TUV Austria and Vincotte, and in Peru by the Agrarian University La Molina.
However, Parada assures that Bioelements found an impressive takeoff in the Mexican market. He arrived in 2018, thanks to the collaboration with the UNAM Engineering Institute, was certified as a company B and he was selected as an Endeavor entrepreneur in February 2021.
In sales, the company grew at triple digits in the country, its portfolio expanded to 70 corporate clients, as well as final consumers who buy the company’s products, through marketplaces such as Mercado Libre and retailers such as Miniso, Coppel and Farmacias Guadalajara.
The manager attributes these achievements to the fact that Mexico City banned single-use plastic bags in shops, that more states of the Republic joined this measure and the new consumption habits, promoted by the younger generations who They look for products that are friendly to the environment.
Last year, even with the arrival of the pandemic, Bioelements doubled in size. It invested $ 2.1 million in product research and development and sold $ 30 million in total.
Since he founded the company, his biggest challenge as CEO has been to find talent and allies who share his vision of triple impact, more as a lawyer by profession and without knowledge in biochemistry, just like his partner. The experience and professionalization in this area was acquired through practice and by losing the fear that things would not turn out the first time.
Along the way, he formed a team of biologists, environmentalists, biochemists, among other profiles that do not have the sole focus of making money and that helped Bioelements today have agreements with 17 laboratories and universities, which certify the characteristics of its formula and material and contribute to improve the products of the Chilean brand.
His biggest learnings, on the other hand, were delegating, being patient and not making impulsive decisions.
The expectation of growth
Parada estimates to close the year with sales of $ 50 million. Currently, retail accounts for 90% of the business, the food industry 7%, cutlery and glasses 2% and packaging 1%. However, Mexico represents for the company a promoter of food packaging such as meat, yogurt and milk. The short-term expectation is that it represents 15% of total revenue.
This year, Bioelements will invest $ 3 million to manufacture new packaging for food. “That looks like the future of the company,” he predicts. The strategy to follow is to collaborate with the University of Guadalajara, continue betting on retail and position itself in the United States, since it has already obtained its registration and certificate from the FDA to export its products to the neighboring country to the north.
The plan for 2022 is to reach Colombia, El Salvador, Uruguay and Brazil, through a more robust portfolio, which stands out for the use of its technology in the manufacture of each Bioelements article.
“What we want is to be a sustainable alternative. We cannot think of doing business just to make money. It is very difficult for a company to be successful if it does not have the economic, environmental and social impact in its DNA. The first because a profit is needed to continue growing, the second because we are not entities apart from the ecosystem and the third because you need society to be in a whole ”, he says.
Christiane Molina, Research Director of the Centro de Empresas Conscientios (CEC) at Tecnológico de Monterrey, urges that companies become more involved in these issues. The environmental and social part, he says, is a transversal line that must touch all the edges of the business.
“A responsible company has a clear purpose and creates long-term economic, social and environmental value, through intentional plans and actions that make society more prosperous,” he points out. Beyond the reputation and trust you acquire, it guarantees your permanence in the game.
