Not easy!

Maybe it’s just Drea’s (not-so-secret ADHD). But we think maybe our accomplishments are perhaps just a weird combination of underestimating a challenge, then being too goddamn stubborn to admit we did. And completing it anyway on sheer grit.

So newsletters, turns out they’re not that easy in a high-growth startup. But particularly not in a startup that has authentic Indigenous friends, members, representatives and cofounders. Because a lot of below-canopy or off-grid culture, and problems, and negotiations, doesn’t really need to be shared.

It’s not secret, it’s intimate. And we like it that way.

We’ve been explaining to people all week that yes, our pipeline really is that big. And no, it won’t be public. And why not? It’s not just privacy, it’s a kind of appropriate level of cultural resonance and trust and comfort with exposure before you can talk about an authentic community partnership comfortably publicly.

We think maybe a lot of startups get this wrong, and hey most startups there’s a reason to talk about partnerships early, when “everyone knows” startups are just getting by.

But in OUR population, the population we were designed to serve and meaningfully employ, the 1 billion people who live in tropical forests, and now lots of friends from some oceans, and arctic, and a couple of deserts. (And hey why not a savannah? They’re cool and we just learned that’s a Taino word, although our first savanna friends are from Africa...)

...everyone DOESN’T know that.

Everyone DOESN’T know how tough it is to run a high-growth startup and really stick to your guns and build trust with low resources. So no, our pipeline isn’t public. We don’t claim community affiliations even after contracts are signed until we’re certain we’re a little ways into holding up our end of the bargain.

So newsletters are harder than we thought they would be.

Why we’re still writing

Our public channels were designed to be a duet from the beginning. In fact, we highly recommend you listen to the whole group so you can hear the harmony. Drea, Fernando, Jhony, and the jungle kids.

It’s hard to know how to describe a group that is divergent and yet united. We’ve been explaining that a lot lately when we get involved at the negotiating table with our Indigenous friends. How you need uniqueness for a collective voice to function properly.

There are a couple of ground rules for Savimbo negotiators and the tables they negotiate at. First, they only have to authentically represent their community. Second, they are always independent. They aren’t held to the Savimbo brand. Savimbo is the access, not a voice they are responsible to protect.

But for the responsibility of communicating the Savimbo voice, there is a similar level of difference. One of our internal mantras is “different but equal“, and that’s a core key to our success. We love each other’s differences, the different voices, ethnicities, genders, ages, backgrounds, skills, and nationalities on the team. It keeps things interesting and us curious about each other.

It’s like a stage crew and behind the scenes, very organized. We hire for conscientiousness, train on the job, and hold people accountable to their level of responsibility. A little like planet surgery, mostly. Probably. People get promoted, rewarded, or held accountable in small teams, usually. We’re still sorting it out. But we like The Culture Code and we try to stick to it as much as possible.

We think, if you want to solve hard problems like peace in a dangerous place with a sad history, or deforestation in the face of scary drivers, or protecting animals when people don’t have a good food supply — you really need to work as a team and be very clear on who does what when.

We’ve been proud of our team for a long time, and how they treat each other, and that pride is important. It’s the real juice in the engine.

So we’ll keep writing the newsletter so you can hear a little more about that. Because we think this internal fungus we’ve been brewing might have some cool funkadelic properties...🍄

What’s happening now

Soooo. Lots of pilots. But yep! Finally! Clients!!! Okay what can we say about clients.... they’re BIG. To gigantic for us. We’re scared. Its also going to take a while. But they seem pretty benign, like being a mongoose and suddenly finding yourself in a herd of elephants.

Maybe sort of like that. Everyone wants to know WHO and frankly we do too. But its just goign to take a while to announce that and when we do thats real news and probably won’t be newsletter but headlines.

Lets say that certifying the biodiversity credit took us to another level, one we really don’t have a lot of experience in yet, but people have been pretty understanding while we figure it out. Maybe this global business stuff isn’t that bad. We’ll let you know.

• The biodiversity credits did their first OTC trading (yeah, it’s a big deal)

• Jhony and Karen is starting a site in Peru

• If we didn’t tell you already, we won the Caracol Awards for protection of the environment

• Were scouting sites in Costa Rica, Indonesia, and Africa... more in Brazil.... a lot of sites.

• The charity arm opened for real finance with permission to raise funds with 100% granting for the formal UNDP group IEG-LAC.

• We have our first AfroDescendant site in Colombia and they rock

• Drea will be at Economic Futures in San Francisco

• Drea went to NY Climate week, Drea and Fernando covered CEIBA, and Drea and Robert covered Innovate 4 Nature event in LATAM to negotiate. (Too much Drea, more Jhony!)

How we feel about it

Sigh. Too much fame, not enough sales! We know, we know, attention brings resources, clients, positive feedback, and more importantly, community support.

But our favorite media from all of this was this article from Forbes Colombia with some of our favorite people that just said simply: Savimbo is doing its job.

Attention is one thing, doing a responsible job, that pays people who do great work is something else. And its far more important to use to accomplish the latter at scale.

So circling back to honestly the most successful and important and invested community in Savimbo (the first one, so don’t think we’re being unfair).

Cool stuff you probably didn’t see before

This is the smallfarmer community in Putumayo that started Savimbo and stuck with us through the really tough start. We think they are awesome.

We're super serious and professional almost all of the time. (Okay, yeah thats a lie). But regardless, we've decided to make a newsletter for Friends.

Why friends

When we say Friends, it’s capitalized. (For us, it’s basically a technical term.) It’s the people who like this page. We’ve done a good job of figuring out our clients. But really, our Friends defy logic — one reason we like them.

Yes, we have a business. We’re proud of it, and it has really cool products, and cool clients, but we mostly trade social capital with Friends. That’s also cool.

So why are you guys our friends? We don’t know. You come from all corners of the world, you have really different jobs, cultures, ages, and ethnicities. Most of you aren’t rich. Lots of you can only talk to Drea or Fernando, or Jhony at first, and only gradually get to know the culture you didn’t come from. There are two, now three languages at Savimbo, and many of you only speak one or the other.

But you all speak #Nature.

People want to know about Savimbo’s culture, staff, and general tings n’ stuff. The truth is, we do work really hard. We also know when it’s time for a hammock — and we’re proud of that balance. We’re pretty unfiltered in person, and we also like that earthiness. Thanks for appreciating our authenticity.

We also appreciate you.

Why a newsletter

We don’t keep you guys up on things like we should. We wanted to, and we talk to you guys on WhatsApp, and LinkedIn, and jungle visits and stuff. But more and more, things are happening too fast to keep everyone informed properly.

We’re careful with social media. Drea gets to be the bad cop with the savage climate dissections. Fernando is the North Star with careful commentary and a poetic style. And Jhony, well, he’s a rock star as you all know. We’ve tried to get him to say something. But he mostly talks on YouTube. (Although if you ever get to catch him on a podium, he’s fantastic at public speaking.)

Savimbo social is specifically designed to be a cure for your climate anxiety. The Kids run it, and come up with all the content from our jungle sites. Karen, Dayana, and Ilver are the main voices, but the whole team contributes when we have fun ideas.

We love their work. It’s endlessly fresh, creative, and authentic. We didn’t want to spoil it with TMI. So if you really want to stay up on the news, check in here and we’ll tell you via email.

What’s happening now

Forgive us for being a bit coy. We don’t always talk about what we are up to, for privacy reasons. A lot of the communities we work with talk to us for months, even years before going public with a project. That’s why we have our no-strings-pilots because we know trust is earned.

So we’ll dip a toe in the water with SOME news. See how it goes, and be more chatty once we get the hang of it.

• The biodiversity credits certified (yeah, it’s a big deal)

• Fernando is starting a site in Brazil

• Drea is scouting a site in Guatemala

• Jhony is handling the PR and ecotourism in Colombia

• We think we have our first AfroDescendant site, we’ll know soon

• Drea will be at NY Climate week, primarily for this event

• Drea and Fernando will be at CEIBA to negotiate

How we feel about it

Honestly, this part is scary. If you know us, and you follow us. Then you know we’re a scrappy underdog. We never got the funding our competitors got. We don’t have famous people putting their followers behind us. And none of us is wealthy.

We work for a segment of the population that lots of people want to take advantage of, and no one wants to fund directly.

To break global barriers like we just did is really new territory for us. Honestly, it’s a lot of exposure for a small company, and we’re worried about misstepping. We’re all feeling the pressure, and no one really knows what will happen.

So sign up to the newsletter and we’ll tell you. (Hey cliffhangers are good, just go hiking with Jhony and he’ll show you!)

Cool stuff you probably didn’t see before

A really old video of some really cool Friends. Thanks Douglas for the photos.

Lots of people say they want more updates on what Savimbo’s been up to, but there’s talk and there’s action. So we’re sending you a sample newsletter. If enough people actively respond below we’ll put some extra time into keeping you informed this way.

Regardless, it’s a good summary of what 2024 has brought us. So here goes.

Big news

We did it. Or more precisely Jhony did it. World's first certified biodiversity credit project in open review from the Villagarzón project. Still have a couple steps to go to issue credits, but its progress.

Policy

There is a lot more to be announced but Fernando and Jhony were influential in creating a new org at COP16 called International Ecological Guardians that will be funded by UNDP.

Charity

Our charity projects for giving season are the displaced Batwa in Uganda, and the displaced Embera chami. If you're doing end-of-year donations, send it there.

Fun

Okay this is probably one of those "you had to be there" moments, but we finally caught Karen's fox on camera. Hard to decide who's more adorable, Karen or the fox.

So Savimbo is definitely an interactive experience. We’re too small and punky to be anything but personal at this point. If you want us to have a newsletter, you have to prove it by going to the Friends page and signing up.

Subscribe now

Generally we just communicate on social but if there is an interest in long-form or email comms we can probably engage with it this year.

Much love as always, to you guys and for the 🌍.

Drea, Jhony, and Fernando