Haiti Station
What is the goal and mission statement? To establish a platform, physically located in or near the southern beach front community of Port Salut, Haiti, with a strong interactive digital/virtual on-line presence (allowing for a continuous 'reality' immersion experience by donors) with both humanitarian and for-profit goals, creating jobs in Haiti via the export of quality goods and
products highly sought after by consumers world-wide. We will also engage in humanitarian work, addressing the issues facing Haiti and much of the developing world, over-population, food insecurity, deforestation, coral reef loss and other pressing needs and issues;
How will Haiti Station be structured? The Station itself will be a 501 3(C) as to allow for tax write-off donations and grants from donors. The export and eco-tours will be set up as a B or Benefits Corporation;
Why for-profit and non-profit combination? The sole means to sustainability bring people out of poverty and meet their basic human needs is economic development - they must have the ability to earn an income. Hand-outs are often counterproductive and continue only as long as the donor is willing to fund. For-profit, as capitalism remains the best means to ensure long term development and stability;
How will Haiti Station make a profit? Primarily by producing goods of value which can be sold at a profit, with the majority of sales occurring in the export of goods out of Haiti. Our goal is to get steady subscribers, not necessarily one-off buyers. We will also sell via Amazon and other platforms. Additionally, there is excellent infrastructure already in place - hotels and restaurants – for eco-tourism;
What type of goods will Haiti Station produce and export? A wide variety of products worldwide consumers presently desire and use on a frequent basis - coffee, chocolates and heath supplements. We will focus on the super-food moringa oleifera initially in the heath supplement category, with a focus on US, European, Japanese and Chinese markets. We will also look at high-end jewelry and clothing - while keeping alert for other opportunities;
How will you acquire the raw materials or products? We will work with the local communities surrounding Port Salut to set up co-ops and communities, using commonly accepted fair-trade standards and modalities in dealing with local producers;
How will you prepare and export these products? We will establish a processing and packaging facility in Port Salut, with USDA foreign-facility certification;
Why Haiti, why Southern Haiti and why Port Salut? Proximity to the US and high donor interest, fantastic climate for agricultural, the country has high unemployment, Port-au-Prince is too dangerous and crowded to permit active immersion and participation, good road system, excellent mobile phone network, southern Haiti has many rivers and streams with excellent soil, Port Salut has both a harbor and an airport along with excellent hotels and restaurants;
How else will Haiti Station earn income? Via grants and investments by USAID, the World Bank and other donor governments. We will also do program management, for strictly humanitarian reasons, in the areas of deforestation, accommodating climate change, agricultural productivity, economic development, aquaculture, addressing energy poverty, etc. We will also set up eco-tours in the south-west peninsula - the last part of the Haiti with existing lush tropical forests. These will include foot, motor-cycle and horse back five to seven day excursions (would like to bring veterans in on this part). What other facilities are planned? We wish to establish land, sea and air transportation and work environments - so we need boats (mangrove swamp regeneration and planting, aquaculture, kill lion-fish excursions for tourists) and airplanes/drones - transport, reseeding, photography, etc. We would also like to start a ground school and flight training club for local students;
How will Haiti Station be staffed? By a combination of Haitian nationals and expatriates. While the expatriates can come and go freely, the intent is to build a cohesive team, working and learning in a collaborative manner, not parachuting in/out;
How will staffers be paid and what is the leadership and management structure? In keeping with the Station concept, the organization will be (very) loosely structured in a manner similar to a military unit and pay will be on a GS-level. Staffers, after a vesting period, will also be issued shares in the B corporation;
In what facility will Haiti Station be located? Originally, staff will live and work out of a local hotel, however, as quickly as practical a fully energy independent and stand-alone combination residential, laboratory, research center and processing facility will be designed and built;
Where does the financing come from to jump-start operations? The key is visual - donors, either one or more angel investors, or a crowd-source effort, must see the local situation and be able to visualize the potential. This is one of the goals of bringing people to Haiti in May/June of 2016 - a three minute (maximum) elevator pitch, via video;
Final comment of interest? Haiti is one of the world's largest producers of vetiver - a grass whose roots produce the oil for perfumes. Produced in a sustainable manner, it provides excellent protection against soil erosion. However, the majority of producers here remove an entire hill-side of the grass during harvest - which results in the loss of top-soil and fouls the reefs and kills the coral. Free-trade perfume oil is a huge potential market and opportunity
