The United Nations Climate Change Conference 2019, is the 25th conference of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP25), which is taking place between December 2 and 13, 2019 in Madrid, under the presidency of Chile.
The Madrid City Council, through Madrid Emprende, wanted this Coffee break join the many performances taking place in Madrid these days.
Pedro Villalonga and Ángeles Elías from the Subdirectorate General for Entrepreneurship introduced us to Carlota Mateos, co-founder of rusticae, charming hotels and co-founder of PlenEat, pioneering Spanish company that offers certified organic 100% food to companies with corners/company canteens, vending machines vending and catering for meetings and events.
Carlota started with Rusticae 23 years ago. Very young he began to undertake realizing the gap that existed in the tourism sector of charming accommodation outside the big cities.
After many years and after going through "an existential crisis", in his own words, he embarked on PlenEat, aware of the need for change that our society needs when considering what we are doing with our planet, with our rural areas and with our way of eating, among other things.
It naturally addresses the concern of consumers, who are exposed to deception and very aggressive marketing, selling products that are not organic for some that are, therefore, advocating their certification as a guarantee of their origin and production. At PlenEat they only buy products that carry this certification.
He tells us that in countries that are more advanced in the production and consumption of organic products than Spain, the motivations are different. France consumes this type of product for health, Germany for the environment and in Spain there is still no strong culture for organic products. The recognition of our Mediterranean diet and "knowing how to eat" has made us not think that we eat less and less following this diet and more eating improperly; a lot of meat, a lot of saturated fats, sugars and little vegetable protein.
For small producers, focusing on the entrepreneurs who are beginning to emerge taking advantage of this paradigm shift that is taking place, technology is being a very important vehicle to be able to get ahead and grow. Take advantage of social networks and online sales (eCommerce) is essential for even not being big to be able to reach customers without your costs skyrocketing.
Carlota is convinced that we are in a paradigm shift, with very complex challenges, which will lead us to change our habits and consumption. Both from the point of view of the businessman, producer, entrepreneur, and consumer, these changes that are occurring and will continue to occur as a result of this adaptation and mitigation of climate change, will make us move and position ourselves differently from the which we are used to now.
To speed up this whole process, this growing sector of organically based products, production and marketing needs to be regulated. Government measures are needed to incentivize companies. In the end, this change belongs to everyone: producers, companies, clients and the State.
Needs are not being created, they are responding to specific and urgent demands for change, Carlota assures us.
After her talk, Carlota Mateos shared a coffee with the attendees, accompanied by a snack made entirely with certified organic products, thus demonstrating that "healthy is tasty."
If you were unable to attend, you can check the video of the session on our website. Facebook.
To attend the Coffee break or other events that we organize in the Madrid Emprende network of business incubators, do not forget to subscribe to our activity bulletin or consult our schedule.
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