We highlight the talent and creativity of people belonging to the Mapuche people who break paradigms through their enterprises.
An organic vineyard that runs on solar energy, a learning management platform and a center that combines complementary therapies with ancestral cosmovision. Here we tell you about these three examples that embody the diversity of the Mapuche entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The first Mapuche sparkling wine:
On a hill surrounded by centuries-old native trees in Carahue, Araucanía Region, Isolina Huenulao created Wuampuhue Vineyard, which in Mapudungun means "place of the canoe", referring to the Imperial River that crosses the territory. On a half-hectare plot of land she planted pinot noir vines, a French grape variety ideal for cold climates, with which she entered the Chilean wine industry with the first sparkling wine made by a Mapuche woman.
The cultivation of the vineyard and winemaking is done organically, respecting mother earth and seeking to make the process as sustainable as possible, consistent with the principles and values of the Mapuche worldview. Irrigation comes from an estuary, weed control is done through sheep grazing, and there are even solar panels to create energy.
"It is made in a Mapuche community, by a Mapuche woman and on Mapuche and organic land. We do all this thanks to our father God and mother earth who gives us the strength to produce this product," he says proudly while holding the fruit of his work in his hands.
An education app present in six countries:
Teacher Isabel Loncomil, industrial civil engineer Marcelo Catrileo and computer civil engineer Emerson Marín Licanleo are the minds behind Lirmi, a platform specialized in curriculum management that provides teachers with digital tools to plan, facilitate and enhance teaching and learning processes. Although they created the edtech in 2013, the coronavirus pandemic that moved classes to the virtual world boosted the adoption of this software in schools both inside and outside the country. Today they are present in approximately 1,900 educational establishments in Chile, Peru, Colombia, Mexico, Brazil and the United States.
Emerson Marín Licanleo, CEO of Lirmi, explains that through this platform they contribute to democratizing education, since digital tools to support teachers improve the processes and quality of teaching, and allow a greater number of users to be reached. "If a teacher does a good job, the school improves in all its indicators," he says. The engineer adds that last year they trained 400,000 teachers and released a totally free class book for schools in Latin America. The team's expectations remain high: they aim to reach 3,000 schools next year.
Connecting with nature:
The married couple Mónica Cornejo Colipán and Rodolfo Gaete Naveas created the Kiñewün retreat and wellness center, which in Mapudungun means "we are all one". Trained in complementary therapies such as reiki and anthroposophical massage, and also in the Mapuche cosmovision (with anthropologists and loncos), they seek to combine the best of both worlds in the therapies they offer in their center located in the Mapuche community Juan Quilacán in Villarrica, on the banks of the Voipir River. One of the main foundations of this ancestral culture is to understand the human being and nature as a whole, so in this center visitors are invited to live an experience of connection with the four elements of nature and to know in depth the Mapuche culture.
"The Mapuche view understands that the human being is part of a whole. When we are bad and lose balance in life, it is because we have uprooted ourselves from nature, from life itself. Life flows in us. To have the balance inside is the healing process", says Mónica Cornejo Colipán from this paradise surrounded by native trees such as hualle, coihue, arrayán and canelo, and that every year receives visitors from Chile and abroad.