Powered by the Visa Foundation, the NGO Mayma Mexico developed the project “Regenerating Blue Communities: Promoting Business Solutions Beyond Sustainability in the Coastal Socio-ecosystem of Quintana Roo” to identify business opportunities arising from sargassum use.
Between Nov. 2023 and Jun. 2024, the organization found 85 projects working on initiatives to capitalize on the seaweed washing ashore in Mexico every year.
These entities included female sargassum-collecting groups from Xcalak, micro, small and medium-sized companies, as well as independent researchers and governments across the state in areas such as Cancún, Tulum, Lázaro Cárdenas and Puerto Morelos.
Out of these 85, 11 projects already have commercial products on the market, including fertilizers and soil improvers as well as materials that use sargassum in their components.
“The mapping of actors did not only include ventures. It also reviewed government institutions, higher-education institutions, NGOs, community initiatives and sargassum ventures. 11 of them are already working in the Quintana Roo market,” said Rose Vervenne, Mayma’s Executive Director.
Having completed the identification phase, in 2025 Mayma will train participants on finances, the establishment of relationships with suppliers and potential clients and how to access funds to scale their ventures.
The organization’s main objective is to “support and strengthen entrepreneurs so that they can define the amounts they need and have a clear strategy when approaching investors,” said Vervenne.
The NGO will also connect large hotel chains with producers of organic items, said Olmo Torres, Project Director of Mayma.
During phase two, Mayma will develop a business hub for ventures that innovate in the use of sargassum and that have the potential to expand to other Caribbean countries.
“We are not an investment fund, but we do catalyze and promote a system in which we can bring investment funds to the ventures that are strengthened by us,” concluded Vervenne.
More than an environmental issue, Vervenne sees sargassum as an incredible opportunity for innovation and profitability.
Her organization has proven experience helping small and medium-sized companies. In Argentina, it has sponsored companies seeking between $100.000 and $1 million in investments.
In the coming months, the NGO will focus on small-scale projects that can strengthen coastal communities that promote regenerative tourism practices in Quintana Roo.
For the time being, large sargassum plants are not in the sights of this NGO.
Other sargassum businesses eager to participate in this boom can turn to the IDB Group, which will provide “entrepreneurs, start-ups, corporations, academic institutions and non-profit organizations” with up to $500,000, granted they are capable of mitigating the sargassum problem in the Caribbean.