In a recently-announced partnership, ASPV has donated their facilities to the Investours group, to be used during the educational component of the program. The classroom part of the presentation - approximately 2 hours of the total 5 hours tour time - is an essential element of the tour. "The ASPV's provision of space is crucial to the success of our program," Investours' Mexico Program Director Anna Ruman said in an interview with PV Pulse.
Previously, Investours was in cooperation with the Bucerias Bilingual Cultural Center and with local non-profit PEACE for their training facilities, located in Bucerias and Punta de Mita respectively. With ASPV's involvement, the program is able to expand into Puerto Vallarta, a larger city and a central hub to the Banderas Bay region. "We will continue running tours from both Bucerias and Punta de Mita," Ruman said, "but the location from which the tour departs will now depend on where the entrepreneurs live rather than on necessity."
As 100% of tour proceeds go to the entrepreneur, access to larger tour groups is vital to the program, and conversely, the Vallarta base gives the program access to a larger group of entrepreneurs. "To us, the ASPV partnership is of infinite value," said Ruman.
Founded in 2008, Investours works at the intersection of microfinance and socially responsible tourism by organizing 'investours', in which program coordinators that take tourists to visit small communities, meet entrepreneurs, and listen to their business ideas. At the end of the tour, one business person is awarded the tour proceeds in the form of an interest-free loan. In the Banderas Bay region, these entrepreneurs are clients of ¡Sé Más! (Be More!), PEACE's microfinance lending program.
Investours' most recent success story comes from their March 24 tour, which awarded Bucerias entrepreneur Micaela Magana Victorino an interest-free loan to help her expand her clothing sales business, Bazar.
If you're interested in participating in the inaugural Puerto Vallarta tour on May 4, please visit www.investours.org to sign up or contact Vallarta Program Director Ryan Pukos at the email ryan@investours.org. Also, join the Investours Facebook group.
