A world with less and less garbage is Silvana Huicochea’s dream. For years, the personal challenge of producing less waste has been posed and that purpose was combined with the idea of being her own boss and undertaking, This is how Botánica Granel emerged, in November 2017, a mini super ecological where it is not spent on bags or containers to carry the products.
Although she was happy in her job at an international office, school and health furniture firm, the architect by profession decided to resign and create a bulk sales business. On a trip to Germany to visit his brother, the idea came up of creating a mini supermarket where customers could bring their own containers and thus not generate garbage.
“The sale in bulk is not something new in Mexico, we are not discovering the black thread, But what was not easy to find was organic food in bulk or an organic shampoo or conditioner, which was not tested on animals ”, Silvana affirms to MILLENNIUM.
“I decided to dedicate my time and my life in something that I really want and that was mine, besides leaving a mark in the world.” Silvana’s business promotes fair trade with producers and local consumption, since its products come from practically all the states of Mexico.
From the beginning Silvana used Facebook and Instagram not only for dissemination, but as a way of not generating garbage with advertising on the street.
Silvana is part of the program #She Does Facebook Story, that has economically empowered women business owners, through various initiatives and resources including training in the digital economy, e-commerce, digital marketing skills and financial education.
Now it has two stores, one in the Condesa and another just opened in November 2020, in the Naples neighborhood, where it offers around 500 products including food, cleaning and personal hygiene.
Silvana has generated a community of 32,500 people on Facebook and more than 46,000 on Instagram. In his profile, he shares with his clients tips to reduce pollution and live a life with less and less waste. Zero waste “is no longer a fashion, it is a lifestyle that we all have to adopt and when you feel part of a community, you realize that you can change the world,” he says.
Social networks, the lifeline in the pandemic
Like many physical businesses, Botánica Granel suffered from the lack of customers due to the confinement during confinement, however, Silvana says, social networks were crucial in communicating to your community how they were going to operate during the pandemic.
Being an essential business, it never had to close its doors, but it did take advantage of the platforms to indicate the new protocols to its customers, as well as to manage shipments and pickups in the store.
“That was a super challenge last year and I couldn’t have imagined how we would have overcome it without Instagram and Facebook.”
Definitely, “social networks are a great springboard for business if you know how to take advantage of them”, concludes Silvana.
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