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Mission to Peru: Incubagraria's Rise and Resilience

What began as a two-month mission evolved into PERU-Hub: a multimillion-dollar initiative transforming lives in San Martín. This is the story of how one Swiss EP Expert's vision, combined with local leadership, built something meant to last.

A powerful story of collaboration, vision, and impact. Expert Mike Dobres shares how a mission with Swiss EP in Peru sparked a groundbreaking project that continues transforming rural communities through innovation and entrepreneurship.

In a short time, my Swiss-EP mission grew from strength to strength and expanded far beyond its original goal. It all began in 2019 when Swisscontact sent me to Lima as an Entrepreneur In Residence (EIR) for two months at the Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina (UNALM). There, at the university's startup incubator, Incubagraria, I helped coach the incubator management team led by Brenda Rosario and also mentored several of their startup companies.

I was immediately struck by the enthusiastic entrepreneurial spirit of the start-up ecosystem in Peru. Incubagraria was playing its part by nurturing the growth of new companies led by young entrepreneurial graduates of UNALM. Many of these businesses focused on using natural products for food, food supplements, and agricultural solutions. I assisted them in preparation for fundraising. I was also impressed by the Peruvian government's ProInnóvate program, which offered seed funding for collaborations between universities and small to medium-sized companies, encouraging cooperation between business and academic researchers.

That same month, as part of my mission, I led a national workshop on technology transfer supported by Swiss-EP and ProInnóvate. It was challenging but a lot of fun, with participants from universities and institutes from all over Peru. The format, an interactive team-building approach, was a great success. By popular demand, I repeated the same workshop for faculty and staff at UNALM.

However, the real story began later that month when I came across a Request for Proposals from USAID for a $15 million five-year BRIDGE-U award. The aim was to encourage technology transfer and productivity in underprivileged rural areas. With my previous experience in multi-partner federal grants from the USDA and USAID, I realized it would be an ideal fit for UNALM. Brenda Rosario, along with her team, and I promptly brought it to the attention of UNALM's Rector, Dr. Enrique Flores. He proposed using the funds to repurpose UNALM’s existing research centers in the Peruvian Amazon. We immediately set to work on preparing the concept note—the deadline was mid-January 2020, so we needed to work fast. In the concept note, we proposed UNALM to be the prime awardee and identified several US universities as sub-awardees—a rare situation because most major USAID awards are applied for and led by a US institution, but such was the trust and confidence they placed in the UNALM team.

Brenda Costas, former manager of Incubagraria, reflected on the broader impact of this mission:

Mike Dobres' support during his stay was essential to ensuring the sustainability of Incubagraria, as the funding obtained through USAID allowed the incubator to continue operating in the years to come. For the Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, this achievement marked a historic milestone, as it was the first time the university accessed a major international cooperation fund focused on technology transfer from academia to farmers in the San Martín region. Mike is a highly competent professional, deeply committed to every initiative he undertakes; his contribution was not just a one-off action, but part of a strategic, long-term vision.

The quest to secure the $15 million USAID grant extended far beyond my initial two-month Swiss EP mission. I continued to volunteer my time as the application process spanned more than two years of hard work with the UNALM team and collaborators in the USA. I devised the name PERU-Hub as an acronym that incorporates key terms from the USAID BRIDGE-U program, namely: Peruvian Extension Research and Utilization. After preparing the concept note and going through two rounds of submissions, we finally secured USAID funding for PERU-Hub in September 2021. By that time, under the leadership of Dr. Enrique Flores, the project had expanded significantly to involve numerous faculty at UNALM, as well as experts from Purdue University, Utah State University, Oklahoma State University, and CIAT.

By the end of 2024, PERU-Hub had expanded to include a state-of-the-art food transformation and grower demonstration facility in Pucayacu, San Martin, for the growth of many new high value crops in the region. It had also evolved into a highly successful center for farmer training and productivity. The facility was designed to serve as a processing hub for local farmers, enabling them to process, freeze and sell processed fruit pulp directly to national and international markets. The goal was to enhance fruit production and increase the throughput of the fruit pulp processing facility, thereby generating valuable income for farmers and other local service industries connected to the facility. One key innovation was the development of a solar-driven pumping, reservoir, and irrigation system that draws water from the Pucuyacu River, allowing for year-round crop and pasture growth, since it only rains 3 to 4 months a year in San Martin.

It's important to note that funding for the refurbishment of the San Martin facility was provided by UNALM as matching funds to the USAID award. This further illustrates how the Swiss EP investment in the initial two-month 2019 mission to UNALM has been amplified by the project's success.

In addition, the San Martin center began to play a vital role in schooling farmers and other indigenous peoples in agriculture, technology, and entrepreneurship. This included training farmers on how to minimize crop disease losses, measure and improve soil quality, and predict the influence of weather on crop production. To date, PERU-Hub has been an unmitigated success; it has trained and advised hundreds of farmers and ranchers in and around the San Martin region of Peru.

As for my own role, after the award, I was appointed as a consultant and provided advice on governance, press communications, market research, and entrepreneurship. However, I soon realized that the project had grown legs and no longer needed my skill set. As I wrote in my letter of resignation to the Project Director, Dr. Hugo Villachica, in September 2022: “I played my role in the launch of PERU Hub. The ship has been built and has set sail on its five year voyage!”

My message to other experts considering working with Swisscontact and Swiss EP is to carefully evaluate the impact of your skills and contributions beyond the immediate goals of the short-term mission. In my case, in addition to my initial remit of teaching technology transfer, I was able to leverage my skills in federal grant writing and establishment of large multi-institute projects to expand my mission far beyond its original goals.

Important note: In February 2025, the Trump administration abruptly froze all further funding for PERU-Hub and other USAID projects. As a result, the project was promptly downsized while they sought alternative funding. Fortunately, under the expert guidance of the project director, Dr. Hugo Villachica, all major investments necessary for the San Martin facilityhave already been made and only modest funds are needed to keep the PERU-Hub facility operating as a sustainable entity in the coming years. Numerous projects involving high-value crops such as passion fruit, soursop, vanilla, and cinnamon have been left in limbo. To date, no new donors have been identified, and the project remains staffed by a skeletal crew supported by UNALM funds in a valiant effort to achieve its goals in San Martin. Perhaps this essay will help find a willing donor for a worthy and productive cause. So, if you can help, please get in touch with PERU-Hub directly.

For more information about Peru Hub see this link. https://www.lamolina.edu.pe/peruhub/