The startup Q'omer Bioactive Ingredients has been recognized as a socially responsible company by the 'Un Habitat Mejor' program of the French multinational Leroy Merlin, specializing in DIY, construction, decoration and gardening. The goal of this mentoring action is to support the generation of sustainable business models at an economic, social and environmental level, as well as disruptive innovations with high positive impact that result in improvements in society.
Together with Q'omer, another nine projects have been selected from the 28 submitted from all over Spain. A committee of experts appointed by the company will evaluate in the next months the evolution of the business, the environmental and/or social impact generated and their economic viability. Once valued, among these 10 projects, Leroy Merlin will award 2,000 € to the two best participating initiatives.
"We are going to take advantage of the support of this program to determine with what legal form we guarantee the social impact of the company. We may do it through a foundation; another possibility is to generate an area of social impact within the firm; and a third alternative it would be to work together with other NGOs and foundations The common denominator of the three ways is to guarantee the social impact of a company ", explainedJuancho Escobar, CEO of Q'omer.
With this purpose, on May 22, Q'omer joined the group of companies of theSpanish Global Compact Network, the most important initiative for the sustainability of the private sector promoted by the United Nations. "To be part of it, we have to go through a selection process, which has taken us from February to May, and with this signature we are committed to generating an annual follow-up report on how our work helps achieve the10 valuesset by the network of sustainable development ", explainsAlicia Carpio, responsible for Sustainable Development of Q'omer.
In addition, the firm has been one of the three finalists in the category 'New Products' of the 2018 Pascual Startup Awards, which serve as a review of the state of the art of new ideas that arise in the food sector.
Technology-based social initiative
Q'omer is a technology-based social initiative that aims to improve the productivity and quality of life of communities in Colombia and Peru. It does so by promoting the sale of natural raw materials to manufacturers that require bioactive ingredients for their finished products: food, cosmetics, agricultural inputs or nutritional supplements.