SUMMARY

Lack of affordable housing is a social problem, so we’ve come up with a model that makes the community part of the solution. We aim to provide at-risk families across Mexico with ecological, affordable housing by helping them build their own. Our model combines community organisation, social inclusion, financial education, technical training and social franchising. Using these skills, the communities we work with design, develop and build their new homes based on a financial program that is fairly designed for them. ¡Échale! has already received national and international recognition, including being recognised by the Clinton Global Initiative and the World Habitat Award.

IMPACT

Housing is a fundamental human right. In Mexico’s current economic climate, families trying to acquire a house through traditional methods might have to pay double the price that we offer for a similar sized home. This would render it impossible for many to obtain a house of a standard that meets their needs. Through our innovative home construction and improvement initiatives, we expect to impact the lives of over 25,000 families in the next five years, improving the conditions in which approximately 125,000 individuals reside. After twenty years of working with communities, we know that involving our participants in every step of the process is key. Through involvement they can learn new skills, develop self-esteem and drive their own development, improving individual long-term prospects as well as those of their communities.

OUR VENTURE EXPERIENCE

We decided to apply for The Venture because we knew that being able to take part in an initiative led by a global company like Pernod-Ricard, who are committed to furthering social entrepreneurship all around the world, was a wonderful opportunity. The whole experience, from the application to the final event in San Francisco, has given us exposure we couldn't have got any other way. It also helped us analyse our business model and perfect it thanks to the support and guidance of every professional who worked side-by-side with us throughout the process. Since we entered The Venture we have earned more global contacts due to the exposure it garnered. As a team, we now have a clearer objective and a far reaching strategy to focus on.

WHAT'S NEXT

“¡Échale! A Tu Casa” will continue to focus on reaching the unhoused population all around the world. We want to provide people with the opportunity to get a decent home of their own, and in order to reach our objective, we will keep working on the world housing fund. Our goal is to replicate our model on a global scale; we want to reach one country per year.