Ectagono · Mexico

In 2016, the Civil Association Ríos Tarango got a 30 year-long government lease to rehabilitate the Tarango ravine, a very important natural parcel of Western Mexico City. The organization knew that achieving this goal would entail integrating the different communities of the region and tackling the way city-dwellers understand and approach development. The team also understood the importance of coming up with a cost-effective model for rehabilitating the ravine. For this reason, some of the members of Ríos Tarango created Ectagono, a social enterprise aimed at exploring and promoting healthier and more harmonious lifestyles, positively impacting the lives of the different communities that live around the ravine and, at the same time, bringing in revenue to fund their main project: the rehabilitation of this natural environment.

Ectagono uses a plot of land next to the ravine to host and incubate several subprojects that are in alignment with its socio-environmental objectives: food production, education, health, sports and culture. These different workshops, restaurants and places of interest are meant to foster healthier lifestyles while also creating revenue that is then reinvested in the environmental project. The result of this collaboration between Ectagono and the subprojects is an outdoor space where people can spend the day, eat a meal, partake in a workshop, and so on, while learning about ecology and sustainability.

To better coordinate with the subprojects, Ectagono legally registered as an Anonymous Society for the Promotion of Investment (S.A.P.I in Spanish) and designed a business model in which the subprojects pay an agreed-upon percentage of their income to Ectagono in exchange for the space to operate as well as various other forms of support, such as consultations, organization of events and workshops, and other actions that promote the businesses and bring clients in. Subprojects have a grace period to establish themselves, after which they must either deliver results or renegotiate the terms of their agreement with Ectagono.

To date, the organization has managed to convene subprojects of sustainable food production (urban agriculture, beekeeping, poultry farming, vermiculture and composting, artisanal tortilla production, cafeteria), environmental integration (a butterfly farm, bioconstruction, rainwater collection), health and sports (martial arts, mountain biking, yoga, a dog park, traditional temazcal) and even technology (drone workshops and automation of urban gardens). Ectagono looks for interesting, innovative and, above all, diverse subprojects because these can both support each other –an urban garden can supply the restaurant, for instance– and complement each other. After all, the more entertainment options available, the more attractive and pleasant the place becomes for visitors. This attraction factor benefits both Ectagono and each of the subprojects economically.

Even so, the owners consider that competition is healthy and do not promise exclusivity to any subproject. In other words, there may be more than one restaurant, for instance, and the success of each one will depend on the services or products on offer. This particular vision contrasts with the views of some other development models, such as alternative economies, which argue that complementarity, rather than competition, enables sustainability.

The workshops and trainings that Ectagono offers in collaboration with its subprojects also raise awareness on environmental issues among visitors and encourage new ways of relating to the city and to nature.

In this vein, Ectagono also collaborates with organizations and companies from both the private sector and civil society by offering comprehensive programs, workshops and coaching on sustainable practices and reduction of carbon footprints, as well as institutional integration activities with employees. These partnerships give the project visibility, foster new collaborations that can translate into different types of support and, in addition, increase Ectagono’s long-term impact because leaders can then learn from the project and promote similar or complementary ideas in other spaces.

Ectagono also collaborates with academic institutions by installing eco-technologies in schools and universities to reduce their ecological footprint, organizing school visits with problem-based exercises that support specific subjects, opening internships positions and volunteering vacancies, and offering workshops.

To further expand its reach and attract customers, Ectagono also has an ambassador program comprised of influencers, activists and well-known personalities who help publicize their efforts on social media to encourage more people to visit, engage with and contribute to the project.

Collaborations have also enabled Ectagono to navigate difficulties in creative ways. During the Covid 19 pandemic in 2020, for instance, the project teamed up with the airline Aeromexico and the Reinserta Foundation to organize a virtual reforestation campaign. With support from the airline, Ectagono came up with a “tree-sponsorship” program: small donations were collected through online crowdfunding, which Reinserta then used to train and temporarily hire people from the surrounding neighborhoods who lost their jobs in the pandemic to plant the sponsored trees. In previous years, Ectagono took on this same activity with volunteers, but this year they chose to integrate the local communities into their project and have a positive impact on the region. In addition, Ectagono asked for the support of ambassadors who live-streamed the activity, which helped promote the campaign and foster support.

Among other ideas on how to increase the scope of the project, Ectagono is thinking of an urban "ecovillage" model: that is, building houses on its plot of land for volunteers to spend six-months in, working on the different subprojects in exchange for food, lodging and experience. Whether these volunteers would have to pay for these training residencies has not yet been decided. According to the owners, this would make Ectagono a "living project" that truly comes up with alternative ways of living and not just one-day experiences.