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Challenge
The Rainforest Alliance is an international not for profit organization working at the intersection of business, agriculture, and forests to make responsible business the new normal. Their certification programs drive sustainability improvements for over 2 million producers across 7 million hectares of land in 63 countries. Despite immense progress, many of these countries still face major challenges with deforestation, biodiversity loss and human rights violations that require new solutions on top of certification.
Looking beyond the scope of their current business, the Rainforest Alliance was interested in developing new directions for growth with relevance in the future world. In three phases, we developed distinctive routes for the future of the organization.
Approach
Using our future vision framework, we helped the Rainforest Alliance to envision the future of their business and their role within it. By setting a future stage and leveraging on Rainforest Alliance strength as a connector of people and organizations, we developed a vision as a coalition builder for the future.
To test our initial vision and find transformative ideas, we travelled to Nairobi, a city bustling with entrepreneurial energy and a young generation ready to make a change. Through co-creation with experts in sustainable agriculture, finance, technology and marketing, our eyes were opened to a myriad of ideas that would be relevant and innovative in the context of Rainforest Alliance’s work.
Result
The ideas and insights from Kenya formed the basis for four possible future business models, covering different ends of the value chain. We co-created and validated these together with experts and country teams in Mexico, Guatemala, and Indonesia. Fueled with global insights, we translated the concepts to prototypes that were successfully received by Rainforest Alliance’s board and leadership team as directions for future growth.
