Adapt-ACTIVA calls for Costa Rican rural entrepreneurs to receive financing and advice

• Pre-registration for the third call will be available from March 31 to May 4, 2025. 

Around thirty rural enterprises in Costa Rica will have the possibility of receiving seed capital to start up their business proposal, as part of the third call Adapt-ACTIVA, of the program "Scaling up Ecosystem-based Adaptation measures in Rural Latin America" (EbA LAC), the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE) and the Laboratory for Innovation and Entrepreneurship ACTIVA-CATIE, with funds from the Development Banking System (SBD). 

“The call is aimed at enterprises in sectors such as tourism, livestock (milk, meat, dual purpose), agriculture (coffee, musaceae -such as banana or abaca-, vegetable and pepper production), forestry production, beekeeping, among others that implement actions to adapt to climate change,” explained Franz Tattenbach, Minister of Environment and Energy.  

The selected initiatives will receive non-reimbursable funds of up to 4 million colones in the Inclusion category (entrepreneurs or rural enterprises that have a business idea or are starting operations) and up to 7 million colones in the Transformative-rural category (rural enterprises established as legal entities, with at least 96 months of operation and registered as MiPyMEs with the MEIC or as PYMPAs with the MAG). 

In addition to the seed capital, Adapt-ACTIVA offers other benefits such as training and mentoring with ACTIVA-CATIE specialists.

Vladimir Valera, director of ACTIVA-CATIE added that “those who participate and benefit will also have the opportunity to establish alliances with other key players (networking) and achieve greater visibility for their venture.”

“In the two previous calls, in 2023 and 2024, a total of 54 initiatives were selected, 35 of them led by women,” Valera pointed out. 

“For a real economic change we must encourage entrepreneurship and profitable business models with socio-environmental impact; promoting climate change resilient enterprises in rural areas of Costa Rica is essential to transform the national economy towards one with greater resilience, incorporating biodiversity, so from EbALAC through Adapt-Activa we support new forms of business that improve the quality of life of people while protecting nature” explained Sabrina Geppert, coordinator for Costa Rica of the EbA LAC Program in the German Cooperation - GIZ.

Pre-registration will be open from Monday, March 31 through Sunday, May 4, 2025. Interested persons can consult the list of participating districts and register their projects by filling out the application form available at https://activa.catie.ac.cr/convocatorias. https://activa.catie.ac.cr/convocatorias 

The launch of this third call was held on Wednesday, March 28 at the Municipality of San Carlos, with the presence of entrepreneurs from the northern part of the country, Mayor Juan Diego Gonzalez and representatives of ACTIVA-CATIE, SBD and the EbA LAC program. 

ACTIVA-CATIE is an innovation and entrepreneurship laboratory led by the Forests and Biodiversity in Productive Landscapes Unit of CATIE (Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center) and accredited by the Development Banking System to promote, through non-reimbursable funds and specialized consulting, different businesses in rural Costa Rica.  

The EbA LAC program is supported by the government of the Republic of Costa Rica, funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) through its International Climate Initiative (IKI)International Climate Initiative (IKI), and implemented by GIZ as lead agency, in partnership with IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) and CATIE ( Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center). It aims to increase the resilience to climate change of vulnerable communities and ecosystems in rural areas of Ecuador, Guatemala and Costa Rica.