Market Research & Marketing Plan Development for an EcoVillage in Panama

8th Life Panama is an ecovillage project located in rural Panama. Our Vision is of an intentional rural community where the values and ideals of community, respect, peace and living “on-purpose” (in short, ubuntu) are rediscovered by our residents. The Eco-village provides a sociocultural support structure and a healthy living and working environment. Fair work, cooperation and an abundance mindset prevail among our members. As a viable solution, others begin to collaborate with us, replicate and adapt model. A stronger, fairer local economy emerges together with increased sense of community and belonging. As part of a worldwide network of such communities, we support a global transition to a more just society.

That’s our vision – and we need market research and a targeted marketing plan to help us figure out how to target our digital marketing efforts.

We are looking for people who realize that creating more EcoVillages and other transition communities is an urgent & vital necessity, and who feel a genuine calling to apply their talents, knowledge, passion, & creativity toward helping to create this community. People who roll up their sleeves and get down to work. People who know how to cooperate, collaborate, and communicate well.

How do we find these people? Where? This is one area where we need market research and plan.

We could also use help with market researching and planning for our on-site permaculture training programs and our idea to hold an annual Permaculture Convergence at our site.

And here’s yet another area for market research and planning help:

This project is an eco-business incubator and aims to be an impact hub and creative maker space.

These are the elements we envision incorporating into our initiative, think of the many component parts of each element – many of these parts are potential businesses.

• permaculture-based Eco-village
• eco-enterprise incubator, shared workspace for community members & volunteers
• artisan & craftspeople’s incubator, creative maker space & storefront for eco-community members and local residents
• promoting and strengthening the local economy through example
• training/workshops in eco-economics, the circular economy, ‘buy local’, and local economic development
• community gardens and local produce and artisan markets
• permaculture courses and other practical, hands-on learning experiences such as eco-building
   

There will be a series of self employment opportunities created through the integral design of the Eco-village. Here are a few ideas of businesses that could be started during the early phase of the project:

• Bamboo: it grows quickly, has many possible uses on the Finca, and can be sold locally. Resident members will source building materials for their houses on the Finca first, and there will be many uses in the common areas. It’s also good for furniture and can be used for decorations.
• Honey: maintaining a healthy bee population in the world is an important task – and honey production should be linked to other agricultural products, like possibly passion fruit.
• Hemp: we’ll need to study Panamanian law to be sure it can be grown here, but it would be great to have this plant for construction, consumption and so many other uses.
• Coconuts: there are a number of products that come from the coconut, including coconut water, milk, and oil, shredded coconut, and coconut fibers.

A few more business ideas:

• Rustic campground: the land is ideal for this and a small section of the land could be designated for this use.
• Eco-building: we are keen to have eco-builders / engineering enthusiasts, especially those that are excited about working with recycled materials. Possibly the most important tasks for next generations, together with re-creating soil & regenerating vital ecosystems, is to find ways to use the huge quantities of ‘rubbish’ that our industrial societies have generated, and transform those once again into valuable resources.
• Energy:  making small-scale windmills, water-pumps, water-collection infrastructures and solar-power tech is an important addition to all of the above.
• Organic produce:  can be sold in the popular local markets or in tourist-oriented markets or can be sold more profitably processed in some way: fruits and vegetables, nursery plants, chickens, pigs, rabbits, guinea pigs, goats, sheep …

The idea here would be to do some initial market research on one or more of these ideas so that prospective ecovillage members would have something to build from.

Does any of this sound interesting?