Uruguay emerges as a key player on the gGlobal stage for tTriple-impact enterprises, experts say

Uruguay’s world leadership in the development of renewable energies, its financial, political, and democratic stability, as well as its leading role in driving economic innovation, are some of the factors that contribute to the country’s consolidation as a platform for the internationalization of triple impact companies and the fact that it has been chosen as the venue for one of the first Impact Trade meetings in the region.

Impact Trade is a space that brings together business pioneers to do business that solves social and environmental problems at a global level. The event was held in Maldonado and opened at the World Trade Center Free Zone in Montevideo. There, Pedro Tarak, co-founder of Sistema B and main inspirer of Impact Trade, highlighted as “shocking” the number of B companies with positive social and environmental impact that Uruguay has per capita.

This number of companies allowed the country to pioneer in the installation of “debate, language, conceptualization, and vision on the role and new role of companies in society,” he said. “With this systemic approach, Uruguay drove the economic innovation nodes from Uruguay for Latin America,” he added.

In conversation with Uruguay XXI, Tarak also recalled that the country is a leader in innovation in the design of sovereign debt by issuing the “green bond” or sustainable bond, which became an iconic case for the rest of the countries.

In October 2022, Uruguay issued the first sovereign bond associated with environmental indicators, which aligns the public financing strategy with national commitments to sustainability and low-carbon economic development. Despite global uncertainty, Uruguay obtained large-scale, intermediate-term financing with an innovative instrument that strengthens the country’s obligations and positioning regarding sustainability policy objectives and actions. Learn more about the green bond here.

The businessman and small investor of the company Guayakí, regenerator of the missionary forest, emphasized that “the Uruguayan commitment to be a carbon neutral country and its actions for the development of alternative energies are known worldwide.”

Tarak also recalled that through its producers, Uruguay was the first country in Latin America to ship carbon-neutral meat to the European Union before this certification was required.

“Democracy in this country works, and there is a long-term construction. Uruguay is one of the countries with the most open economy in our region, and that does not change with the sign of its governments,” he stressed.

“Uruguay is a peaceful country where one breathes peace, respect, and social integration. All this is combined with the interest of public and private organizations such as the National Agency for Research and Innovation (ANII), Uruguay XXI, or the World Trade Center Free Zone, to show this Uruguay,” he said.

From Uruguay to the world

Impact Trade, an event previously held in Tuscany, Barcelona, Santiago de Chile, and Buenos Aires, aims to bring together entrepreneurs interested in solving environmental and social problems and accelerate businesses that seek to solve these local and global challenges. This is done through walking rounds (business rounds walking outdoors - in natural environments that create an ideal framework to achieve bonds of trust quickly), which on this occasion were held at the Agua Verde ranch and hotel and in Casapueblo.

The focus of the event, which had the institutional support of Uruguay XXI and the National Agency for Research and Innovation (ANII), as well as the companies Salus, Danone, and Beccar Varela, was to live a networking experience focused on commercial access to international markets from an agenda of decarbonization, reduction of inequality and regeneration of ecosystems, among other sustainable development goals of the United Nations (UN).

“Today, we know that planetary ecosystemic limits and fundamental problems in economic systems must be overcome and evolve. We are doing this here driven by what Uruguay can be as a platform for internationalization towards other countries,” he explained.

"According to the Global Prosperity Index, Uruguay ranks among the best in Latin America regarding quality of life and governance. Financial stability, respect for democratic institutions, and energy transition characterize Uruguay as a country where you can live the tranquility and development of increasingly global business,” explained the Impact Trade organization.