PROMESA
Digest
Digestion
| Ginger | 1,200 mg |
|---|---|
| Peppermint | 800 mg |
| Lemon balm | 800 mg |
| Lemon verbena | 440 mg |
2 tablets after lunch and 2 after dinner
Dose basis: EMA monographs
Guaraní plants, European quality, value that stays in Paraguay
PROMESA buys the medicinal plants grown by Guaraní communities at a premium, processes them in Paraguay in a plant built to good manufacturing practice (GMP), and exports finished food supplements. A development-cooperation project with a business engine.
- USD 7.09 M
- total project investment
- 329
- grower families by 2032, 197 of them Guaraní
- USD 6.1 M
- revenue in the fifth year of operation
- 62
- direct jobs at the plant
- 20.3 %
- project IRR in the base case
The plants grow here. The value leaves.
Paraguay is the home of stevia (ka'a he'ẽ) and yerba mate, and knows some 800 traditional medicinal species, the "yuyos". Guaraní communities in the east of the country have always grown and gathered them, but they sell them to middlemen, with no contract, at the lowest price and with no quality control.
Indigenous poverty stands at around 66 %, three times the national rate. Meanwhile, the global herbal supplement market is worth some USD 42 billion and grows by about 9 % a year.
What separates those two numbers is not land or knowledge: it is export-grade quality. Smoke-free drying, sterilisation without ethylene oxide, a laboratory and certification. No botanical supplement plant with EU- and US-recognised GMP certification has been identified in the country. PROMESA aims to be the first.
- 140,206
- Indigenous people in Paraguay (2022 census); the Guaraní family accounts for 54 %
- 1 %
- single tax on exports under the maquila regime (Ley 7547/2025)
- USD 0.05
- per kWh of industrial power, among the cheapest in the region
Buy fairly, process to the highest standard, export the finished product
Three linked steps, from field to bottle, with full traceability for every batch.
Buy
Plants from Guaraní communities and smallholders, paid 25 % above the market price, in cash. A further 15 % goes to a fund each community controls: water, school, health. No free, prior and informed consent, no purchase.
Process
A GMP plant in Coronel Oviedo (Caaguazú) dries with heat pumps below 50 °C, mills, steam-sterilises, tablets and packs to EU and US standards. Its own laboratory checks identity and contaminants.
Export
Finished products under the PROMESA brand, contract manufacturing for other brands, bulk ingredients and services for local producers, so the plant works all year round. 72 % of sales are exported.
Four partners, each doing what it does best
The project separates the roles: industrial and commercial risk sits with those who know how to manage it, and the human side stays with those who have the standing to protect it.
Partner
Contributes
Gets
Paraguayan State
ContributesA 1.76 ha industrial plot on a 50-year concession, the maquila regime and support from MIC, INDI and DINAVISA.
GetsIndustrial investment, 62 jobs, USD 13.5 M of exports in five years and development of Indigenous communities.
IDB Group
ContributesA USD 3.0 M soft loan to the project company (12 years, 3 years' grace) and USD 1.1 M of non-reimbursable technical cooperation for the social component.
GetsRepayment from commercial cash, with debt-service cover above 3 times from 2031, and impact measured every quarter.
ADRA
ContributesThe human side: consultation and consent, technical assistance, micro-credit, monitoring and reporting in Logalto, and receiving donations (USD 0.56 M planned).
Gets10 % of the company and a golden share that protects the social mission for the whole concession.
Private investors
ContributesUSD 2.32 M of seed equity and leadership of production, sales and distribution.
Gets85 % of the shares, in a company whose ceded land and soft finance reduce the risk of investing far from home.
The communities contribute their plants, their work and their knowledge, and receive a fair price, the community premium, credit, training and 5 % of the company.
Four formulas made from plants grown in Paraguay
900 mg tablets, four a day, in bottles of 120 for one month. Doses are based on European Medicines Agency monographs or controlled clinical trials. They are sold on origin, quality and traceability, with no disease claims.
PROMESA
Calma
Rest and stress
| Passionflower | 1,400 mg |
|---|---|
| Lemon balm | 800 mg |
| Lemon verbena | 640 mg |
| Chamomile | 400 mg |
2 tablets in the afternoon and 2 before bed
Dose basis: EMA monographs
PROMESA
Articular
Joints
| Turmeric | 2,100 mg |
|---|---|
| Ginger | 1,100 mg |
| Black pepper | 40 mg |
2 tablets with breakfast and 2 with dinner
Dose basis: EMA monographs
PROMESA
Vital
Energy and nutrition
| Moringa | 2,000 mg |
|---|---|
| Yerba mate | 1,000 mg |
| Stevia leaf | 240 mg |
2 tablets with breakfast and 2 at midday
Dose basis: Controlled clinical trials
The plant also makes formulas for other brands and offers drying and sterilisation to Paraguayan producers of moringa, turmeric or stevia. It never stands idle, and the country gains industrial capacity.
A European-grade GMP plant in the Guaraní heartland
Coronel Oviedo sits where the roads from Asunción to Ciudad del Este cross, within 150 km of most Mbyá and Avá Guaraní communities.
- Site
- 1.76 ha on a State concession; 2,304 m² building
- GMP core
- 792 m² at ISO 8 class with HEPA filtration
- Drying
- 8 heat-pump chambers and a belt dryer, below 50 °C
- Sterilisation
- Vacuum steam, no ethylene oxide
- Capacity
- About 1.7 million bottles a year on one shift
- Certification
- NSF/ANSI 455-2, FSSC 22000, organic and halal
- Investment
- USD 3.85 M, excluding the land
Fair income, decided with the communities
Impact is measured from day one and reported back to the communities in Guaraní.
- USD 1,872
- a year per family, USD 374 more than at the market price
- USD 1.94 M
- paid to growers over five years
- USD 0.29 M
- in premiums for community funds
- 755
- micro-loans planned over five years
Commitments
- No purchase without free, prior and informed consent, under Decreto 1039/2018, ILO Convention 169 and IDB safeguards.
- A price 25 % above the market, paid in cash at the collection centre.
- A 15 % premium on every purchase for a fund the community governs.
- Micro-loans of about USD 600 for seedlings, tools and irrigation, repaid in plants.
- Benefit-sharing whenever a formula draws on a community's traditional knowledge.
- An independent grievance mechanism and impact data published every year.
A profitable business that does not depend on donations
Five-year business plan (2028–2032) in constant dollars, built on a parametric, reproducible model.
| Revenue in 2032 | USD 6.1 M |
|---|---|
| EBITDA margin in 2032 | 31 % |
| Project IRR | 20.3 % |
| Investor IRR | 31.3 % |
| NPV at 12 % | USD 2.25 M |
| Minimum debt-service cover (2031–2032) | 3.3× |
| IDB Group · soft loan | USD 3.0 M |
|---|---|
| Private investors · seed equity | USD 2.32 M |
| IDB Group · technical cooperation | USD 1.1 M |
| ADRA · donations | USD 0.56 M |
| Paraguayan State · land concession | in kind |
| Total | USD 7.09 M |
Managed with method, measured in Logalto
The project follows Project DPro by PM4NGOs, the standard for managing development projects, and every output has indicators, a baseline and annual targets.
Identification and definition
Needs, stakeholders, problem tree and logframe.
Set-up
Project charter, governance and risks.
Planning
Schedule, budget, people, supply and monitoring plan.
Implementation
Construction, start-up and five years of operation.
Closure
Handover to the communities and the company, and final evaluation.
30 indicators ready for Logalto, broken down by sex, people and community. Quarterly reports and independent evaluations in 2027, 2030 and 2032.
ADRA has walked this road before
GoodOne, Ghana
ADRA International's social enterprise buys cashews from farmers ADRA has trained for decades, pays them a premium and processes the nuts in Ghana instead of exporting them raw. Profits go back to the communities.
Solomon Islands cocoa
ADRA improved cocoa fermentation and drying in eight villages. A bar made from that cocoa won gold at the Academy of Chocolate Awards in London, and the farmers earn quality premiums.
PROMESA goes one step further: it makes the finished consumer product and brings in a private industrial partner that takes the commercial risk.
Join the project
We are looking for partners to close the financing in 2027. This is what we ask of each of them.
- Paraguayan State
- A 50-year land concession, the maquila programme and a focal point at MIC and INDI.
- IDB Group
- A USD 3.0 M soft loan and USD 1.1 M of technical cooperation.
- ADRA
- Lead the social component and monitoring, with a USD 0.56 M donation campaign.
- Investors
- USD 2.32 M of seed equity and industrial and commercial leadership.
Documents
The full project document (41 pages, Spanish), the financial model and the logframe are available on request.