At a Glance
Location: Segovia, Antioquia, Colombia
Impact Areas: Conservation, Job Creation, Income Generation
People Supported:
Rural Communities, Victims of Conflict
Joined NESsT Portfolio:
2025
Overview
The Serranía de San Lucas, one of Colombia’s most biodiverse yet conflict-affected regions, has been shaped for decades by illegal mining, deforestation, and the displacement of rural families. Communities face severe environmental degradation, the presence of illegal armed actors, restrictive checkpoints, and limited state protection. In this environment, families often lack safe, legal, and dignified ways to earn income from their forests.
Founded in 2021 by 33 campesino families, Ecoserranía emerged as a collective response to these social and environmental challenges. Organized as a nonprofit association, Ecoserranía is building a legal, community-managed forestry model that prioritizes conservation, traceability, and income generation.
The association has obtained legal forestry permits covering 1,174 hectares of protected forest, where members apply sustainable harvesting and monitoring practices. Ecoserranía purchases 20 species of raw timber blocks, round-wood timber, and dried timber from its community members – covering costs for transportation, drying, and delivery to customers in Medellín. This process ensures community members are paid earlier than in other business models, which hold payments until final sale and delivery of the product.
Ecoserranía is developing a legally compliant artisanal-to-industrial pathway for its community members. Through formal contracts for employees and suppliers as well as wages almost three times above minimum wage, the association is creating stable and dignified work in a region where illicit economies dominate.
Results & Impact
40%
women in leadership by 2025
1174
hectares of forest under sustainable management
100%
of workers hold formal job contracts
“NESsT’s support reinforces our community-led model and enables us to build a sustainable future for our territory”.”
NESsT Investment
NESsT’s investment will provide Ecoserranía with essential working capital to alleviate its upfront costs, ensuring its community members are fairly paid on time while also covering processing and transportation costs. With support from NESsT, Sida, and IKEA Social Entrepreneurship, Ecoserranía will work to establish a center where unfinished timber can be transformed into semi-finished and household products, diversifying the association’s business and product lines.
Beyond capital, NESsT will provide technical business assistance focused on financial forecasting, cash-flow planning, governance, and market development. This support will equip Ecoserranía to expand legally sourced timber, improve margins, and deepen its impact on rural families and forest conservation.