Social Impact

BFI Fiscally Sponsored Project: Vive el Sueno

The Buckminster Fuller Institute received positive updates from one of its fiscally sponsored organizations, Vive el Sueño.

Vive el Sueño is a small business incubator in Nosara, Costa Rica. Their first sponsored small business owner, Ricardo Moraga of Nosara MTB & Surf, is progressing in his efforts to develop the sustainable tourism industry in Nosara. Ricardo was raised in the Guanacaste province of Costa Rica and has several years of working in various areas of the tourism industry. His love of mountain biking, his entrepreneurial spirit, and his drive to give back to his community has led him to opening his own small business giving mountain biking tours that both showcase and preserve the natural beauty of Nosara. It’s the first business of its kind in town, and is quickly emerging as a popular tourist activity.

Beyond offering tours and low-cost bicycle repairs, Ricardo’s vision is to teach workshops on bicycle repair in both English in Spanish, with the aim to increase workers’ language abilities and mechanical skills so that they may more easily find and sustain jobs that pay a living wage. Vive El Sueño volunteers will be working with Ricardo to design and build the space where the workshops and repairs will happen.

Vive el Sueño is also partnering with Nueva Oportunidad, an organization that runs a small business incubator program in San José, Costa Rica, for people in prisons. Vive el Sueño will develop a customized curriculum that includes intensive courses in creating a business plan, marketing, administration, accounting, and life coaching – similar to the curriculum currently being used in Nosara.

BFI is pleased to serve as a fiscal sponsor for Vive el Sueño during this time of growth and success.