Delia Simental’s journey into the startup and blue biotechnology world
In 2005, a young woman from Mexico named Delia, started a blue biotechnology company called Coco Chavita together with five other passionate and entrepreneurial women. The company is specialized in the discovery of bio-active compounds from marine species for pharmacological and cosmetic purposes.
It is not a coincidence that she mentions the birthplace of the company: the port of Teacapan, on the northwestern Mexican coast. That is where her entrepreneurial journey started. Delia mentions the high-lights of her journey.
In 2012 Coco Chavita won the ‘BiD Challenge Mexico’, and a year later they represented Mexico in the Latin-American Investment Forum ‘Growing SMEs 2013’. In 2014 Coco Chavita participated in another interesting start-up competition named the ‘Momentum Project’; an initiative to recognize innovation in social SMEs. They also received a special recognition from the Mexico Business Women Council for their innovation activities. And last, but not least, as a small company led by women, they are WeConnect International certified.
And to give an idea what the company is working on today:
“We have collaborated for a sea cucumber aquaculture initiative in Mexico. This year we are going to collaborate with the Chinese company Tahiti Nui Ocean Foods, in order to launch an aquaculture project in French Polynesia.”
One of the reasons why Delia is enthusiastic about the bidx Gateway Portal is because you can edit the design and the content of a business plan so that it can be presented clear and crisp to investors. She also really enjoys the possibility to network with like-minded entrepreneurs and mentors, in addition to getting help from bidx.
“You never know when you are going to meet someone who can make a huge change in your business. In our experience, bidx staff have been helping us to match investors in aquaculture and marine biotechnology field.”
In her experience the most important advice she would like to give to new start-ups, is that they have to know the answers to all the basic questions. If you are able to do so you will be able to target and convince the right investors. These questions are:
- What do you want?
- How and when?
- Why?
- Who is your customer?
- How you will measure impact?
- How can you support operation?
Delia’s ambition is clear:
“Coco Chavita has the ambition of becoming a global referent for the mastering of sustainable development in the marine biotechnology field.”
You can check Coco Chavita business profile here, or start building your own web presence by presenting your business on one of our portals.