Alimentos Nutri-Naturales is a 100% women-owned and managed business founded by 56 women from 9 communities in the buffer zone of the Maya Biosphere Reserve, Guatemala.

Their business model is based on the production and distribution of Maya Nut-based school lunches throughout the Peten, Guatemala as a means of improving the nutritional status of rural Guatemalan children, who suffer the highest rates of malnutrition in Central America. Additional socioeconomic and ecological benefits of this business model include:
-Reduced dependence on imported (often genetically modified and chemically contaminated food)
-Reduced greenhouse emissions (minimal transportation required from source to consumer)
-Increased conservation of Maya Nut trees and forests
-Improvements in women's incomes
-Improvements in the rural economy (adding value to Maya Nut in the communities)
-Jobs
-Leadership opportunities for women
-Decreased migration to the US among participating families


Alimentos Nutri-Naturales has received financial and technical assistance from Traditional Medicinals Teas, the Embassy of the Republic of Germany, Technoserve, INTECAP, Perry Foods, S.A., BanRural, FONAGRO and the S.G. Foundation, among others.

Alimentos Nutri-Naturales was selected from over 375 community initiatives from 72 countries to win the prestigious Equator Prize. They will receive $30,000 from the United Nations Development Program and the Global Environment Facility to help grow their program