Hugo’s Recent Award Getting Press Coverage

Posted by Patrick

October 16, 2008

It’s always nice to get the recognition one deserves.

As you may have read in a recent post, Hugo Villela, our Regional Development Executive, was the recent winner of Third Sector’s ‘alternative rich list’. The Co-operatives UK just ran a nice piece on their website about this accomplishment. It was also mentioned in the Network2012 Newsletter.

Congratulations Hugo, you’ve certainly earned the recognition!

Hugo Villela of Shared Interest, the international fair trade finance co-operative, is a winner of the ‘alternative rich list’.

Forum3 devised an ‘alternative rich list’ to recognise people whose lives are rich because of what they give rather than their financial wealth.

Hugo, who is one of three winners, joined Shared Interest in 2006 to advise the financial co-operative on which fair trade businesses in the developing world may be in need of a lending facility.

He now works night and day (literally!) in his home country of Costa Rica to help producers out in the field to get their goods to market. This involves risk analysis and creating opportunities for partnership working as well as identifying farmers and handicraft makers who need financial support.

By 2007 alone, Hugo had already helped lend $6 million to businesses to these poor communities.

Going above and beyond the call of duty, Hugo often visits remote towns and villages to ensure that the most hard to reach areas have access to the fair trade market. Whilst looking for new customers with Shared Interest Hugo visits places that were impossible for people to visit in the eighties without taking a strong risk of losing their lives.

Ana Lopez, who works alongside Hugo in the Shared Interest Costa Rica office, says: “Hugo always thinks of the welfare of his producers. This is his reason for existence – understanding their needs.”
Hugo’s colleague in the Shared Interest UK headquarters says: “It is Hugo’s sheer dedication and passion that inspires us all. It is more than just a job for him; it is a way of life . . . his energy is boundless and his commitment unsurpassed.”

“With the alternative rich list we recognise those people in society whose wealth is not defined by pounds and pence but by the way they have enriched other people’s lives,” said Debbie Hockham, director of Forum3. “These are the real heroes of society.”

This is a good year for Shared Interest when it comes to awards – it was announced in July that the co-operative had won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise.