Who are we?
Based on the love for our land and its people, we created a business model that starts from the raw material of small producers, which is the Quinoa Real de Origen, consumed for 6000 years.
We have industrialized it, giving it modern forms, maintaining its natural quality and highlighting its nutritional properties in order to give back to our people the fruit of their labor, richly transformed, nutritionally improved and easy to consume.
Mission
Industry specialized in the production of healthy food, with permanent innovation and adoption of appropriate technology, respecting nature and contributing to food security in Bolivia.
Vision
To be a leading company in Bolivia and a world reference in the production of healthy Andean food.
Our History
1987:
May 1 Labor Day.
Irupana opens its coffee roasting plant in Villa La Merced. Javier Hurtado roasts coffee that day in the presence of some guests and the first Ritual Table of gratitude to the Pachamama for that enterprise is held.
Irupana begins its activities with the delicious coffee from the Irupana area, located in Sud Yungas in the department of La Paz.
A sun-dried coffee whose beans have been carefully selected from the beginning.
1992:
Irupana's own stores
In 1992, Irupana already had a varied offer of natural products based on Andean cereals, honey, bee honey, beehive fruits and whole grain bakery.
The model that Irupana chose to reach its end consumers was the company's own specialized stores, where it had trained personnel who could explain the benefits, uses and origins of the different products.
The Irupana store is a point of sale of Irupana products and other enterprises of the same line: National Products - Nutritious and Natural. With this concept Irupana wants to serve as a bridge for small quality enterprises to reach the national market and at the same time, offer its young clientele, products without chemical additives, selected and nutritious products that come from enterprises friendly with nature.
Strategy: Proprietary Stores and Fairs
Irupana's strategy of own stores was also accompanied by its participation in local fairs, where in the first years Irupana won important awards that allowed the company to be visible in front of financing organizations and international companies.
The fairs allowed the company to become more and more known, they were and are events where we can give information about the benefits and uses of the products and... something very important: to meet our customers, listen to their needs and opinions.
1993:
The Integral Bakery is born
at the Villa La Merced Plant
We finished building the brick kilns and the activity begins on our own land.
Irupana started its bakery activities in 1989 by purchasing the services of a baker's house, then it was done in the Ciudad del Niño with groups of children who were learning trades... finally we learned that in order to control the quality and production volumes according to market demand, we had to have a plant.
2001:
Capitalization
In 2001, Irupana was capitalized and became a partner of what was then called PRODEM, and later IES. And Pro Credito.
This big step in the history of Irupana allows us to have the capital to invest in machinery and equipment for both the local market and for quinoa processing.
School Breakfast
A very important achievement that Irupana achieved in 2000 was to participate in school breakfasts in the city of La Paz. The Municipality at that time was very receptive to innovative offers such as those of Irupana, which presented breads enriched with Andean cereals such as quinoa, cañawa and amaranth, and wilkaparu corn.
We worked preparing 60,000 daily rations to provide the students of La Paz with the then appreciated school breakfast, which began to be distributed with nutritious and national rations, generating the development of local production chains such as Irupana.
2002:
Irupana starts export activities
Having developed activities for the provision of school breakfast in La Paz, prepared the company to handle larger volumes of raw materials and finished products, an important achievement was to start exporting Amaranth and Quinoa to Europe and the USA.
2005:
A new plant to better meet international and local market needs
The recent export activity began to demand machinery and equipment that could not be accommodated in the Villa La Merced facilities. The volumes of product to be processed and shipped to the international market demanded a different type of infrastructure, and with a loan we were able to obtain an infrastructure on the road to Senkata, in the Rosas Pampa area of El Alto.
There, as when we arrived at Villa La Merced, there was no telephone cable and even less Internet, there were no complete services and we started to build again granite by granite... We went from operating in a three-story plant with three different levels, similar to a labyrinth, to working flat and with locally produced machinery for the processing of quinoa.
We consolidated our export activity with Royal Bolivian Quinoa.
The export activity is becoming increasingly important and at the same time more demanding in terms of quality from the production of raw materials to the final product. In these years and with constant work, we have been able to consolidate the international market and make ourselves known in the European organic market as quality exporters.
2006 - 2013:
Supplier Program and the Bartolina Sissa Institute
The idea of establishing a Suppliers Program with a strong indigenous and peasant base for the supply of organic and natural raw materials arose from the very conception of the company; the consolidation of a Quinoa and Amaranth exporting company could only be achieved by consolidating and formalizing the Suppliers Program that was already in operation, but which during these years began to develop more specific activities aimed at international markets.
Irupana was able to finance the Suppliers Program and formalize it for technical assistance to small producers of Quinoa, Cañawa and Amaranth in compliance with organic regulations as the main axis, but working on collateral issues to the life of the farming communities involved in productive aspects.
Later on, the Bartolina Sissa Institute was created with the intention of constituting a social arm of the company to support peasant families supplying raw materials. Its strategic objective was to create the conditions for the generation of integral value: productive, environmental and social.
Integrated Management System
The growth of the international quinoa market demanded quality certifications and the implementation of quality management systems. The work begins achieving the ISO 9001 certification, a year later the HACCP certification is achieved as the first certification of Food Safety, both certifications, then are replaced by the FSSC 22000 current certification that the company has to support its processes of Quinoa, Cañawa and Amaranth and derivatives. As of 2014 it achieved the Gluten Free Plant certification, SMETA, Social Responsibility certificate and Kosher for the Jewish market, in addition to the organic certification. All these accreditations consolidate Irupana as a company prepared to compete with international companies for the control of its processes.
Value-added products
One of the most important challenges assumed by Irupana since its inception is the production of value-added products for sale in local and international markets. Irupana has consolidated in these 32 years of life as an innovative company of products made from Andean cereals. Natural products, without chemical additives that alter its natural and nutritional quality.
The development of the companies towards products with added value for local and export markets, constitutes in Bolivia a double challenge of access to clean technology, that allows to be more competitive in the market, without damaging the environment and that renews every day the commitment of its clientele towards the Natural product, produced by Bolivian hands as fruit of its great diversity... in that way Irupana transits throughout these intense 32 years of life...
2018-2019: Contracting and Bidding work team with whom we were awarded two products of the largest breakfast in Bolivia with which we distributed 843,000 rations, and another 800,000 to small municipalities near La Paz.
