Biovilla is growing

Direct:

• Promotion of sustainable production and consumption patterns: more than 100 organic products will be sold at the Market, promoting circular and local economy, and zero waste principles, whenever possible. The products come from 30 partnerships, hoping to boost the local production of sustainable products. This will be the first organic and bulk market in the Palmela region, and it will include an online store, encouraging conscious consumption.
• Job creation: One full-time job will be created as a result of the project.
• Promotion of sustainable tourism and nature: eight people are involved in working with sustainability, cooperatives, and nature tourism. Counting the four available lodges, and four under construction, Biovilla will be able to receive 3.750 visitors per year.
• Organic food production: one hectare planted using an agroforestry system and organic vegetable garden, which creates 5.500 organic meals per year. Due to the greater water abundance, 60% of the food consumed at Biovilla comes from the vegetable garden during the winter months.
• Efficient and sustainable management of natural resources: 100% of the Biovilla property is supplied by renewable energy, and 80% of the rainwater is used for watering the vegetable garden.. This efficient system allowed the creation of a reservoir that serves as a swimming pool for guests, and at the same time can be used as a water supply for firefighting.

Indirect:

• Conscious waste management: Biovilla is committed to zero food waste in the kitchen and eating areas, the cooperative buys in bulk and composts any leftovers. In addition, 80% of the greywater is recycled, equivalent to 7.000 liters of recycling per week, which will be used to establish a new water circuit for plant irrigation and sanitary use. 
• Promotion of regenerative and personal development activities: at Biovilla, over 500 people have participated in retreats and training on sustainability and regenerative practices. Through the VER program, they have offered training to 105 participants, of which 84 have obtained new job opportunities or increased income after participating in the program.

Biovilla was created by five co-founders in 2010 with the mission to show that it is possible to meet all our needs without compromising the future, in an economically viable, socially responsible, and environmentally positive way. Currently, the cooperative has eleven cooperative members and eight employees.

Expanding over 55 hectares, in Arrábida Natural Park, the Education for Sustainability and Regenerative project works as a physical showroom of the best practices in Palmela.

The cooperative is physically visited by about 10.000 people every year. Among them are tourists, interns, academic students, schools classes of all levels, participants of Biovilla's training sessions, volunteers, and the curious.

The promoter and its partners provide access to more technical and/or specialized teaching materials, practical guides, as well as access to seminars and training/workshops exclusively online. Its founders believe that informing and raising awareness among citizens about the role of Nature in our lives and economic activity will have a direct impact on restoring the relationship between Man and Nature, leading to a paradigm shift and greater pro-activity towards environmental issues.

Biovilla follows eight fundamental pillars for an active regenerative citizenship

1. Cooperativism: "We cooperate, co-create, undertake, and promote conscious consumption and operate to invest in the real economy"
2. Human Development: "We nurture the connection with nature, raise awareness, teach and give tools to power the importance of integrating regeneration into the way we live"
3. House for all: "We rest, share, and cohabitate in a familiar space in the middle of the Arrábida Natural Park".
4. Renewable Energies: "We capture, save, produce and supply energy from the sun’s energy".
5. Organic Food: "We produce, sell, prepare and preserve 100% organic food in a healthy way".
6. Biodiversity: "We cherish, treat, plant, and care for local species".
7. Water care: "We reuse, manage responsibly, and avoid waste. We favor reusing and actions that promote zero waste"
8. Zero waste: "We recycle, reuse, use consciously, and do not pollute water.

Biovilla's team 

Bárbara Leão de Carvalho  

Co-founder of Biovilla, social entrepreneur, graduated and master in management at NOVA SBE with over 10 years of academic and professional experience in sustainable consumer behavior. He has a PhD in marketing for conscious consumption, culminating his study in the development of "The Good Business Model", a methodology for creating and improving conscious businesses that is being implemented in eight national business incubators and accelerators (among which, three of Turismo de Portugal – Green Up, Tourism Up and Taste Up), impacting more than 200 entrepreneurs in Portugal and Brazil in 2019. Coach and mentor of social innovation projects, she dedicates her life to transforming the national sustainable and regenerative ecosystem. He speaks in his own voice through what he created via Biovilla for the world and vibrates with what he still intends to create.

Filipe Moreira Alves 

Born in 1984 in Lisbon, he graduated in Economics (2006) and holds a Masters in Economics and Public Policy (2015), both at ISCTE-IUL. He is currently a doctoral candidate in the Doctoral Program in Policies for Sustainable Development and Climate Change (2016-2020). Filipe has been working as a researcher at CCIAM / CE3C since 2012, participating in European research-action projects such as BASE, SIRCLE and GO TO DIVERS. He is also co-founder of several associations and cooperatives, including Biovilla, Coopérnico, ECOLUTION and Conexão Lusófona. His research areas range from social entrepreneurship, ecological economics, complementary currencies, and participatory action research.

Patrícia Gonçalves, President of the Board of Directors  

With a degree in Social Communication from the Portuguese Catholic University and a post-graduate degree in Museology and Heritage from Lusíada University, she has wanted to change the world, and give voice to other stories, from a young age. She started her professional career, working in National Museums and Palaces, then moved on to Television Production, and later worked in communication for large events. Patricia developed projects in three continents before looking around and realizing that our global home was in an accelerated process of degradation. She dropped everything in search of a life with purpose, and three and a half years ago, she fell in love with Biovilla, an Education for Sustainability project set up in the Arrábida Natural Park, where she has been contributing to the dissemination of this theme and the regeneration of the surrounding ecosystem. She believes that if people get closer to Nature, they will fall in love with it again and have the will to preserve it. And it is this idea that she pursues, daily, step by step, providing sustainability experiences and sharing the knowledge she has acquired, to impact one heart at a time.

Awards and accolades

• Nominees for Best European Practice - Rising Star European Commission - 2020

• Medal of Merit from the city of Palmela- 2017 

• Green Project Awards - Tourism Category - winner of the edition 2018

• Best Practice + Honorable Mention in SDG 12 - APEE 2018, 2019, 2020 

• Green Seal Distinction in the project ECOEMPRESAS, from the city of Palmela – 2021