Almost exactly one year ago on March 22, 2016, during his historic visit to Cuba, President Barack Obama celebrated the accomplishments of Cuban entrepreneurs during his remarks to the Cuban people, delivered from the stage of Havana’s Gran Teatro. “In a global economy, powered by ideas and information, a country’s greatest asset is its people,” he argued, adding that “in the United States, we have a clear monument to what the Cuban people can build: it’s called Miami.” Quickly pivoting from this celebration of Cuban-American ingenuity, he made a similar point about the well known “resolve” and “inventiveness” of Cubans on the island. “Here in Havana, we see that same talent in cuentapropistas, cooperatives, and old cars that still run. El cubano inventa del aire.”
Obama then name-dropped Gilberto “Papito” Valladares, a man who was until that moment largely unknown even in Cuba, outside of his small Old Havana neighborhood of Santo Ángel. “Look at Papito,” Obama recommended, “a barber, whose success allowed him to improve conditions in his neighborhood.” Highlighting Papito’s own philosophy of local development and social responsibility, Obama went on to quote the barber’s own words: “I realize I’m not going to solve all of the world’s problems. But if I can solve problems in the little piece of the world where I live, it can ripple across Havana.” Obama concluded by holding up Papito’s hopeful example of what the barber himself has described as a community project of “entrepreneurial solidarity,” arguing that it is in line with his administration’s own historic shift toward engagement and empowerment. “That’s why our policies focus on supporting Cubans,” he insisted, “instead of hurting them.”
During my own trips to Cuba over the past year, I made a point of visiting the now-famous Papito in person to see El Proyecto Artecorte in action and hear directly from him about his unique effort to marry local economic development with social responsibility and cultural preservation in Santo Ángel. The first thing that I discovered was that despite the fact that he and the majority of his business associates in the neighborhood and along the pedestrian mall now universally known as El Callejón de los Peluqueros are licensed cuentapropistas (“own-account” workers), in actual practice they are far from “on their own.”
The secret to the success of their project lies instead in their eschewing the isolation and competitiveness typical of other micro-entrepreneurs and embracing an ethic of neighborhood uplift, community outreach, and collaborative synergy. They also avoid making grandiose claims about “bringing capitalism” to Cuba or of joining in the Cuban government’s effort to “update socialism,” instead focusing on the practical, non-ideological work of fruitfully combining entrepreneurship (emprendimiento) with solidarity (solidario).
Apart from developing key alliances among neighborhood entrepreneurs and between themselves and the long-time residents of Santo Ángel (with special outreach among the youth and the elderly), perhaps the most important and practical alliance Papito has developed over the years is a public-private partnership with the Office of the City Historian, led by Eusebio Leal. As Papito argues in the interview below, “enterprising together” (emprender juntos) is the key to success in what we do.”
Ted Henken: Can you explain the Artecorte project in general terms, emphasizing what makes it unique in the Cuban entrepreneurial context?
Artecorte: Our community project ‘Artecorte’ is a local development project whose main objectives are to physically and socially transform our community, promote channels for social participation, and help our neighbors become more sensitive to the work of conserving, restoring, and valuing the tangible and intangible cultural patrimony of both the neighborhood (Santo Ángel) and the historic center (La Habana Vieja).
We also seek to improve living conditions by incentivizing both individual and collective neighborhood initiatives, training neighborhood youth in traditional trades and helping them find employment, promoting local entrepreneurial solidarity, and fomenting public-private partnerships.
We aim to rescue the historical memory of the neighborhood by helping residents become protagonists and participants in local development, raising their sense of belonging, developing a culture of environmental protection, guaranteeing generational integration and gender equality, and of course, sharing our experience with the aim of supporting the similar development of other communities.
What sets us apart from other Cuban entrepreneurs is the fact that we aim to connect actors from all sectors of society (private and public, religious and cultural, etc.), so that we can work together for the common good, which is nothing more than developing our neighborhood in every way possible, while simultaneously generating social, cultural, educational, environmental, and economic benefits for everyone.
TH: In our previous discussions, you specifically mentioned the important connection between economic development, Cuban culture, and social relationships. Why is this particular nexus important and how does Artecorte and El Callejón de los Peluqueros highlight or operationalize these strands?
AC: The natural evolution of our project is the definitive proof of the important relationship between Cuban culture, economic development, and social relations. In the beginning, Artecorte was a cultural project created with the objective of promoting and dignifying the trades of barber and hairdresser in Cuba.
As the years passed and different actors not connected with hairdressing began to join our project, it became evident that we needed to take new steps that would transform our work to include broader and more ambitious objectives, which in turn would require greater economic resources to support them.
Created during the first moments of Cuba’s opening toward the private sector and backed by enthusiastic entrepreneurs who were in search of something more than money in what they were doing, our work gradually brought together cultural and economic efforts that were linked by ever broader and more complex social relationships, giving birth to the results we have achieved today.
The example of Barbers’ Alley (El Callejón de los Peluqueros), which was initially only used as a space for cultural activities but has become home to more than a score of private businesses, is living proof of this synergy. The businesses have not displaced the cultural activities but instead have enriched and sustained them for the benefit of the entire community.
TH: Can you specifically describe the components of your community-oriented outreach approach to local entrepreneurship?
AC: Our focus on community entrepreneurs has three aspects: a) fomenting the establishment and development of new businesses and advising, orienting, and supporting them as much as possible; b) helping to link the private businesses to one another so as to create new value and relationship chains; and c) encouraging these new businesses to commit themselves to community-based social outreach with the objective of converting them into actors of local development and generators of employment for neighborhood residents. In the end, all this effort makes it more likely that the economic benefits remain within the community.
TH: Who are (or have been) your partners (in government, the private sector, or the non-profit sector)?
AC: As a project, Artecorte started with a group of barbers and hairdressers who were soon joined by a series of Cuban artists and private sector entrepreneurs. As the project shifted toward community outreach, of course, our first and most important allies were neighborhood residents. Later we were joined by an ally that shares many of our interests in local development: The Office of the Historian of the City of Havana, which in turn has given us its institutional support.
Over the years the community has gradually diversified as new cultural, economic, and religious actors have appeared, and we have found in each one of them shared interests that have been useful for us in working together. In the same way, we have created alliances with various university departments, research centers, and national state enterprises, each of which have joined out efforts.
TH: When we spoke, you described your unique approach to business (usually defined as a competitive, I win/you lose approach) as a win/win collaboration or synergy with neighborhood partners who benefit from your success and vice versa. How does this work in practice?
AC: Enterprising together is the key to success in what we do. For example, twenty-three different private businesses now co-exist on the one-block pedestrian mall of Barbers’ Alley. Given that many are in the same industry (restaurants, bed and breakfasts, barbers, etc.), an outsider might understand us as being in “competition” with one another. But that’s not how we see it. For us, the success of one business guarantees the success of its neighbors.
Now many customers come from day to day looking for different services for which there are many options. However, in most cases, instead of preferring to consume a single business, they try different things each time they visit. That gives us the guarantee that each customer of one business is a potential customer of another one, which from another perspective could be seen as its competition.
At the same time, in a country with such serious supply-chain problems, maintaining good relationships with our neighbors insures mutual support. For example, let’s say that I have a restaurant that sells beer. Instead of competing against me, a similar business will let me know where beer is available or even lend me some scarce input or raw material. This is a favor I will return later, guaranteeing that neither of us misses out on potential customers due to Cuba’s chronic scarcity.
Of course, this is very difficult to understand outside of Cuba’s unique context. But it is an important part of who we are.
TH: What specific examples and data or numbers can you share related to this entrepreneurial virus in the Santo Ángel neighborhood?
AC: According to statistics we have been compiling on our own, the Santo Ángel district is home to 194 private businesses. Of those, 133 are bed and breakfasts that cater to the tourist market, 34 provide food services, 21 are related to the sale of Cuban art, and the rest provide various other services. All together, these businesses employ a total of 976 people. These statistics are from the end of 2016 and are already out of date, since every week sees a new business open its doors in the neighborhood.
TH: How sustainable and replicable are these successes outside of Santo Ángel and can your lessons serve as a model for other areas and neighborhoods?
AC: Our model is completely sustainable and replicable in other communities as long as it is accompanied by an institution that supports the project and helps guide the steps needed to bring it to fruition. Our objective is not only to find other private sector actors who can replicate our work, but also to develop relationships with actors within governmental institutions who can support these initiatives.
TH: How has the U.S.-Cuban thaw impacted your work and what do you anticipate your opportunities and challenges to be in the current context of changing leadership in both countries?
AC: We believe in the multiple benefits of positive relations between the Cuban and U.S. governments, but anticipating future opportunities and challenges is very difficult in the Cuban context. More than anticipating possible situations, we work each day to deal with and take advantage of the ones that already exist, given the fact that the Cuban environment has always been very unpredictable and subject to change.
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In a review of Richard Feinberg’s revelatory Open for Business: Building the New Cuban Economy (2016), published in Cuban Counterpoints last September, I quoted the wise warning of Cuban cuentapropista Ramón Beidas who indicated that his own secret to success and continued survival as an entrepreneur in the current Cuban context was combining the strategy of la escalera with that of la línea roja. In other words, he allowed his business to grow only at the same step-by-step pace that the government reforms moved forward, but no faster. Outpacing government reforms risked calling too much attention to his success, which might inadvertently expose him to a crack-down after crossing over some invisible but all-important “red line.” Bedias drove this point home by using the following proverb: “The bird that flies above the trees is the first one to get shot down.” Indeed, Fienberg himself notes that some cuentapropistas “purposely restrain their growth so as not to capture the attention of the authorities” out of a fear of retribution.
The initial success, extraordinary public recognition from President Obama, and subsequent positive press coverage of the Artecorte project has certainly captured the attention of Cuban authorities. However, Papito’s unique business philosophy that combines local economic development via private enterprise with community outreach, neighborhood solidarity, and cultural preservation has channeled the government attention they have received into a series of innovative public-private partnerships that have provided essential institutional support and allowed the project to avoid suspicion, envy, and bureaucratic turf wars. This has been the case at least in part because their grassroots efforts in Santo Ángel overlap considerably with the Office of the City Historian’s Master Plan for the revitalization of Old Havana. Artecorte has also benefitted from the charisma and unique personal alliance between Papito, a man with deep community roots who has slowly earned the trust of his neighbors, and City Historian Eusebio Leal, someone with equally vital connections and bona fides within state institutions.
Featured Image: Author’s photo of the public park “Barbeparque” designed and refurbished by El Proyecto Artecorte in partnership with students at Havana’s School of Design and the Office of the Historian of Havana, Eusebio Leal.