2018
was a year of great challenges for Luker Foundation. We share with joy the news of being chosen by the United States Agency for International Development, USAID, among 90 projects throughout the country, to strengthen the cocoa chain in Colombia. The 6.2 million dollars budget project intends to benefit more than 900 farmers over five years.

During several months our team worked hard in collaboration with CasaLuker, Palmas del Casanare, Saldarriaga Concha Foundation, ENEL-Emgesa and Universidad EAFIT on a joint proposal to present ourselves in this call, whose main purpose was to leverage private sector investment and expertise to generate sustainable development in areas of Colombia affected by the conflict.

Inspired by the Chocolate Dream (Sueño de Chocolate), Luker Foundation, CasaLuker and the project allied institutions, we will contribute to improve the income of the populations of Urabá Antioqueño, Bajo Cauca and Centersouth of Huila, by strengthening the cocoa production chain and promoting entrepreneurship in those territories, as grounds for the construction of a lasting peace in 16 municipalities in those areas.

The project, which we have called El Efecto Cacao (the Cacao Effect), is committed to the improvement of agricultural performance through good practices and implementation of business crops under an agroforestry scheme, the socioentrepreneurial strengthening of cocoa producers associations and generation of capacities in people to improve their social inclusion and economic development.

Undoubtedly, this news fills us with pride and makes us face great challenges in 2019.

On the other hand, we continue to work hard on the goal we set ourselves to make Manizales a leading city in education and entrepreneurship. This is how in 2018 we achieved significant progress in each of the projects in which we participated.

In Active Urban School we went from covering 56% in 2017 of public urban schools to 62% in 2018, thus demonstrating an improvement in the development of the social and emotional skills measurement, thanks to the alliance with OECD and the World Bank.

In University at your School (La Universidad en Tu Colegio – UTC) - we reached 41% of students in 10th grade of the city, who escalated 20 more points in the Saber 11° tests compared with students from public schools in the city who have not implemented the program. In five years we have enrolled more than 4,300 young people in highquality technical programs. Access to tertiary education in official schools that have the UTC project increased from 33% to 80%.

Likewise, with Manizales Campus Universitario we reached and raise awareness 26,000 students across the country through university fairs, achieving a 53% increase in the enrollment of higher education in Manizales over the last ten years. We are the second city in the country in Saber Pro tests and the first with the largest number of teachers with doctorate nationwide, proportionally to the city’s size.

The project Manizales Más continues positioning itself better, both in Colombia and internationally. The 17 selected High Potential Companies increased their sales by more than 25% on average; 28 new entrepreneurs were trained to grow their businesses; 537 university students from different careers were trained to be entrepreneurs, 624 university students participated in practical training on how to create their own business and 11 entrepreneurs from La Dorada and Riosucio received high quality training for the growth of their businesses.

Also, in 2018 we continued working in alliance with CasaLuker to strengthen the rural development model in Necoclí - Antioquia, with a significant and impactful commitment to the region, where the Foundation puts its knowledge, work and resources at the disposal of that municipality.

Finally, I would like to thank all the partners and beneficiaries of the projects who encourage and motivate us to be better and, of course, the wonderful work team of the Luker Foundation, collaborators, members of the board of directors and members of advisory committees for their contributions and constant work in each of the projects that not only impact our city but the country. The achievements reached and recognitions received in 2018 belong to all, thanks to the union of wills, efforts and knowledge.

Let 2019 be a year of challenges and important breakthrough for all.

Thank you.

Pablo Jaramillo Villegas
Manager

THE LUKER FOUNDATION
is a private non-profit organization of business origin in Sucesores de José Jesús Restrepo & Co. S.A. - CasaLuker S.A., incorporated on November 24, 1994.

We have reached 24 years of work and this experience allows us to affirm that an educated and enterprising person transforms and generates development. In the last year we continued encouraging education and entrepreneurship that position Manizales as the city with the best opportunities in Colombia.

As a general assessment of our 2018 achievements, we can affirm that the projects we developed along with our allies continued to be strengthened so that our city stands out at the national and international levels.

Besides the achievements mentioned in the Management Letter, it is worth mentioning that Bancolombia recognized the Luker Foundation for the significant results in its three lines of work: Education, Entrepreneurship and Work with CasaLuker, and was set as an example at regional and national level. This and other recognitions fill us with pride and encourage us to continue working for both our region and country.

EDUCATION

It aims to make Manizales the first in education. The work in Necoclí, (in Urabá, in the north of Antioquia) has been included in this mission. In that area we implemented the experience of Active Urban School (New School for rural areas) in the educational institutions of the area of influence of the cocoa production agroindustrial project that CasaLuker develops in that municipality.

Thanks to Active Urban School, Universidad en Tu Colegio y Aprende, students develop skills and strengthen competences to be better prepared and face the real world.

With Manizales Campus Universitario, an alliance with the six main universities of the city, the Mayor’s Office and other companies and organizations, we have put Manizales as the university capital of Colombia on the national agenda, and together we have joined efforts to strengthen ourselves and become the destiny of own and foreign students.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Manizales Más is an alliance for the integral development of the entrepreneurial ecosystem of the capital of Caldas, thanks to which the necessary conditions for creating and growing companies are generated.

It is a consolidated public, private and academic alliance, which in 2018 reached six years thanks to the conviction of its managers about the value of uniting knowledge and action to transform the economic model of the city.

SPECIAL PROJECTS

Since our beginnings, we have supported the work of Manizales institutions that focus their work on improving the living conditions of the vulnerable population in areas such as health, nutrition, housing, education and the elderly, all of which is possible thanks to the legacy of the main benefactor of our Foundation, Inés Restrepo Mejía.

OTHER CITY INITIATIVES

Based on our interest in making Manizales a better city for all, we support initiatives that contribute to the construction of citizenship and the conformation of better informed and more participative citizens. Manizales Cómo Vamos and Estoy with Manizales are examples of this interest.

PROJECTS DEVELOPED IN ALLIANCE WITH CASALUKER

Luker Foundation and CasaLuker share their roots, their knowledge and their experience for the consolidation of a social model of community development surrounding the cocoa production project developed by the company in Necoclí.