On Friday, October 14th, UVG students, teachers, and researchers, together with members of the ASPIRE team (Achieving Sustainable Partnerships for Innovation, Research, and Entrepreneurship) paid a visit to the company Aromas, Perfumes, Essential Oils, and Flavors S.A. (APAESA), to better understand the company’s essential oil extraction processes, its role within the overall value chain, and possible further collaboration with ASPIRE via research projects and/or other activities.

APAESA is a family business with 74 years of experience in the market, dedicated to the design, production, and marketing of high-quality fragrances for soaps, cleaning and cosmetic products, perfumery, and other related segments.

The company opened its doors to a delegation from the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (UVG) and the Guatemalan Association of Exporters (AGEXPORT), consortium partners in the ASPIRE project, to share the progress it has made in extracting essential oils, a new line of business that is gaining traction and that represents an interesting market opportunity as international demand grows.

The visit began with a general presentation of APAESA as a company, its history, some important figures on in the essential oils industry currently, of and the advances in Research and Development that APAESA has generated in the last two years. Next, the group did a guided tour of the company’s facilities, where participants saw in-person and learned about the distillers and precise measurement equipment, such as the gas chromatograph mass spectrometer. These machines are used for the analysis of olfactory profiles and the quality of fragrances.

Visitors also toured the formulation laboratory and got to test their skills in identifying the olfactory profiles of different essences, including lavender, turmeric, lemon leaf, pink palm, thyme and cinnamon. Each person was also given the opportunity to formulate his/her own fragrance.

This visit was conducted as part of the ASPIRE project’s activities to help UVG students, teachers, and researchers identify opportunities for research, innovation, and potentially class projects on essential oils, one of six sectors identified by AGEXPORT as high priority with the potential for social impact.

On behalf of ASPIRE, we thank APAESA for being a leader in the development initiatives of this sector, aimed at creating value and generating jobs in the country.

About the ASPIRE Project

The Achieving Sustainable Partnerships for Innovation, Research, and Entrepreneurship (ASPIRE) Project is a five-year, $15 million project funded by USAID and implemented by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (UVG), and the Guatemalan Exporters Association (AGEXPORT). The goal of the project is to create a world-class, replicable model for how Latin American universities and their collaborators can respond to local and regional development needs. The project implements a collaborative approach to research, teaching, innovation, entrepreneurship, and tech transfer, based on the combination of local assets and knowledge with MIT’s experience in the innovation ecosystem.