Juan Claudio De Oliva Maya (Class of 2010, Bolivia) grew up in a traditional livestock family in western Bolivia where entrepreneurship was a strategy for prosperity. Now an internationally recognized entrepreneur, Juan Claudio views his success as directly tied to his EARTH education: “EARTH played an important role in fueling my entrepreneurial spirit.” The entrepreneurship courses at EARTH taught him how to run a business that generates impact: “When I started to get the idea of what would eventually become my business, GreenCloud, I already had the foundation from the University to be able to develop a complete business plan that not only took into account economic factors, but also the social and environmental elements of a business.”
Growing up in the countryside surrounded by nature, Juan Claudio was always drawn to agriculture. While there were other agronomists in his family, most were trained through conventional methodologies. When he learned about EARTH, the school’s focus on sustainability was what really caught his attention. “It’s in the spirit of the University,” reflects Juan Claudio, “to prepare agronomists, leaders who can restore the disequilibrium caused by conventional production.”
In 2010, during Juan Claudio’s fourth year at EARTH, he founded GreenCloud, the company he continues to lead today. GreenCloud supports organizations to effectively manage carbon neutrality processes through cutting-edge technology, integrating innovation, science, and technology to promote decarbonization. Since its inception, GreenCloud has supported over 150 organizations in 22 countries across 16 different industries to be verified as Carbon Neutral. In simplifying complex decarbonization processes, GreenCloud accelerates climate action required to mitigate the climate crisis. “GreenCloud was born in EARTH’s hallways. We share the same mission: to generate impact, create harmony between human productivity and the equilibrium of ecosystems, and repair the damages humans have generated.”
GreenCloud was a pioneer in supporting organizational carbon neutrality processes in Costa Rica, where it started. Juan Claudio and his team supported three of the first seven organizations that were certified and recognized as Carbon Neutral by the government of Costa Rica. By 2014, GreenCloud had received two international awards, including a Brands That Matter Award for greatest environmental innovation.
By 2017, GreenCloud had expanded to supporting organizations throughout Latin America. In 2020 they began to launch new innovations, developing a complementary system called NeutralBank, that allows development banks to evaluate the potential greenhouse gas emissions mitigations from projects they finance. Since then, GreenCloud has developed a variety of additional ventures and received numerous international awards for their innovation in technology and impact on sustainability, including awards from Forbes and the United Nations. Such recognitions have allowed them to generate confidence from organizations on other continents, and they seek to continue expanding their technological and geographical reach to create even more sustainable impact. “My intention of generating impact is what connects my organization, GreenCloud, to what EARTH means to me.”
“In life, you teach what you know, but you inspire others with what you live,” says Juan Claudio who, beyond his professional life, seeks to inspire his children and those around him to aim for the stars. As his organization keeps growing and expanding, he keeps believing that with the right tools and a dream-big mindset, people can generate positive and sustainable impact throughout the world. This sentiment, instilled in him at EARTH, guides both his personal and professional endeavors.
