You are Andrés Calvillo, founder of Expediciones Montaña Colombia in Medellín. The Ministry of Environment has just limited Parque La Calera, the source of 60% of your revenue, to a single group of six people a day. On Friday, April 10, 2026, you must take to the board the strategy the company will follow this quarter.
The situation
Your company runs hiking, rock climbing and three-to-ten-day expeditions in national natural parks. There are 32 of you: 24 specialist guides and 8 office staff. In 2025 you billed about COP 6,912 million, with no debt. Until Monday, La Calera admitted two groups of twelve a day; from now on, one group of six.
Lucía Morales, your CFO, has already done the sum: COP 3,456 million less a year. She projects quarterly revenue of COP 864 million against costs of COP 1,300 million, an EBITDA of −436 million every quarter, with COP 2,000 million in the bank. The new environmental requirements (guide certification, ultralight gear, carbon-footprint measurement) add COP 124 million in the first year, and only 8 of your 24 guides are certified yet.
That is not all. After a competitor left rubbish in a protected lagoon in Gorgona, the Ministry will audit every operator within 60 days, and your field records have gaps. And direct bookings have fallen from 40% to 20% of the total: those that arrive through global platforms leave less margin.
Your team does not agree. Morales wants to cut costs now. Carlos Ramírez, head of operations, wants to open routes in parks the resolution does not touch. Esteban Gómez, head of guides, reminds you that a mountain guide takes years to train. And an international operator has sounded you out about an alliance: clients in exchange for part of your independence.