Nature Ambassador

By Keone Chariton.
Marketing Assistant Intern
(CNMI SBDC)

Donna Rivera, proud owner of Nature Ambassador, arrived in the CNMI in 2001 where she began her journey in the private industry learning the art of sales and marketing. Becoming a successful employee as a sales executive, she made networks and relations with other businesses. With the inspiration of starting her own business, her passion for her business endeavor was found through Nature Ambassador.

Donna explains, “For the past years, from time to time I would have this business idea and just never got the chance or opportunity to materialize. Over the past months with my husband and friends, we have discussed different ideas we could do together as a business, not just because we have the time to do it, but more importantly, we felt the need to have a business that will create jobs for our church-mates.” She also mentions, “We don’t intend to make such a big promise, but that’s the very first thing that came to mind when we decided to start up this business.”





Growing up, Donna was always exposed to small businesses. “When I was young, during summer breaks I would collect duhat (Java Plum) or kamote tops and sell it in front of our house. While I was in high school, my family had a snack bar within our school.” Donna graduated at the Saint Louis University with a Bachelor in Commerce with a major in banking & finance, and a minor in entrepreneurship. “When I was in college, I stayed with my auntie in Baguio. She had a small store within the public market of Baguio city and at the same time we would deliver food to all the vendors there,” Donna recalls.

For Donna, starting a business was not as easy as she thought and the “SBDC has become my guide in every step of the way.” Through the personal attention and resources provided by SBDC, “it became realistic with me. I came to realize that attention to detail is very important. It’s not enough to just know how to sell; you also have to make sure that when you sell, you will not end up killing the business by not accounting for all the expenses.” Although SBDC helped guide Donna to create a business plan, she states that Director Perry Inos Jr. never stopped at just helping create a business plan but more importantly emphasized that we should not fear to follow our dreams. She says, “He believed [in] me and encouraged me to GO FOR IT!”

For Donna, her largest obstacle was the process of finding the right items to market and finding the right suppliers. She states, “It’s challenging to be going back and forth to communicate with different suppliers. But our faith and our dreams never stopped us from pursuing this.” The most memorable triumph for Donna was knowing that she was able to start this business and know that her family’s there to support her.

Nature Ambassador’s short term goal is “to be able to convince local business to support me by making my product available to their stores/shops for the local and tourist market.” Nature Ambassador’s long term goal is to expand their products to Guam.

Donna Rivera of Nature Ambassador encourages those who are interested in starting a business to “go to the CNMI SBDC office and get FREE consultation, you will never regret it”. She states, “It’s good to know that somebody is here to stand with you and think with you”.

Nature Ambassador is open on weekdays and weekends from 8am to 5pm, located in Navy Hill. For inquiries contact Nature Ambassador at (670) 789-1873 or via email at donnarivera@icloud.com.

For more information on how the CNMI SBDC can help you, feel free to contact Director Perry Inos Jr. or Lynette Sablan at (670)664-3018 or visit our website at www.pacificsbdc.com.