The Center for Inclusive and Sustainable Leadership (CELIS) of INCAE Business School and Coope Ande announce the launch of LEADS ACADEMY FOR WOMEN 2023, a project that aims to support 40 Costa Rican businesswomen to acquire tools and knowledge to improve their strategy and grow their businesses.
The alliance will award 40 scholarships of 80% to a selected group of women entrepreneurs from Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), to be part of a rigorous, multi-phase development program that includes training, mentoring to develop a robust business plan, personalized follow-up for 3 months after completion of the plan to measure the success of its implementation, and regional networking.
Coope Ande is committed to the development of the SME sector in Costa Rica. Recognizing the current challenges of the business sector we allied with INCAE in this initiative will offer 80% scholarships and a business support plan after our cooperative with each of the entrepreneurs to boost them," said Luis Diego Zamora, Commercial Services Manager of the cooperative.
Women entrepreneurs who wish to apply for the program must meet the following requirements:
Interested parties that meet the business parameters can apply from October 12 until December 12, by completing the registration form on the official website: https:incae.
After the online application, candidates will receive an email confirming receipt of their information and if they meet the requirements they will be evaluated by a Selection Committee. The 40 selected entrepreneurs will be notified by telephone or e-mail by January 10, 2023.
Thanks to the LEADS (Lead, Undertake, Advance, Develop, Sustain) program, women entrepreneurs who have graduated from previous editions have improved their skills in designing and operationalizing their business strategy to accelerate growth through internationalization and innovation in their products and services. An example of the program's impact is the 239 new jobs created by our graduates from the three previous editions. Likewise, 70% of them increased their sales to new markets and 8 companies scaled through exports," said Camelia Ilie-Cardoza, Dean of Executive Education and Strategic Innovation at INCAE Business School and Chair of CELIS.
LEADS Academy for Women is a multi-phase training program created in 2017 by CELIS of INCAE Business School and carried out thanks to partnerships with companies such as MasterCard, Corporación Banco Industrial and in this edition with Coope Ande.
To date, 160 women entrepreneurs in Central America have benefited, mainly by increasing the sales of their businesses, increasing employment and reducing operating costs by up to 35%.
Empowering women entrepreneurs and their businesses is empowering the well-being of families and investing in the sustainability and future of our communities.
